Freeze Dried Raw Grass-fed Beef Receipt by Open Farm Reviews

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The pet food industry is full of companies that accept cut every corner to make their products cheaper, easier to manufacture, and easier to store on supermarket shelves. But many of these shortcuts are bad for pets, and they're bad for the surroundings and other animals, too.

Open Farm helps pets live their healthiest, happiest lives by delivering exceptional nutrition made from the world's all-time ingredients. Their strict sourcing standards are what sets their recipes apart, and the event is improve food for our pets. Their sustainability efforts and humane sourcing as well align with the values of today's pet parents.

Open up Farm exclusively works with farms audited by Certified Humane® and Global Animal Partnership®, who test for the quality of life of farm animals. Their standards include a wholesome and nutritious diet, space to roam freely, prohibiting the use of preventative antibiotics or growth hormones, and on-site farm audits. This ensures the highest quality meat poly peptide goes into each recipe: Grass-fed beef, pasture-raised lamb, wild-defenseless salmon, and more.

We'll unbox and test a bunch of Open up Farm'due south products in this Open Farm pet food review.

Verdict (if you're in a hurry): Open Farm's impeccable sourcing of ethical, human-grade ingredients earns it a thumbs upwards from u.s.a., and our dog, Hobbes, loves it too. Combine a Gently Cooked fresh nutrient subscription with some of Open Farm's other products to give your pup a rotational diet that will never bore them.

In this review

• High-level overview of benefits
• Open Farm Dog Food unboxing video
• Our Open Farm review
• How does Open up Farm work?
• How much does it cost?
• Accept there been any recalls?

Open Farm Pet Food: At a Glance

• High-quality ingredients: All of Open Farm'due south products include high-quality ingredients like whole meats, GMO-gratis produce, and superfoods like chia seeds, turmeric, and chicory root.
• No GMOs, antibiotics, or added growth hormones: All of Open up Farm's pet food is fabricated with meat free from antibiotics and added growth hormones. All fruits and vegetables are non-GMO and some are organic.
• Options for sensitive stomachs: Open up Farm offers a wide variety of products to suit dogs and cats with food allergies. You lot tin view their sensitivity chart at the lesser of this page to see which products adapt your pet's needs.
• Ethically sourced: 100% Certified Humane chicken, turkey, and pork; pasture-fed beef and lamb raised without antibiotics. Open Subcontract's partner farms are regularly audited to verify humane standards are maintained. No animals are kept in cages.
• Traceable: Your food will come up with a code you can punch into Open Farm's website to trace where your ingredients came from. This level of transparency and accountability is a top priority for the company.
• Human-grade fresh: Open Subcontract's pinnacle pick, its Gently Cooked fresh food, is made entirely from man-grade ingredients that will requite your dog a nutrition as good as your own. This should take a profound impact on your dog'southward health.
• Single purchase or subscriptions: Open Farm allows one-off purchases or subscriptions. We recommend subscribing to earn a disbelieve and to knock 1 more item off your grocery list—permanently. Get xv% off your first purchase with code DOGTALE15.
• Completely recyclable: All of Open Farm's packaging is either curb-side recyclable, compostable, or recyclable through its partnership with TerraCycle.
• Open Farm gives back: Nosotros reached out to Open Farm to encounter if they participate in any charities or animal welfare programs. Here was their response: "Open up Farm stands past their 'Do Some Good' mission. In 2020 we donated 75k meals to rescue animals across the Usa and Canada and as well abet for causes that matter to u.s. including partnering with BetterHelp to shine lite on mental health sensation. Our customers can easily become involved every bit well, every time pet parents send in their Open Farm bags to TerraCycle, they earn points to be redeemed for a variety of charitable gifts, or a payment to the not-turn a profit organization or school of your selection."

Unboxing Open Farm dog food

Open up Farm Canis familiaris Food review

We tried out a bunch of Open Farm's dog food products, and then we could have a closer look at what'south inside and what they're actually similar. If you're interested in Open up Subcontract cat food, we'll provide some info on that, too.

