BYC members in Massachusetts?

[ShrekDawg]

T

I woudl say ANY cheap grocery store. Market basket ? Or if there is another place that has cheap groceries. There are not many around me.

BUT... You could also keep an eye out at the meat counter for "Manager Specials"
I know MB does this when it is suppose to be sold by the next day.
You could also go through the meat and pick out ones that will expire the next day and ask if they would lower the price ??

I used to go to Everett to a chicken processing place when I was feeding RAW yo my Danes. I had good luck with the Satin balls when my Rescue Dane came to me at 90# (and she was 32" at the shoulder ! )

Edit to add .. Big Y ?? I don't shop there but I think it is cheaper grocery ?

Thanks for all the suggestions! We have two grocery stores a couple minutes down the street (stop and shop and big y) but I don't think they are that cheap. But I haven't been in Big Y so idk. I know stop & shop marks meat half price on Mondays and Tuesdays.

I was thinking of possibly checking out BJ's or Aldi's, I know those are for sure cheaper/discount stores. And Market Basket is a good idea. Or Wal-Mart but I'm not sure I trust them

I guess I'll just have to drive around to different stores and see for myself but I thought maybe there was one that was way cheaper than anywhere .

And wow that is a skinny Dane!

 

[keesmom]

T


Thanks for all the suggestions! We have two grocery stores a couple minutes down the street (stop and shop and big y) but I don't think they are that cheap. But I haven't been in Big Y so idk. I know stop & shop marks meat half price on Mondays and Tuesdays.

I was thinking of possibly checking out BJ's or Ali's, I know those are for sure cheaper/discount stores. And Market Basket is a good idea. Or Wal-Mart but I'm not sure I trust them

I guess I'll just have to drive around to different stores and see for myself but I thought maybe there was one that was way cheaper than anywhere .

And wow that is a skinny Dane!

Stop & Shop definitely is not inexpensive. Not sure about Big Y, there are none around here.

I shop at Market Basket. While all of our meat comes in bulk from farms I do know MB does have discounted meat on a semi-regular basis. Sometimes one can find good bargains on frozen ground beef.

I'm not a fan of Walmart's cheap tube of beef. At all. BJs is probably a good place to try. I haven't checked their prices but I know they are cheaper than Costco.

Does it have to be beef? What about pork, chicken or turkey? Maybe it's time to invest in a meat grinder to do your own.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Stop & Shop definitely is not inexpensive. Not sure about Big Y, there are none around here.

I shop at Market Basket. While all of our meat comes in bulk from farms I do know MB does have discounted meat on a semi-regular basis. Sometimes one can find good bargains on frozen ground beef.

I'm not a fan of Walmart's cheap tube of beef. At all. BJs is probably a good place to try. I haven't checked their prices but I know they are cheaper than Costco.

Does it have to be beef? What about pork, chicken or turkey? Maybe it's time to invest in a meat grinder to do your own.

Yeah, some of their prices are crazy but they are 2 minutes from our house so we tend to just go there a lot. But we do love Market Basket. I wasn't sure how cheap they would be though but probably worth looking into. Or I read you can buy other beef and ask them to grind it? If the other cuts were cheaper

That's good to know about Wal-Mart though because I didn't really trust their grocery store anyway so I think I'll avoid there.

I think I'll try Market Basket and BJ's.

And well, the recipe called for beef, I think probably because of the higher fat content in it than the leaner meats?, but that said, I think you could probably put anything you wanted in it.

And I think we have one of those attachments for the kitchen aid but I'm not sure that's the same thing?

I might try just buying a little bit at first and shrinking the recipe

 

[tigger19687]

Buy it already ground, WAY EASIER ! I was not about to buy a $200 grinder to my Raw and the $50 hand crank thing was a joke and PITA

I forgot about Walmart. Not sure on BJ's but Costco is almost top notch meat, there will not be a very good deal there.

