You could check out the co-op group in Austin about buying meat. Alot of people here use them and the prices are usually better than your local stores.
Austin (TX) Raw Feeders' Coop - Welcome!
Hopes this helps out.

 

Texas is "pretty" big... what's your closest city?

I think there is Harvest Meat Company in Dallas, that mentioned co-op in Austin, and Action Meat and Lone Star Poultry in Houston. Let me know if you want to know about action meat; we just placed our second order (two dogs). Small clients aren't "too important" them, so it's probably easier to "work with them" if you know what to expect.

 

We order from Action Meat via the San Antonio Raw Feeders Co-Op. Their prices are excellent and there is no way HEB would even come close. Compared to feeding medium/high quality kibble for 4 dogs, raw has been saving approximately $50.00 per month via purchases from Action Meat.

(No, the doxie pictured in my avatar is not one of the 4 dogs on raw. He is on a sort of combo raw / Acana + various meats and fish.)

-- Tara

 

I think it's awesome that your looking into raw feeding! eace:

Seeing that your feeding wellness CORE, I am fairly sure that you could feed raw and stay in your current budget, if not feed raw for less.

I'll post a few links that may be helpful. I would for sure look into joining a co op, as they are a very valuable recourse for finding quality meat at a great price.

How to get started | Prey Model Raw

Raw Co-Ops | Prey Model Raw

Skylar, Zack, and Abby on the WEB

http://dogfoodchat.com/forum/raw-feeding/1648-breakdown-cost.html

http://dogfoodchat.com/forum/raw-feeding/6023-normal-pmr-faq.html

Good luck! :smile:

 

Lol yes, Texas is big. I was thinking of if anyone knew of suppliers that were cost efficient shipping wise because of the closeness in proximity. We are in Austin, I'm looking into the Austin Co-op group right now. funshine, I'll go ahead and look both places up! Thanks for your help! I may have a few questions when I'm done looking through it.

My boyfriend and I spent a good two hours grocery shopping in HEB. I pretty much stood in front of the meat section for an hour looking at various items. The only thing they had which was cost effective was Turkey and Chicken but they also always have stuff that they want to sell quick too which are normally cheap - pork roasts, beef roasts, steaks, etc. I bought a pack of turkey necks and gave one each to the pups (they were cut, so not giant necks). I'd have to say necks are one of their favorite snacks.

Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to be buying bulk most likely online and then looking about for deals in the stores around us. We've got a bag and a half of CORE to finish up before we do the full switch.

 

Ouch, Core is pricey! I can't imagine feeding five dogs on that... a couple cats is bad enough.

My 50lb GSD/Sibe mutt is averaging between 1-1.5lbs a day.
The 60lb Terv/GSD/Sibe foster is eating about 2lbs a day.

 

I live in Austin and I'm relatively new to the raw feeding so I'm certainly not an expert. The Co-op is going to be the best bet, and if we weren't considering moving in two months, I'd def. go that route. Also l live in an apartment and don't have room for a freezer so I can't go that route for that reason either. I looked into it though and they open up enrollment at the beginning of every month, so you might want to hurry up and send them a request since it's getting close.

If you want to start before everything gets set up with the co-op or whatnot then Costco does have .79lb whole chickens (co-op is like 29 cents!) and this Hispanic grocery store has good deals from time to time- http://www.lamichoacanameatmarket.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=2 None too good this week, but it changes every Tuesday. Also check out Fiesta- they have some pretty good sales. For fish, check out the Asian Supermarket off braker and Lamar. They also have random pieces that not all stores have. I'm not too sure about the prices on that stuff, but the fish isn't bad at all. Feel free to email me if you'd like -- maggie.rumfelt@ccr.edu

 

We decided to keep the dogs on Wellness Core...-hides under rock- Sorry guys! Just didn't want to join the co-op so we decided to do a couple days of kibble each week and a couple days of raw - namely, turkey, chicken backs, and fish. The dogs eat chicken hearts at night too sometimes, is this considered organ or muscle meat? ...Should I even feed them organ meat since they are eating a pretty well balanced kibble? I add Solid Gold Seameal to their food, so I don't think they're missing out on much, if at all, nutrient wise.

Oh, and definitely noticed a difference in poo when we added more raw meaty bones to their diet. O_O It's sort of hard for me to see the tan poops in the dying winter grass in our yard.

Monkey - it's really not too expensive feeding all five CORE, since there are three of us splitting the cost of it...really it's well worth the money. It might be pricey if I had to pay for all five by myself, then I could only imagine my wallet would be empty all the time. Note - if you buy from Petco, after 10 bags, you get a bag free. That's $60 of free food! We almost always have a coupon as well, so the avg. cost is around $50 for 26 lbs and between the three of us, I pay on avg between 15-20 dollars a bag.

 

I would definitely check out the Fiesta off 35, or any of the mexican or asian markets in town.

Going raw is definitely the best choice, and finding meat is actually kind of fun!

GL :happy:

 

Awww too bad. There really are some cheap places to get meat here. I have a few Hispanic stores I've scoped out and found good deals at..

La Michoacana Meat Market - Pg 1 of 2
El Rancho Supermercado - Austin, TX

It's funny that you felt okay with staying on kibble, b/c after about two days raw the thought of feeding my dogs kibble was horrid. We actually had a trip planned (it ended up getting canceled due to weather) and I was already preparing a cooler and meat to take with me b/c I couldn't even think about feeding them kibble. Do you have any puppies? I have about half a bag of wellness puppy food I stopped feeding them. I also have a pretty full, big bag of adult blue buffalo if you know anyone who wants it as they are just sitting in my house getting stale.

 

Woah woah woah... I'm in Marble Falls An option for you might be http://www.saddogsushi.com (website is a bit confusing) I go through them most of the time. E-mail them at saddog888@gmail.com and tell them Molly Morlino sent you.

They deliver in Austin FOR FREE! Very easy service! I buy in bulk and measure my own food out, BUT they have a great pre-made service where they package the meals for you (all is fresh - meat, bones, and organ meat ONLY) so all you do is unwrap it and plop it in their bowl.

 

Fiesta is on my list of places to visit! Saw an add for 69 cents a lb on whole chickens! Yummy. :] We've got an asian food market about two miles down the road from my house. I'll scout out some stuff and if I find any good deals I can let you guys know.

The reason I felt okay sticking with CORE is because of it's ingredients...Any other kibble except Orijen I'd stay away from. My dogs do like CORE a lot, but they also love the RMBs I feed them, so a mixture isn't too much of a compromise for them.

I think if I switched all five to raw it really would end up costing me more. When it's just Indi and I living on our own I will most likely be feeding raw all the time, and CORE when on the road to agility trials.

I don't have any puppies currently, everyone is at least 1.5 yrs. Thanks for the offer! I hope no puppies come my way anytime soon too. >__> Don't think I could handle any more wild ruffians for a few years.


Also, I'd buy in bulk if I had the freezer to do it! My dream would be to buy a side of beef or a whole cow...^_^ However, a freezer is not within my budget right at this moment.
Molly - I just visited your web page! Your dogs are beautiful. Lizzy looks a lot like my little dachshund terrier mix's mamma. She was a beautiful long haired girl.