• Gently Cooked fresh food
• Rustic Stew moisture nutrient (for dogs or cats)
• Freeze-dried raw food
• Kibble (dogs & cats)
• Rotational bundles
• Bone Broth (dogs & cats)
• Treats

"Gently Cooked" fresh domestic dog nutrient

The Gently Cooked fresh nutrient is by far Open Farm's best pick. It's made entirely from human-grade ingredients, so you lot or I could swallow it, likewise. As the name says, all ingredients are gently cooked at a low heat to preserve more of their original nutrients. And so the food is flash-frozen and shipped over dry ice, so your dog can get the freshest meal possible without whatsoever extra work from you.

Aside from being human-grade, all of the ingredients in the Gently Cooked food are super high-quality. All fruits and veggies are non-GMO, and the meats are gratuitous from antibiotics or added growth hormones.

Open Subcontract has also partnered with Certified Humane and the Global Brute Partnership to brand sure these meats are sourced ethically. All animals used in Open Farm's food are raised cage-complimentary and pasture-fed, and the farms are regularly audited by an contained third party to maintain these standards. If fish are included in the recipe, they are hook-and-line caught, never from fisheries, and they come up recommended past Ocean Wise to mitigate overfishing or bycatch.

Why fresh food?

Fresh nutrient is better than traditional, store-bought kibble by a long shot. This is due to a number of reasons:

• Ingredient quality: The biggest names in the pet nutrient manufacture rely on some awful ingredients to make their food cheaper and more shelf-stable. You lot'll run into lots of meat meals made from the corpses of livestock that you lot'd never desire your dog to become near. You'll also see tons of preservatives. None of this can exist found in Open Farm's Gently Cooked nutrient—only human-grade ingredients.
• Less processing: The procedure used to make kibble destroys a ton of the ingredients' original nutrients. The food is cooked at loftier temperatures, dehydrated, ground into a powder, so extruded into those picayune chocolate-brown pellets. It's kind of like eating fast food or beef jerky every solar day for every meal, your unabridged life. By contrast, fresh food is slowly cooked over a low heat, and then immediately sealed and frozen, so your pet gets the same type of nutrition y'all'd want for yourself.
• Long-term implications: Enquiry shows that what your pet eats volition have a profound bear upon on their holistic wellness.¹ When you combine the two points above, you lot can see how feeding your pet a fresh diet could non only help them live a longer life, but it volition aid those years be healthier for them and less stressful for you, too. Fresh food is, naturally, going to be more expensive. But if information technology mitigates vet bills down the road, it's easier to justify the toll.

Open up Farm fresh dog food recipe options

• Grass-Fed Beef: Beef, carrots, kale, beef liver, zucchini…
• Harvest Chicken: Chicken, carrots, kale, butternut squash, apples…
• Surf & Turf: Beef, carrots, kale, salmon, beef liver…
• Homestead Turkey: Turkey, kale, carrots, apples, butternut squash…

Run into full recipe ingredients…

How does Open up Subcontract compare to other fresh dog food brands?

When we compare fresh pet nutrient brands, we usually consider five master factors: ingredient quality, repast options, cost, sustainability, and what other products are available.

Open Farm knocks four of these five categories out of the park. They have recipe options you won't see from any other fresh nutrient brand, the ingredients are top-notch, every single piece of food and packaging is sustainably and ethically sourced, and at that place are a whole lot of other products you tin can add together to your subscription.

The brand definitely gets a thumbs up from us.

The only category where Open Farm didn't smoothen was price—it's on the college finish of the toll range, with prices like to Spot and Tango'southward cost. Withal, y'all tin can reduce your toll past subscribing instead of placing a one-off order, and yous can knock it down further by ordering 18 pounds per shipment instead of eight pounds. (If this sounds like also much nutrient, you tin can simply increase the amount of fourth dimension in between each shipment.) On pinnacle of these discounts, don't forget about the additional 15% off your showtime order with code DOGTALE15.