Not sure where you are in MA but is there a local butcher near you ? I am sure they have someone they give cuts too but maybe ask to see if they have stuff ? There were no butchers near me.

ALSO, Not sure why you are doing these Satin balls, but since it is DEER season, ask around to see if anyone has cuts left over from their Deer. Great Lean meat.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Buy it already ground, WAY EASIER ! I was not about to buy a $200 grinder to my Raw and the $50 hand crank thing was a joke and PITA

I forgot about Walmart. Not sure on BJ's but Costco is almost top notch meat, there will not be a very good deal there.

Not sure where you are in MA but is there a local butcher near you ? I am sure they have someone they give cuts too but maybe ask to see if they have stuff ? There were no butchers near me.

ALSO, Not sure why you are doing these Satin balls, but since it is DEER season, ask around to see if anyone has cuts left over from their Deer. Great Lean meat.

Thanks! I'll try to avoid grinding it myself then if I can.

I think I'll check BJ's anyway along with the other stores and then if it's not cheap I won't get it but usually their prices aren't too bad from what with remember. Though certain cuts are. Maybe they have a roll or something though.

I'm in southeastern MA and I think we do have some butchers nearby but I'm not sure. I didn't think of that or the hunters tbh. I'll try both. Maybe I could post an ad?

I'm doing it because he's a little skinny and I thought it would help. I think he's got some sort of muscle thing going on but he also just decided he didn't like this food anymore. He eats it if I put olive oil on it but was hoping the balls would fatten him up. We did recently buy a bunch of cans though so we have been trying those too. But I thought the satin balls might be quicker or healthier.

I also found another type. One seems to be hamburger, Total, wheat germ, oats, eggs, molasses, veg oil, that sort of thing, but another one seems to be cream cheese and peanut butter and stuff? Meat too of course but they seem different. Like the one also soaks oats in cream or milk. I wasnt sure about trying that one cause it seems very dairy heavy? But it might work faster?

 

[tigger19687]

Careful of CreamCheese and PB, they will give him the runs.

An easy fix to get him to eat the dry is to take a BIG tablespoon of Canned food, mix in water to get a "not too thick' gravy, mix with dry food and let it sit for about 5 min to soak in. It will soften the food and add a nice taste. Works every time

What kind of food are you feeding and what type of dog ?

 

[Merrymouse]

Wow! Haven't been here in a while and lots of new members! Welcome

 

[ShrekDawg]

Careful of CreamCheese and PB, they will give him the runs.

An easy fix to get him to eat the dry is to take a BIG tablespoon of Canned food, mix in water to get a "not too thick' gravy, mix with dry food and let it sit for about 5 min to soak in. It will soften the food and add a nice taste. Works every time

What kind of food are you feeding and what type of dog ?

Careful of CreamCheese and PB, they will give him the runs.

An easy fix to get him to eat the dry is to take a BIG tablespoon of Canned food, mix in water to get a "not too thick' gravy, mix with dry food and let it sit for about 5 min to soak in. It will soften the food and add a nice taste. Works every time

What kind of food are you feeding and what type of dog ?

Yeah, that's what I figured. And he doesn't really usually like gravy or the wet food really mixing too much with his kibble, he's weird. But I might try that. I've never tried doing that specific thing before.

The olive oil seems to work though (I don't put much on). Although I recent bought a new kind of food.

But usually we throw it out and that's such a waste so I'm trying to force him to eat it but by putting something nice on it. I used to force him to eat it just by leaving it out (free fed) but he starves himself. I tried to do it with one of the brands of food we had over the summer and he didn't eat it for like 2 weeks and lost a lot of weight so I finally caved and bought him something else. And just for the record, no, I did not starve him. Lol we gave him some cans and meat and stuff but he just did NOT like that food.

Anyway, he's half black Lab and half Great Pyrenees. He will be 6 in March.

