Discover the Difference The Farmer s Dog Food vs Traditional Brands
The Farmers Dog Vs The Honest Kitchen: Whats The Difference?
Last Updated on February 29, 2024 by Kieran Beckles
Have you decided to ditch regular dog food in favour of a fresh approach but you cant decide whether to sign up to The Farmers Dog or The Honest Kitchen?
It can be an overwhelming experience to survey the sheer volume of options within the pet food industry, including human grade fresh food brands, customized dry food, tailored wet foods, dehydrated dog food, air dried dog food and raw food.
Having experienced a lot of issues with my Alaskan Klee Kai and their diet, we decided to ditch regular kibble in favour of fresh dog food containing human grade ingredients customized to meet their specific requirements on a daily basis.
When we left the UK, we had to leave behind Copper and Skyes favourite human grade dog food. We started our search to find an equivalent in the USA, leading us on a dog food journey thats seen us try a lot of different pet food.
In this dog food comparison review, were going to be taking a look at The Farmers Dog and The Honest Kitchen. Theyre two of the leading human grade dog food options available in the American pet food market at the moment.
Well examine the fresh dog food recipes that theyve got on offer, how their subscription plan works, the pricing of their human grade dog food as well as sharing our experience feeding these two fresh food brands to our Alaskan Klee Kai.
Cut To The Chase: We recommend The Farmers Dog and you can save 50% on your first order when you click this link.
Who Is The Farmers Dog?
The Farmers Dog is a fresh dog food company in the USA who have created a popular range of human grade dog food formulated by board certified veterinary nutritionists to ensure their meals support your dogs diet.
Theyve made feeding fresh food convenient, creating a range of containing real human grade ingredients such as high quality meat and fresh vegetables in balanced and complete recipes free from any meat meals, brown pellets, fillers, artificial preservatives and nasties.
The Farmers Dog use clear labelling to allow pet parents to get a concise understanding of all the real food in their dogs food, such as cage free chicken, sweet potatoes, brown rice.
They use a proprietary formula that contains supplemental ingredients such as copper amino acid chelate, vitamin e supplement, zinc amino acid chelate, iron amino acid chelate, fish oil and more.
To get started with The Farmers Dog, youll need to fill out their sign-up questionnaire. Youll need to answer questions such as your dogs breed, dogs health, dogs activity level, your pets food at the moment and any health issues they may be facing.
Once The Farmers Dog have a greater understanding of your dog, youll get a suggested meal plan.
At the current time, The Farmers Dog offers fresh meals in the shape of four recipes: a beef recipe, a chicken recipe, a pork recipe and a turkey recipe. You can stick with The Farmers Dog recipes or you can decide which fresh dog food meals you think youre dog will like the most.
With the meal plan sorted, youll need to select your delivery frequency which will affect your subscription price before you enter your payment details and await your first box to arrive at your doorstep with all your dogs fresh foods inside.
Youll need to make freezer space before your dog food arrives. Once youve got your hands on the human grade pet food, youll store the majority in the freezer and thaw a couple of fresh dog food meals in the fridge.
Our Verdict On The Farmers Dog
We decided to give The Farmers Dog a try after reading positive reviews from dog parents about their human grade dog food and seeing some of their social media campaigns.
Having tested and reviewed a lot of human grade pet food over the past seven years in the UK and the USA, we were impressed with The Farmers Dog sign-up questionnaire.
It covered all the key questions but had an easy-on-the-eye design that made it simple to sign up to receive the fresh dog food meals.
With a picky eater, we liked that The Farmers Dog had four recipes on offer. It isnt as diverse a range as some human grade dog food companies, we considered it an acceptable range.
Once we completed the sign up process for The Farmers Dog, we were paid $193 to get a 40-day supply of their human grade dog food.
When Copper and Skyes pet food arrived, I was impressed to see their fresh food frozen thanks to the dry ice in the delivery box.
Picking up one of their meal pouches, I was impressed to see The Farmers Dog had labelled Copper and Skyes individual meals.
Unlike a lot of fresh dog food brands, The Farmers Dog kept their promise to formulate and pre portion my Klee Kais individual meals.