Open Farm'southward pricing organisation is a little bit unlike than some other fresh food brands, such as NomNomNow or The Farmer's Canis familiaris, where your canis familiaris is delivered the precise amount of food they need at a unique price. Instead, Open Farm delivers its nutrient in standardized 16-ounce portions. You and so follow their feeding guide to make up one's mind how many packs your dog should eat per twenty-four hours.

This isn't as personalized every bit some other services, simply it makes pricing transparent and straightforward—especially if yous program to apply the fresh food as a topper on your dog'due south current kibble, rather than an exclusive nutrition. Some other services permit you club topper portions, but the discount for ordering these partial plans isn't proportional to the subtract in the amount of food yous receive. With Open Farm, you'll know that ordering one-half as much food will simply cut your price in one-half.

If you like Open up Farm's ethical sourcing, but yous're more interested in dry canis familiaris nutrient than fresh, then we recommend checking out Chippin. Chippin has taken extensive steps to ensure every part of its service is planet friendly, and we're super impressed. We also like that its food doesn't include any meat meals like Open Farm's does. Learn more in our Chippin Dog Food review.

Some other dry canis familiaris food worth checking out is Sundays for Dogs. While it doesn't offer the planet-friendly approach Chippin takes, its ingredients and air-drying process lead to a actually solid product for your domestic dog.

>> Read more: Smalls Cat Food Review

Rustic Stew wet nutrient (for dogs or cats)

If you desire to feed your dog a human-form diet, but you don't have the freezer space for the Gently Cooked fresh food described above, cheque out Open up Subcontract's Rustic Stew wet food. The same goes for felines who are tired of gelatinous cans of wet true cat food.

These recipes are gently kettle-cooked at 165º F for about 35 minutes, then finished in a force per unit area cooker at approximately the same temperature. It yields a thick, pourable stew that delivers the same humane, antibiotic-free meat and non-GMO produce that are used in the Gently Cooked fresh food. Notwithstanding, Rustic Stew is also mixed with nutrient-rich bone broth to give the food a soft, pourable texture some pets crave. The only other fresh food subscription brand we know of that also offers fresh, human being-grade, shelf-stable nutrient is Simply Food For Dogs.

What nosotros like:

• Bang-up for pets with sensitive teeth. Soft, wholesome ingredients mixed with bone broth to brand the nutrient delicious and easy to consume.
• Better than canned: Rustic Stew is stored in BPA-free Tetra Paks, which are resealable and recyclable.
• Perfect as a standalone meal or topper: Rustic Stew meets AAFCO standards for all ages, so you can serve it as a complete repast. But its pourable texture also makes it easy to mix with kibble as a delicious, nutritious topper.
• High in poly peptide. The whole meat content makes this stew a much more substantial topper than some other topper mixes. However, if y'all want an even higher poly peptide option, cheque out A Pup Above or Raised Right Canis familiaris Food.
• Make clean. No artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. Meats come from audited high welfare farms, and the ingredients are 100% traceable.

First five ingredients:

• Grass-Fed Beef: Beef, Beef bone broth, pumpkin, carrots, green beans…
• Harvest Craven: Craven, chicken bone broth, pumpkin, carrots, light-green beans…
• Chicken & Salmon: Craven, chicken bone broth, wild Pacific salmon, pumpkin, carrots…
• Homestead Turkey: Turkey, turkey bone broth, pumpkin, carrots, green beans…
• Herring & Mackerel: Sea herring and mackerel, water sufficient for processing, pumpkin, carrots, green beans…
• Wild-Caught Salmon: Wild Pacific salmon, pumpkin, carrots, green beans, spinach….

See full recipes for dogs or cats…

Freeze-dried raw dog food

We prefer and recommend fresh cooked food. But If you have your domestic dog on a raw nutrition, nonetheless y'all want the convenience of kibble, you may want to bank check out Open Farm's freeze-dried raw domestic dog nutrient.

