Dog (and Human) Friendly Beef Stew

Katerina Holmes at Pexels

Katerina Holmes at Pexels
I’ve been feeding my dog on Butternut Box for a long time, which is basically batch cooked stew (beef, lamb, pork, chicken or fish) from human-grade ingredients. It looks appetising, although I have never brought myself to try it, and Katie loves it.

Now I have retired, and have the time and inclination to cook more, I thought I might see if I can do something similar myself – batch cooking once a week, and sneaking a portion for my own tea.

The cost of Butternut Box isn’t terrible. Back when she was getting it morning and evening, it was costing me £17 per week. More recently, I have been feeding her Butternut Box for her morning meal, and kibble for the evening meal. This isn’t because of cost, but because kibble works well with activity toys. So my current Butternut Box bill is £11 a week, and “I have no idea” for the kibble.

But I am not just going to switch her. I’m keeping her on Butternut Box for the forseeable future, but will be swapping in my meals occasionally, to see how she likes them

Of course, there are many things I eat that she can’t – our “shared” meals cannot contain things like garlic and onions, for example. Plus I need to make sure than any necessary supplements in the Butternut Box are also included in my meals.

This is very much a work in progress, and I may come back and tweak the recipe. As for the dog-friendly stock? At worst, that can be water, thickened with flour or cornflour. But it’s another thing on my list to come up with.

Beef Stew for Dogs

A simple dog stew recipe with beef, carrots, sweet potato and peas for a tasty dog's dinner.

Ingredients

  • 750 g beef mince
  • 250 g sweet potato and/or buttenut squash
  • 4 carrots
  • 200 g frozen peas
  • 200g red lentils
  • 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 500 ml dog-friendly stock

Instructions

  • Peel and cut the sweet potato and/or butternut squash into a small dice.
  • Peel and dice the carrot to a similar size
  • Heat the coconut oil on a medium heat.
  • Add the beef mince and lightly saute for 5 minutes until there is no pink.
  • Add in the diced vegetables, peas, lentils, rosemary and stock.
  • Set to slow cooker mode, and cook on High for 4 hours.

Notes

Sweet potato or butternut squash can be used, or a combination of both.
Instead of peas, used sliced green beans, or chopped brocolli, using both heads and stalks.

2 Comments

  1. No recipe ever enters my kitchen and go unchanged.

    In the end, I had two 350g packs of butternut squash and sweet potato that I wanted to use, so I left out the carrot and the peas. I also added some mixed veg that I had in the fridge – broccoli, carrot, sweetcorn – to use it up, and some mushrooms.

    I kept to the plan with the red lentils, but forgot the rosemary. But it tasted pretty good.

    Instead of slow-cooking for 4 hours, I use the Ninja Foodi’s pressure cooker setting for 5 mins. Next time it will be 4, I think; it wasn’t overcooked, but the veg was a little softer than I like.

    As well as an initial taster, I had a bowl of this for my tea, and loved it. What was left divided up nicely as 4 x 400g portions, which is 8 meals for Katie.

    Having said that, I’m planning to nick one of them for another meal for myself. But it has proved the principle that I could easily cook once a week for Katie and provide all of her morning meals (feeding her kibble in the evening). A little more organised me could batch cook and freeze, making this into a once a fortnight or once a month job. Something to think about.

    Next job is to do it again, and monitor costs.

  2. Costings, based on the original recipe and my grocery receipt.

    750 g beef mince 5.90
    250 g sweet potato/butternut squash 1.20
    4 carrots 0.10
    200 g frozen peas 0.30
    200g red lentils 0.40
    1/2 tbsp dried rosemary 0.05
    2 tablespoons coconut oil 0.25
    500 ml dog-friendly stock 0.32

    Total 8.52

    Allowing the chef a portion each time, I reckon I can get 8 x 200g dog portions out of these quantities, which comes out at £1.07 a portion.

    Buying Butternut Box is currently costing me £44.80 for 28 x 200g pouches, or £1.60 a portion. If I went back to feeding Katie BB twice a day, the cost would be £66.36 for 28 x 400g pouches, representing £1.19 per meal.

    Either way, the cost of the manufactured pre-frozen product, delivered to my door is not that much more than the cost of making it at home.

    So I don’t think my meals will be replacing Butternut Box at any time. But it is a fun thing to do, and a useful recipe to perfect, in case of emergencies.

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