The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Dehydrated Grain Free Fruit & Veggie Base Mix Dog Food (Just Add Protein) - 7 Pound Box (Makes 12 Pounds)

Have been feeding 100% raw for 5+ years. Decided to look for other sources when Darwins increased their prices. My local pet stores either can't keep the quantity I need in stock, or, have problems keeping their freezers running, so I started researching "home made" raw food diets. I now purchase beef, chicken, turkey and sometimes pork, from the grocery store, use my Kitchenaid stand mixer/attachment to grind, and mix with the Honest Kitchen. my dogs LOVE it. A few points:1. I use THK grain free varieties only. The base version (Preference) when serving fresh beef or pork. My dogs won't eat raw chicken so that is the only cooked meat I serve. I boil a few pounds of boneless chicken breasts, then run through a food grinder on pulse. I boil enough for two or three days and store in the refrigerator. It takes only 7 mins prepare their meals - which I appreciate on busy mornings.2. I supplement THK Beef, Chicken and Turkey mixes with additional fresh meat. Can't tell you why, I'm just not convinced there is enough meat in the mix alone. My dogs do seem to prefer the consistency of the meat varieties over the base mix, as evidenced by how long it takes them to finish their meals.3. For all of the mixes, I find that I have to feed my two Boxers more than the amounts recommended on the package. For example, for my 60 lb. female, the Preference guidelines suggest 1 cup of meat per day. I feed her one cup of meat mixed with one cup of Preference TWICE a day. She actually dropped a couple of pounds initially - so I monitor her and feed slightly more on the days when she has been more active than usual. My 80 lb. male - similar- feeding twice the recommended meat. He is older, less active and also dropped a few pounds...which is a good thing ; )3. I've noticed some variance in the consistency of the dry mix from box to box. My last box of Preference was predominantly green and finely ground - like oregano. My current box is full of large chunks of orange and yellow - like the consistency of dehydrated chunky vegetable soup mix. When mixed with water, the chunks remain large enough for my boy to spit out (onto the floor) the pieces he doesn't like. I contacted the company and learned that they source their ingredients from different suppliers and so the size of the products vary. The Honest Kitchen mills the food for the same length of time regardless of the starting size of the food - so start small, end with fine. Start large, end with course. Either way, the company states the same amount/ratio of food is in each box.4. I find that I am actually saving money feeding The Honest Kitchen compared to prepared raw. Darwins and Nature's Variety cost me $4.20 - $5 per pound -- and my two dogs were eating 4lbs of Darwins supplemented with grain free canned food, or 2.5 lbs of Nature's Variety, supplemented with canned, per day. Yup - $400+ per month to feed two dogs. Now, I buy meet from the grocery store on sale ($1.89 lb - $3.49 lb), and no longer need to supplement with canned food (though I do still keep canned in their diet on rotation). I stock up on THK whenever it is on sale.5. The last point worth mentioning is that feeding THK is much easier than frozen prepackaged raw. There is a noticeably 'gamey' smell to prepackaged raw that isn't present with fresh meat from the grocery store. I'm vegetarian and it has been a tough 5 years. The Honest Kitchen smells like dehydrated food, and when mixed with fresh meat - it really does not smell like dog food. Also clean up is a breeze compared to prepackaged raw - which would quickly begin to stink, and leave a fatty film in the bowls, requiring a soak in dawn dishwashing liquid to clean. Now, their bowls rinse clean - and when there are leftovers, there is no unpleasant smell.Highly recommend. I'm saving over $100 per month....AND feel much more confident that my dogs are eating wholesome, healthy, safe, fresh food.

Why I switched: My dogs are both youngish, 4-5 years old, boxer mixes between 70 and 80 lbs. They both seemed healthy and fine eating the normal kibble, I used to rotate between Taste of the Wild varieties, so a good brand, but kibble none the less. They ate it, without any issues. Every time I went to the vet she cautioned me to keep their weight down, so we would limit their food and they would be miserable. Then I started seeing these commercials on how they make dog food in high pressure cookers and it turns it into those brown pellets, thinking that can't leave many nutrients left. And I always see and hear about dogs getting cancer, having skin issues, being overweight, etc. etc. etc. I started looking at alternatives, but something relatively easy to make. My previous two dogs, one died from cancer, and another had two TPLO surgeries (basically town knee ligaments), and eventually died suddenly from something neurological at 8 years old. My goal is to give my current dogs the best, healthiest life for as long as possible.Results: It has been about 6 months on this diet. After about 3-4 months I noticed their skin is softer, they both have even more energy than before (they always ran and jumped, but now they run and jump even higher.) Overall they seem happier, sleep better, poop more regularly. And the best part was when we weighed them this week, both have lost between 5 & 10 pounds and look strong and athletic. I couldn't believe they lost so much weight without us limiting their food at all! I can't wait to take them back to the vet in another 6 months. Side note, I currently don't give them any other supplements or vitamins.How we make it: for 2 large dogs (now between 60 and 70lbs), we go through about 1-2 boxes a month, I rotate the two base mix recipes. We do supplement their diet a little bit with treats, human food (I know, I know, but hey, they still lost weight and look and act really healthy). We usually get organic chicken breasts (when they are BOGO I stock up), or Ground Bison from Costco. Sometimes if I have extra fish I will mix in that. With the chicken, we use an Insta-Pot and that has been a god-send. We also have a large Kitchen-Aid mixer we use to mix everything together. We don't measure anymore, maybe 4 chicken breasts with 4-6 cups of dried food maybe? Add water and mix. Then we store it in mason jars in the fridge. We make batches 2-3 times a week, feed them 2x a day. Now that they lost so much weight, I will probably rotate in a organic or grass fed ground beef, or maybe add a small amount of healthy fat. I give the scent 5 stars (not for me, but definitely dog approved).Overall, switching to this has been the best thing I have done for my dogs. It has not been to hard on the pocketbook, I was already spending $100 a month on kibble, I probably spend $150 a month now. But the money I hope to save in the future with healthy dogs, less skin problems, vet visits, etc. will make this well worth.THANK YOU HONEST KITCHEN FOR MAKING THIS AMAZING PRODUCT!!!!!!!

The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Grain-Free Fruit & Veggie Base Mix is the perfect blend to make a well-rounded meal for your dog. I like to choose my dog's proteins and this blend is great because I can still make my dog meals without having to worry that I may have missed a nutrient or vitamins that he may need. The base mix rehydrates well in warm/hot water and my dog seems to enjoy eating it. The box doesn't seem like it holds a lot, but each box easily makes about 30lbs of rehydrated food and because it's dehydrated, it won't go stale or bad as fast as kibble or refrigerated dog food does.The blend includes Sweet potatoes, peas, cabbage, organic coconut, apples, spinach, pumpkin, bananas, celery, organic kelp, organic honey, and a number of vitamins and minerals. It seems to be gentle on my dog's stomach and he hasn't had any digestive issues with it. His skin and coat look fantastic, and if diet does affect a dog's health, Honest Kitchen has been keeping my 17-year-old dog's health great. It's a good meal mix base to add to your dog's favorite proteins and something I would purchase again.

Have been giving my dogs this for years now and I'm embarrassed it took so long to write a review. We mix it with cooked ground venison (which we always seem to have too much of!) and they absolutely go crazy. Has all the right stuff to keep them healthy and fit; they digest it well. The only drawback is it can get kind of messy when the dogs eat it, but I think that's more a result of them eating it like wild animals and not the food's fault.