In every freeze-dried raw recipe, 85% of the protein is made upwardly of ethically sourced and humanely raised farm fauna ingredients. These ingredients are then combined with locally sourced, organic foods like kokosnoot oil, spinach, and kale to form a balanced repast.

The freeze-drying process pulls the moisture from the nutrient to make it shelf-stable and easy to store and serve, only it doesn't destroy the bioavailable nutrients in the ingredients by cooking them. The resulting clusters resemble really large pieces of kibble, but they have an airier, crunchier texture that your dog will dearest to chew.

What nosotros like:

• Raw without the mess. Go all the necessary components of a raw diet, like whole meat, organs, and bone, merely without any of the mess or complicated preparation.
• Serve as a topper, treat, or a repast. Perfect as a whole meal if you're on the get, or mix it into your canis familiaris's other food to provide more nutrition or keep them interested. The large pieces likewise make great treats.
• Humane. All ingredients from 100% Certified Humane farms and audited welfare farms.
• Local & traceable. Veggies (similar non-GMO pumpkin, squash, and leafy greens) are organic and locally sourced in North America. Check the lot number on each pack to trace your ingredients.
• No meals. No rendered poultry or meat meals or byproducts.

Kickoff 5 ingredients:

• Grass-Fed Beef: Beef, beef heart, beef kidneys, beef liver, basis beef basic…
• Harvest Chicken: Chicken with footing bone, chicken livers, chicken necks, chicken hearts, organic carrots…
• Surf & Turf: Beef, beef hearts, wild Pacific salmon, beef kidneys, beef livers…
• Homestead Turkey: Turkey with ground bone, turkey livers, turkey necks, turkey gizzards, organic carrots…
• Pasture-Raised Lamb: Lamb, lamb heart, lamb liver, ground lamb bone, organic carrots…
• Farmer's Table Pork: Pork, pork heart, pork liver, ground pork os, organic blueberries…

Encounter full recipes…

Dry out canis familiaris nutrient & cat food (kibble)

As we explained to a higher place, gently cooked fresh food is far amend for your pet than kibble. Information technology'due south hard to understate the nutritional touch on of feeding your dog or true cat real, whole foods that haven't gone through extensive overprocessing to dehydrate, shape, and preserve the ingredients.

That said, it'southward likewise difficult to compete with the cost and convenience of kibble. That's why nosotros likewise encourage pet owners who are on a upkeep to consider mixing human being-form fresh food or rustic stews with kibble as a compromise betwixt nutrition and price.

Open Farm offers 16 loftier-quality dry food recipes for dogs and iv for cats. A few of the dry dog food recipes bachelor include Homestead Chicken & Turkey, Grass-Fed Beefiness, Wild-Caught Salmon & Ancient Grains, and New Zealand Venison. Encounter all the options for dogs here and cats here.

All recipes see AAFCO standards for all life stages, including the growth of large breeds (lxx-lbs+). All recipes feature whole meat as the first ingredient, such as whole chicken, venison, beef, or Ocean Whitefish. And similar all of Open up Farm's other products, all animal protein comes from verified humanely raised sources.

Open Farm likewise makes it super easy to filter your options for various food sensitivities and needs, such as gluten intolerance, no corn / wheat / soy, or single-protein requirements.

The merely qualm we have with Open Farm's kibble is that information technology does feature either Ocean Whitefish meal, Herring meal, or Menhaden meal in the recipes, although never as the commencement ingredient. Meals aren't as desirable as whole meat, simply fish meal is generally less apropos to us than beef or chicken meal, which have been known to sometimes include very low-quality carcasses.

Besides, as with any meat meal, the source is as or more of import every bit the course of the protein. With Open Farm, you know that all fish-based ingredients come up recommended by Ocean Wise and are sourced from the ocean, never fish farms.

