This week, I am embarking on a new journey as a dog owner. I have been working for the past two years to get myself healthy – all the while, my best furry friends are still eating garbage. By garbage, I mean of course, bagged dog food. I have been reading many articles on whether or not our canine family members actually need meat in their diets. I mean, I stopped eating that stuff for a reason. Why should it be good enough for my dogs? Apparently the same jury that decides if humans need meat also decide if dogs need meat, because, I still can’t find any concrete evidence to support either side of the argument.

I spent some time researching a natural food to feed my dogs. You know, one of those foods that isn’t full of additives and junk that we can’t pronounce. The best that I could find was Halo. It has been developed by a team of experts and endorsed by Ellen Degeneres. While I absolutely LOVE Ellen. I do not love the price of the food. It runs about $27 for a 10 pound bag. When you have more than one puppy, and are an average Joe – this is a bit pricey for food. Currently, my pups are eating Iams at an average cost of 20 dollars for a 20 pound bag. I can grab it at my grocery store and at places like Walmart so its super convenient for a busy Eco Warrior like me.

I made my first step to rid my pups of the garbage in their life. I began MAKING their food. Yep. You read right. It was easy breezy and it makes me feel darn good to be able to do it. Dogs need very little in their life to be happy and healthy. They need love, shelter, exercise and of course – food. As I mentioned, the jury is still out on whether or not dogs actually NEED meat in their diets. Since I want the same things for my pups that I want for myself, I am giving them a diet like the one I eat. Packed full of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. That is what we are told is in that bagged garbage anyway right?

I began with a good protein base for their new diets – Green lentils and brown rice. Stewed them up in a big pot. I mixed in some carrots which my pups love anyway and they are packed full of all sorts of vitamins. I added in some fresh garlic because hellooo garlic is good for ridding them of fleas, keeping mosquitos away AND keeping their blood healthy. This yummy concoction was cooled to room temp and put into an airtight container in my fridge. I mix in their new diet with the old IAMS chunks to get their systems used to the new grub. Eventually, I will be phasing out the dry IAMS kibble and switching them over to the better quality kibble since they won’t be consuming quite so much of it.

I spent a whopping 15 minutes of prep time to cut up the veggies and press the garlic. It stewed on my stove top for about 2 hours on low while I swept floors, re arranged furniture and caught up on Facebook.

Total cost to me:

• 4 cups of green lentils – .89
• 4 cups of long grain brown rice – 1.35
• 3 carrots chopped – less than .20
• 4 sections of fresh garlic – less than $1.00

Total – $3.44

This should last us about 5 days as we mix it in with their current dry food. They of course will be eating less dry food which will cut our costs down with that. My goal is to cut the dry kibble intake to at least 50% of what it is currently while making my pups healthier in the process. I plan to utilize different beans as well as veggies. Giving them lots of variety and things to experience.

Total Cost to the Environment:

• Plant based products grown on local farms. No cost to truck these items to me. Low cost to package as most are purchased at a local farmers market.
• No operations cost to a factory/plant to manufacture the products.
• No cost for creating packaging for products since they are veggies.
• No waste. NONE! I cooked the entire veggie. (Worst case, the peels would find their way to my compost bin)
• Reduction of the processed product that we have been using with eventual phase out of these items from our lives.

Total – very minimal

Down to Business:

Since we are talking about dogs here, we also need to discuss poop. Only natural right?  Dogs poop to rid their bodies of waste. Have you ever noticed that a dog who is fed a diet of low grade, processed food will poop 3 – 4 times per day – sometimes even more. They also need to eat twice as much in order to fuel their bodies. If you feed a dog a higher quality food, they poop less. So what happens to dogs like mine when they are fed even less of the garbage food and more of the yummy fuel forming foods that I made for them? Yep, ONCE per day. One pile. Less waste to have to deal with as an owner and proof that my pups bods are loving the new food.

I am looking forward to a nice long and healthy life with my pups. Even longer now that they are official Eco Pups.