# 80 lbs in 25 min!



## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Alright, so I just loaded up on chicken again. Got 80 lbs of leg quarters and it took me 25 minutes to sort into day by day meal sizes and package up. This even includes me fumbling through a bunch of cabinets for more storage containers and zip locks. 

This is getting easier every time!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

I will never forget the very first time my husband (then fiance) and I packaged up chicken for a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. 
It took us nearly THREE hours to remove skin, cut up, weigh to the ounce, and package one day ziplock baggies... the catch? This was one 10lb bag of Chicken quarters. LOL!
Now we can burn through an 800lb order in a matter of about 4 hours. It would be so much less if all the people I package for were using plastic bins, but those stupid baggies really soak up time.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

But 3 hrs for 10 lbs of chicken?! I would cry.
Bins would be so much easier than vacuum sealing. The largest order I've had yet was 250 lbs and it took me a good 3 hours to get all of that done vacuum sealing. ]:< Screw the vacuum sealer, sure it saves a little room but I think bins would work just as well and be more efficient. They just need to be good bins that don't crack or break because I hate having to replace things all the time.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

CavePaws said:


> But 3 hrs for 10 lbs of chicken?! I would cry.
> Bins would be so much easier than vacuum sealing. The largest order I've had yet was 250 lbs and it took me a good 3 hours to get all of that done vacuum sealing. ]:< Screw the vacuum sealer, sure it saves a little room but I think bins would work just as well and be more efficient. They just need to be good bins that don't crack or break because I hate having to replace things all the time.


Oh yes. Three hours. I trimmed, weighed, trimmed, weighed, everything was so exact. Then I bagged. Then I cleaned the bags. Then I labeled the bags. 

Now, I just take a bin, throw a bunch of meat in it, some boneless, some not, and a handful of organ and BAM, we're set! 
I have 12 qt. sterilite (sp?) containers, and I haven't had any of mine crack on me yet, they've lasted me about a year. I think I have 32 of them. I have had some of the cheaper ones from costco crack and break on me, though. Beware he suer thin "bargain" bins. 

At first I wasted a lot of freezer space by putting jsut "2 days worh" of food in each one. Now I pack those suckers to the brim to maximize my freezer space and just use them til they're gone. Sometimes they will last 2days, sometimes 2.5, sometimes 3. It depends on what's in them. 
When Mousse is here it will be pretty safe to say that one bin will be 1 day of food. How convenient!


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

I think I'm going to look into those...There must be a place online that sells them in bulk for cheap!


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

We use the Sterlite containers as well. The only time they break on us is when we're lazy and toss them around :wink:


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

CavePaws said:


> I think I'm going to look into those...There must be a place online that sells them in bulk for cheap!


Probably. I think I got some of mine at target, and some at wal mart. I wiped them out! lol.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Uh oh, I can just see myself, one day when I'm being grumpy I just fling a frozen container of meat across the room and into the sink and it shatters.  
Walmart and Target would probably be the easiest place for me to get them...And I'd see the quality of course. But if I buy them online then I can pay less..but quality/thickness probably won't be guaranteed. :[


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

Nice!! 

It does get easier everytime!! I was pleased this time when I Picked up our order, I got 80# of chicken quarters too and they usually just come in one big frozen block. This time they had them bagged into 10# sections instead. Convenient. 

I'm still using freezer bags for my bone in stuff. The ground stuff comes in a plastic "chub" (hate that word!) and we cut them open and store them in a big plastic container I got when I was supporting a local raw supplier. He sold everything in these white tubs and they're super handy & durable. One of those tubs lasts us two feedings of boneless meals so that works out well. 

I may look into the containers for bone in though too....that would eliminate needing to put another container in the fridge for thawing messes.


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## Angelwing (Feb 20, 2011)

Would you guys be able to post pics of your setups? I'm contemplating getting some rubbermaid/sterlite containers because right now I'm just ziplocing everything and throwing it in bags or a couple small boxes.


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

Angelwing said:


> Would you guys be able to post pics of your setups? I'm contemplating getting some rubbermaid/sterlite containers because right now I'm just ziplocing everything and throwing it in bags or a couple small boxes.


Here's how we do it... 
Bulk order meat prep! | Prey Model Raw


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Ours is virtually identical to what Natalie posted. Except since a tub has been basins longer up til now, I just line up those big bins of thawed meat and throw a variety into the 12qt. Bins. I don't usually have stuff waiting to be propped as I get pretty much everything from the same place at the same time and do it all at once, so my freezer is just propped bins stacked up. I use my chest freezer to store random sale finds that I pull out to portion on bulk order day.


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## Angelwing (Feb 20, 2011)

Oh awesome, yeah I'm definitely going to get some sterilite containers. I rarely get large bulk orders (besides chicken necks & backs, can't find any other distributers ) but this will be way easier to package and see what I have left of everything. Easier to label too, since once stuff gets frozen I have a hard time figuring out what it is. Thanks!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Angelwing said:


> . Easier to label too, since once stuff gets frozen I have a hard time figuring out what it is. Thanks!


I've gotten pretty good at identifying random animal parts by now, LOL. 
I have officially decided that even if I can't tell what it is for sure... it doesn't really matter once you're been raw feeding for a while. Sometimes to be honest I'm not sure if I'm feeding turkey or chicken.... sometimes i can't tell if it's goat or lamb. But, I can tell if it's boneless/ bone in or red meat/white meat... and that's all that matters anyway! I just do the "thinking" while I package (make sure that the bone content is right for my dogs, decent amount of organ, etc. ) that way thawing and feeding can be entirely mindless.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I used to label my sterlite containers. I don't really do it anymore because now I can identify what is in there without labels. I just try not to feed the same thing for more than two days in a row. Usually alternating bone in meals with boneless meals. Or half and half. Depends on what we pull out.