The rest of each ingredient list is top-notch, featuring wholesome fruits and veggies like apple, carrot, pumpkin, and chickpeas, as well as supplemental ingredients like taurine for middle health or turmeric for inflammation and antioxidants.

Prices vary by recipe and the size of the bag you cull, merely by and large, Open Farm'south dry dog food is in the same toll range as Orijen'due south high-quality kibble. And don't forget that you lot can subscribe to regular kibble shipments to get a disbelieve.

Rotational bundles

Open Farm offers a few rotational bundles, like the Puppy Essentials Pack, which introduces your little pup to a variety of flavors and textures, rather than only one formula.

Periodically switching poly peptide sources and formulas not simply keeps picky eaters interested but also reduces the chance of allergy development and ensures your pal receives a variety of essential nutrients. The variety as well increases their tolerance to dietary changes. Merely remember to make changes slowly and follow Open Subcontract'due south transition guide.

Another perk of rotational diets is that mixing unlike types of food can besides assistance yous provide your dog with highly nutritious and affordable foods at the same time. A diet consisting of exclusively fresh or moisture food recipes would be better, but it can be expensive.

Every bit with all of Open Farm's products, you can subscribe to a rotational bundle (at a discount!) to make sure your domestic dog e'er has all the nutritious foods they demand without always worrying about restocking.

• Puppy Essentials Pack: Puppy Dry Food, Surf & Turf Freeze Dried Raw, Dehydrated Craven Treats and Dehydrated Turkey Treats.
• Shiny Fur & Glaze canis familiaris food bundle: Wild-Caught Salmon Dry out Dog Nutrient, Surf & Turf Freeze Stale Raw Dog Food, and Harvest Chicken Bone Broth
• Ancient Grains dog food bundle: Pasture-Raised Lamb & Ancient Grains Dry out Dog Nutrient, Grass-Fed Beef Freeze Dried Raw, and Grass-Fed Beef Rustic Stew,
• Os Broth bundle: Homestead Turkey Bone Broth, Harvest Craven Bone Broth, and Grass-Fed Beef Bone Broth

See all bundles here, or build your own bowl through the button beneath. And don't forget to use code DOGTALE15 for 15% off your first shipment.

>> Read more: What'due south the Difference Betwixt Puppy and Adult Canis familiaris Food?

Os Broth & Kefir (toppers & supplements)

Open Farm offers a variety of food-dumbo bone broths in single proteins or combo packs to supplement your domestic dog's current food. Bone broths are rich in collagen and support healthy digestion, skin and coats, and immune systems.

The moo-cow and goat milk kefirs comprise 12 billion live probiotics, high levels of vitamin B12, folic acrid, and anti-inflammatory superfoods like organic turmeric and cinnamon. These toppers aid overall digestion and gut wellness, bone health, and immune system support.

Currently, Open Farm offers 3 goat milk blends that combine calcium-rich goat milk with food-dumbo foods similar blueberries, spinach, or chicory root. These milk blends are each formulated for specific issues such as a boost of antioxidants, digestion aid, or relaxation. However, kefir is not currently available online—only in select stores.

You can order the bone goop online, then we got some Chicken Bone Goop to try out. We like to use it as a topper for the meals when we feed our dog kibble. It makes it a petty bit tastier and more than nutritious, and we love that it adds some moisture to his dry out meals during the hot summertime months.

Dog treats

Open up Farm offers five types of canis familiaris treats. These treats feature high-quality ingredients like 100% humanely raised meats, chickpeas, and rosemary excerpt. They're costless from glycerine, glutens, and bogus preservatives, then they make for a peachy mid-day snack or grooming aid.

Open Subcontract dog treats

• Dehydrated Cod Skins
• Dehydrated Craven Treats
• Dehydrated Turkey Treats
• Dehydrated Beef Treats
• Dehydrated Pork Treats

90 percent of the meat-based treats are the whole meat in the treat'south proper name, so they're all good options. Only the cod skins are the only single-ingredient treat in the agglomeration, so take a expect at that 1 if you're interested in a really uncomplicated recipe.