We rotate brands every month though or bag. We have tried about every brand under the sun LOL

We only feed grain free now though as of like 2014 when I discovered better brands and took him off Purina, etc.

We particularly like NutriSource, Zignature, Wellness CORE, and also the Walmart brand Pure Balance.

He is eating Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural right now. Hated it at first so we bought something else. Then he decided he hated that and liked Earthborn all of a sudden? Now after a few weeks he has decided he hates the Earthborn again. I don't know what his problem is lol

Anyway, I just bought some of the Wal-Mart brand for now which he seems to really like.

 

[tigger19687]

When I had to stop the Raw diet on the Dane, they LOVED the Costco Brand food. It really is a not bad food, no corn, did a mix of the chicken and Lamb formula. But then again I had 2 danes so it went fast enough to buy 2 bags at a time.
I wanted to try to Blue bag they have,
Kirkland Signature Nature's Domain. Sorry I had to look it up. But it was too much $$ for me at the time.
DON'T BUY THIS FOOD !! I was just reading their reviews and the company that makes it must have changed the formula and now dogs are not eating it after using this brand for years. That happens, A LOT with dog food and they don't have to tell you for like 6 months or something.
Just keep away from anything that has Corn in it... junk.

You might want to try the Raw diet. Neither ever left any in the bowl and you feed less. I did not do bones. But did the Oatmeal mush that was listed in the Picairn's book.


Oh and my 2 cats are like your dog. Love Costco brand cat food. Now, not. so I buy $$$$ for them hoping the none grain will be a huge treat for them... nope. Got some Freeze dried $$$ stuff, nope..... Now they only want the Wegman's Fish dry food
But they are 16 y/o so for now I don't care so long as they eat !

 

[ShrekDawg]

6hey

When I had to stop the Raw diet on the Dane, they LOVED the Costco Brand food. It really is a not bad food, no corn, did a mix of the chicken and Lamb formula. But then again I had 2 danes so it went fast enough to buy 2 bags at a time.
I wanted to try to Blue bag they have,
Kirkland Signature Nature's Domain. Sorry I had to look it up. But it was too much $$ for me at the time.
DON'T BUY THIS FOOD !! I was just reading their reviews and the company that makes it must have changed the formula and now dogs are not eating it after using this brand for years. That happens, A LOT with dog food and they don't have to tell you for like 6 months or something.
Just keep away from anything that has Corn in it... junk.

You might want to try the Raw diet. Neither ever left any in the bowl and you feed less. I did not do bones. But did the Oatmeal mush that was listed in the Picairn's book.


Oh and my 2 cats are like your dog. Love Costco brand cat food. Now, not. so I buy $$$$ for them hoping the none grain will be a huge treat for them... nope. Got some Freeze dried $$$ stuff, nope..... Now they only want the Wegman's Fish dry food
But they are 16 y/o so for now I don't care so long as they eat !

Sadly we don't have a Costco near here or else I would try that. Maybe BJ's has something similar though?

And yeah, I was looking at reviews for wet cat foods recently and apparently wellness changed their formula recently! I forget which one but I think it was at least a few of them. But now people that have been feeding it for YEARS, some like 10+, are switching brands. The cats no longer like it plus they no longer like the company. I think they are under new management recently (maybe sold?) And therefore focused on redoing all the packaging/design but also made the food worse, added more gums/filler and in some formulas took out veggies, etc. It might be cheaper to make but in the long run, it is likely going to cost a lot as they have lost a lot of their base customers. Idiotic move imo but hey. And of course they are still coasting on their reputation. I guess they are like the third cat food company to change formulas in the past few years apparently.

Anyway, yeah, he would probably do find with grain, always did before, but it's just easier for us. He hated Victor though which is too bad because I really liked them.

I would try raw but I think it would be expensive . He's 130 pounds.

And UGH I am so lucky my cat is not picky at all! I hear cat horror stories all the time .

The funny thing though is the dog, who is half Lab no less, is the pickiest thing!