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## Angelwing (Feb 20, 2011)

Heh I'll probably still label them, at least for the first little while. I feel really disorganised if I don't, and some of the pieces are smaller with bone and I can't tell if there's bone in there unless it's thawed. I tried to keep the bags separate but some of them all got thrown in a box when I was trying to find something, it's sort of a mess. We are definitely not anywhere near boneless meals for the dogs, yet. One of the dogs I just got last week and he's doing pretty good so far. Better than my first dog who has been on raw for a couple weeks now. The fat content still gets her, so I'm removing almost all of the fat now. The cats have adjusted great, though, they can do boneless easily now.



PuppyPaws said:


> I've gotten pretty good at identifying random animal parts by now, LOL.
> I have officially decided that even if I can't tell what it is for sure... it doesn't really matter once you're been raw feeding for a while. Sometimes to be honest I'm not sure if I'm feeding turkey or chicken.... sometimes i can't tell if it's goat or lamb. But, I can tell if it's boneless/ bone in or red meat/white meat... and that's all that matters anyway! I just do the "thinking" while I package (make sure that the bone content is right for my dogs, decent amount of organ, etc. ) that way thawing and feeding can be entirely mindless.


Do you package the organs with the meat and bone? Like in one baggie you'd put in a complete/balanced meal for the day? That might be easier for me, especially if I have someone else feeding for a couple days when I go on vacation/dog shows. I've just been separating the organs by themselves (I hate cutting up organs, bleh!). Hmm I just need to find what works best for me I suppose.


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## JoeynZoey (Apr 25, 2011)

^^^ good question about adding a full meal into one package. I also have wondered about doing this in specific for when I leave on vacation and someone from my family is to feed her.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Angelwing said:


> Heh I'll probably still label them, at least for the first little while. I feel really disorganised if I don't, and some of the pieces are smaller with bone and I can't tell if there's bone in there unless it's thawed. I tried to keep the bags separate but some of them all got thrown in a box when I was trying to find something, it's sort of a mess. We are definitely not anywhere near boneless meals for the dogs, yet. One of the dogs I just got last week and he's doing pretty good so far. Better than my first dog who has been on raw for a couple weeks now. The fat content still gets her, so I'm removing almost all of the fat now. The cats have adjusted great, though, they can do boneless easily now.
> 
> 
> 
> Do you package the organs with the meat and bone? Like in one baggie you'd put in a complete/balanced meal for the day? That might be easier for me, especially if I have someone else feeding for a couple days when I go on vacation/dog shows. I've just been separating the organs by themselves (I hate cutting up organs, bleh!). Hmm I just need to find what works best for me I suppose.


I guess you could say each bin is somewhat balanced. Each one generally contains red meat, and white meat (some contain fish, too) some bone inclusive cuts, some boneless, and some organ. It probably is not fed in balanced meals persay (each container is lasting me about more than one day right now) but rather balance over the course of a couple days. 
On my next huge order, 

When I go out of town, and for some reason can't take my dogs (generally happens only once a year on my family vacation to Lake Powell) I generally either package each dog's food seprately in one day portions, OR leave a few bags of chicken quarters in the fridge with how many "pieces" to give each dog per day written on a magnetic dry erase board stuck to the fridge door. It doesn't do any harm for them to go back to basics of just chicken quarters for a few days, or even a week... and it makes feeding super mindless for whomever is staying at my house.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

I'm going on vacation in about a month and will be packaging the meals for four seperate days. I'll probably just have the dogs fed once a day and it will be an RMB meal or boneless meal that includes organs. They will be in Bins with the dogs names on it. Right now it varies sometimes I feed them once, sometimes twice, most of the time it includes a tiny bit of organ, some of the time it doesn't if I'm lazy. Not all of my dogs meals are completely balanced with multiple bits of organs, just like not all my meals are completely balanced. But I would say my dogs definitely eat a much more balanced, whole, diet than I do. :[


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

We do the balance over time deal too. A few days a week I throw in a chunk of organ into their meal and they get usually one boneless and one bone in meal per day. I try to switch up what they're getting as far as protein whenever possible. They always get beef as their boneless meal unless I happen to have pork or venison. For bone in they get chicken, turkey, pork, or duck. We feed fish & tripe on occasion as well. 

I just have a general idea of how much each dog needs as far as organ every week and I try to reach that amount by the end of the week.


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

If I am packing whole organ I toss a couple days worth into Max's bins. I pack tight too, a 2 day bit of bony stuff, whole organ and boneless to fill the gaps. Most of his organ is too messy to pack like that. My current excuse to go to KFC is the cute little individual portion tubs that hold 4 ounces of organ mix.

I don't much care what the next bin contains either. If there isn't organ in the one I got out I get out a KFC tublet. If I need more bone I have unbagged venison, chicken feet and rabbit heads I can use.

I also pack used grocery bags with bigger bits. I even cut the rabbit head/beef trim bag knots into rabbit ears.

Even the brittle frozen bins can be opened without damage if you just run water over them for a moment. Max's dried tendons are in such a bin. A pain but don't really want to break the miserable thing on purpose just because it is super annoying.


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