How does Open up Farm work?

Open Farm's fresh canis familiaris food subscription works similarly to other pet food delivery services. Y'all can take their brief Build Your Own Basin quiz to get product recommendations for your domestic dog or cat. Even so, annotation that this quiz will mainly recommend recipes in the aforementioned food blazon as your pet currently eats. So, if your dog currently eats kibble, simply you desire to effort out fresh food, make sure yous select "Fresh" when it asks what type of food your dog currently eats. The quiz will besides suggest some other nutrient and supplement types to try.

Once you've determined how much food your canis familiaris needs and which recipes you'd similar to try, you can order a unmarried shipment or subscribe, so the food will be shipped to y'all on a regular schedule. It'south packaged over dry ice so that it remains cold until y'all're able to shop it in your freezer—even if yous're not home exactly when the commitment arrives.

There are actually but ii major differences between how Open Farm works and how other services function.

The offset is that you won't go custom portion sizes based on your pet's size, age, or activity level. The nutrient comes in standardized portions, and yous order yet much food you lot demand (aided past the feeding guide on their website).

This makes the service a little less personal, but it delivers in every area that counts. The repast options are groovy, the ingredients are impeccably sourced, and the packaging is entirely recyclable.

The other difference is the host of options for you to choose from when setting up your subscription. Several other fresh dog nutrient services offer treats, simply none offer as many treats, supplements, and alternating food types equally Open Subcontract.

As we've explained in a few places higher up, no other nutrient blazon volition come up close to the nutritional benefit of feeding your dog a nutrition of gently cooked fresh food. But we exercise know that tin go expensive, and so we honey that yous can subscribe to all sorts of dissimilar foods—or one of Open Farm's user-friendly bundles—to proceed costs down and mix up your dog's meals.

You can gild one or several of Open up Farm's products equally a single purchase, but you'll become a bigger disbelieve by setting upwards a subscription. And you don't need to worry about not liking what you get—your subscription can be edited or canceled at any time, and Open Farm accepts returns inside xv days of your purchase.

Finally, don't forget you can go an additional xv% off your get-go society with code DOGTALE15.

How much does it cost?

How much you pay for Open Subcontract volition depend entirely on what types of products you choose to mix and match. But recollect that paying for quality food will pay dividends down the road when your pet is healthier and incurs fewer vet bills. The tabular array beneath will give you a crude idea, or dig deeper in our look at Open up Farm canis familiaris food prices.

Gently Cooked (Fresh)	$7.92 per pound
Rustic Stew (wet nutrient)	$47.99 for a example of 12
Freeze-Dried nutrient (raw)	Starts at $ix.99
Dry foods (dog)	$2.94 – $iv.75 per pound (big bags)
Treats	Starts at $9.49 per purse
Bone Broth	$20.99 per 3-pack

>> Read more: All-time Dog Food for IBD & IBS

Is Open Farm worth it?

It's upwards to you how you lot want to rest toll and quality. If you tin afford to feed your dog a fresh diet, you could see a large impact on their overall health—especially if your canis familiaris struggles with dietary sensitivities and other ailments.

But even if you can't, you tin can still make a big bear on on their health by upgrading just part of their diet. The more you lot can mix in foods with real, whole, less-processed ingredients, the more y'all can give their torso the raw nutrients it needs to do its job and feel the best.

Taking advantage of the discounts Open Farm offers, such every bit subscribing, as well every bit using our discount lawmaking above can help make that upgraded diet a little more than affordable.

Take there been whatever recalls?

No, Open Farm has never been recalled as of the date of publication. You tin can learn more in our argument on Open Subcontract dog food recalls.

>> Read more: Ollie Dog Food Recalls

References

1. Pet Health: 'You are what yous swallow' is true for pets, too

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Source: https://thedogtale.com/open-farm-dog-cat-food-review/