Wondering how much food to order? Generally speaking, we recommend ordering a bag size that your dog can finish within a month. This rule applies to all pet foods, not just ours. Just like a bag of chips, the pet food’s taste and quality will start to deteriorate once exposed to air. If opened too long, it can even cause health problems. Exposure to air and humidity can speed up the rate at which dog foods degrade. As fats and proteins break down in air/moisture, they become rancid, and are at risk for bacterial contamination.
You can help keep the food as fresh as possible by keeping the food in the original packaging (designed to keep air out) and sealing it shut after each use. Our 20 lb bags have a strip for that purpose. The 5 lb bags can be rolled and clipped with a binder clip or chip clip. If you have a bin for food storage, consider placing the bag inside the bin rather than dumping the contents into the bin. If you DO dump the contents into the bin, be sure to wash and dry it thoroughly between uses.There are approximately 4 cups per pound of food. If your dog eats 1 cup of food per day, you can estimate how much food you need per month this way:
30 days times one cup per day = 30 cups of food30 cups of food divided by four cups per pound of food = 7.5 lbs of food needed each month
In this case, I would suggest ordering 10 lbs of food every 5 weeks. I also always recommend keeping an extra bag of food on hand just in case of an emergency! Sometimes dogs like the food so much that they convince someone in the family that they haven’t been fed yet, or we may not be able to deliver due to weather-related travel restrictions. We offer a “grab and go” emergency bag that includes a bag of food as well as two cans of food, a silicone pop-up bowl, a poop bag dispenser, a slip lead, and a seatbelt car clip.
Even if your dog is a grazer, you should measure out each day’s food. This will help alert you to potential health issues and will also keep the food as fresh as possible.