Well Dog Freezer Staples

Practically every cook I know of, from home cooks to celebrity cooks, extols the importance of pantry staples. Which is why I’ve listed the dry staples in the Well Dog Pantry Staples on this site for information.

But it dawned on me as I was playing around with ingredients in the kitchen recently that there is an omission here: my kitchen staples aren’t limited to dry staples. The freezer also plays an enormous role, storing food bought or cooked in bulk and frozen, be it fish, meat or vegetables, toppings cooked in batches or even bits of leftovers thrown together for use later in a new recipe.

Circular cooking

I know this as circular cooking: leftover food is used to create a topping; the topping is used to create a purée; the purée is used to create a jelly, the jelly is used in an iced treat. In other words, avoidding waste. Leftovers are transformed into the next thing, becoming an ingredient in baked treats and purees. Waste reduction isn’t the only benefit – it’s time and work efficient. With ready-made broths, toppings, ices and purees that have been cooked in batches it is especially valuable for the Time Poor!

Freezing is an excellent tool for circular cooking and waste reduction, helping to provide your dog with a varied and nutrient-rich diet. Even if you don’t have time to go to the shops, you’ve got all those frozen portions or leftovers: vitamins and proteins ready to ‘mix and match’, combine with dry ingredients and an egg or two to create tasty treats.

And even if there can be nutrient degradation in some cases – not all (see below) –   frozen vegetables and leftovers are going to be more nutritionally valuable in the freezer than in the bin.

Example ingredients:

  • Iced treats (depending on ingredients, some need to be taken out of the freezer a few minutes in advance)
  • Treat carriers (cooked pasta, stuffed and/or empty
  • Purées of all sorts of vegetables freeze well. Try leftover spinach, pumpkin carrot and/or swede mash.
  • Lima bean puree
  • Toppings. Most of the topping recipes given here will freeze well, certainly for a month or so.
  • Keep a small amount of a topping mix aside and heat it through with gelatine to create jellies as healthy treats in the freezer.
  • Blitzed toppings frozen in small portions, weighed and labelled. for use in baked treats.
  • Poached salmon (always without salt or additional flavourings)
  • Poached chicken (always without salt or additional flavourings) (usually shredded before freezing)
  • Steamed freekeh, quinoa, rice frozen in containers, weighed and labelled.
  • Home-made jellied fish broth
  • Home-made beef broth
  • Baked treats like training treats and churros
  • Vegetables, saturated in broth and sliced, kept as handy low-calorie, healthy and dehydrating treats.

And this list isn’t exhaustive – I’m bound to have overlooked a few things.

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Simple freezing tips

  1. A full freezer is more economical
  2. Make sure the food is cold before it is frozen
  3. Use stackable reusable containers to save space (don’t go to the brim: leave some space to allow for expansion)
  4. Label clearly, with content, weight and date if you’re not intending to use quickly
  5. Use discernibly different containers for dog food and human food because labels can fall off!
  6. Don’t fill containers to the brim – allow some space for expansion
  7. Remove air: I use a vacuum sealer
  8. Open freeze foods like iced treats or pasta treat carriers before placing in containers: this will stop them sticking together

Always try to thaw food out naturally, preferably in the fridge: using the microwave can degrade nutrients. That said, a broth used as the basis for a topping can normally be used from frozen.

 

Degradation?

Some products (and some nutrient) do better than others in the freezer (and the refrigerator for that matter). One study[1] analysed the effect of storage on a number of vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, corn, green beans, peas, spinach, blueberries and strawberries) and found no significant differences in vitamins in those vegetables. Apparently, its findings did not support the consumer perception that fresh food is more nutritious than frozen. A second study[2] found that carotenoids in carrots remain stable during blanching and freezing and a third study[3] concluded that when the (industrial) freezing process is effective, frozen boiled vegetables are not nutritionally inferior to fresh vegetables.

     

   

 

References:

[1] Linshan Li, Ronald B. Pegg, Ronald R. Eitenmiller, Ji-Yeon Chun, Adrian L. Kerrihard, Selected nutrient analyses of fresh, fresh-stored, and frozen fruits and vegetables, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, Volume 59, 2017, Pages 8-17, ISSN 0889-1575, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2017.02.002.
[2] Diana Behsnilian, Esther Mayer-Miebach, Impact of blanching, freezing and frozen storage on the carotenoid profile of carrot slices (Daucus carota L. cv. Nutri Red), Food Control, Volume 73, Part B, 2017, Pages 761-767, ISSN 0956-7135, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2016.09.045.
[3] Teresa Mazzeo, Maria Paciulli, Emma Chiavaro, Attilio Visconti, Vincenzo Fogliano, Tommaso Ganino, Nicoletta Pellegrini, Impact of the industrial freezing process on selected vegetables -Part II. Colour and bioactive compounds, Food Research International, Volume 75, 2015, Pages 89-97, ISSN 0963-9969, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2015.05.036.

 

 

 

 

 

Important Considerations:

  • Always consult your veterinarian before making any significant dietary changes, particularly where there are pre-existing health conditions or dietary restrictions.
  • If you are feeding commercial food, check the label for ingredients before giving more. Excessive intake of any foods can have adverse effects.
  • Ensure (where possible) that you use high-quality, organic products specifically formulated for pets (or better still, human grade ingredients) to avoid any potential adverse effects.
  • Introduce new foods gradually to avoid adverse effects such as gastrointestinal upset or diarrhoea.
  • I provide nutritional information purely as a helpful guide. Nutritional information on ingredients is obtained from the US Department of Agriculture’s FoodData Central site (https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/index.html) and any nutritional information provided in recipes is based on an online calculator: calories and other information will vary based on brands, ingredients and other factors.
  • Check nutrient levels and recommendations for your dog’s weight, age and activity. For example this nutritional guideline produced by FEDIAF.
  • I am not a professional nutritionist. I am sharing recipes that I have created and tested in my kitchen and that have been tasted and approved by our doggy friends.