Copper needs to lose weight and Skye needs to lose weight so it was significant that the human grade dog food brand had gone to the trouble of labelling their meals. Its a small detail but I havent experienced this attention to detail with other pet food brands.
We really like that The Farmers Dog indicated how much food to feed by including a graphic on the front of each meal pouch displaying the portion size for each meal. Were talking about little things but it makes feeding fresh much easier and hassle free.
Copper and Skye enjoyed their fresh food meals, especially the beef recipe and the pork recipe. Copper finished every meal but Skye took her time. Having said that, Skye would usually eat all her human grade food but there were a handful of times that she left a little in her bowl.
Who Is The Honest Kitchen?
The Honest Kitchen is a fresh pet food company that provides a wide range of human grade dog food. Theyve got clusters dry food, wet food, dehydrated food and more.
You have a lot of variety if youre a dog parent who likes to vary your dogs diet with different pet foods. In the spirit of transparency, we were sent dry food, wet food and dehydrated dog food by the brand to give to Copper and Skye.
Before we share our experience and our verdict, Ill quickly run through some of the key things to remember when we discuss The Honest Kitchen.
Having launched in 2002, The Honest Kitchen are one of the most experienced pet food manufacturers. Naturally, the business has evolved with an ever-evolving range of dog food on offer.
The Honest Kitchen want to create dog food that meet the same standards as human food, allowing pet owners to ditch traditional kibble or processed food in favour of human grade dog food.
The Honest Kitchen source human grade ingredients from responsible suppliers before their dry food is cold pressed into bite-size clusters that are roasted and dehydrated to lock in all the nutrients.
Their dehydrated dog food use real whole food ingredients such as cage free turkey and cage free chicken alongside other human grade ingredients like vegetables. Dog owners will need to add warm water to transform the dehydrated food from dry dog food into dehydrated meals.
The Honest Kitchen recipes include wet dog food in the shape of slow-cooked stews that are complete and balanced, cooked in small batches and free from any nasties. Pet parents can simply pour over your dry dog food or dehydrated dog food as a tasty topper.
The Honest Kitchen offer a lot of different recipes across their entire human grade dog food range.
Our Verdict On The Honest Kitchen
As we disclosed above, The Honest Kitchen sent dry food, wet food and dehydrated food to try. Typically, we wouldnt feed dry dog food or wet dog food because my Klee Kai are picky so we tend to feed other pet foods.
Unfortunately, as I anticipated, Copper and Skye werent big fans of the dry food and wet food despite numerous attempts to encourage them to eat.
Of course, every dog is different so your pets may love the dry food and wet food so Id still recommend giving it a try if you know your furry friend likes these dog food markets.
While my Alaskan Klee Kai didnt like these type of dog foods, weve previously tried a British dehydrated dog food brand so we were hopeful theyd enjoy The Honest Kitchens offering.
We mixed the the dry dog food with some warm water in their dog bowls, spotting some of the dog foods ingredients with specks of green and orange to highlight vegetables in the human grade food.
Of course, dehydrated dog food does require a little more work on the part of the pet parent because youve got to create their fresh meals.
Copper and Skye did finish their dehydrated dog food, especially enjoying dehydrated chicken.
The Honest Kitchen offer a variety of subscription plans and thanks to their diverse range of human grade dog food, youve got a lot of choice when deciding the fresh foods to give your pet.
While The Honest Kitchen provide a feeding calculator and feeding guideline, you dont get the option to sign up to a customized meal plan. You just have the option to get your dog foods shipped automatically.
You can also find The Honest Kitchen at your local pet stores if you prefer to pick up your pet food, perhaps while youre doing your weekly shop of human food!
The Farmers Dog Or The Honest Kitchen: Our Verdict
Weve reached the key part of our dog food comparison article who do we recommend?
Well, we believe in feeding fresh food and of these two brands, wed go for The Farmers Dog.
We really liked that The Farmers Dog take into account your pets unique characteristics, such as your dogs health and any food allergies your pup may have.
While The Honest Kitchen do have more choice when it comes to human grade recipes, The Farmers Dog still have four different protein sources to provide decent variety.
What I really liked about The Farmers Dog was the pre portion element to their human grade dog food. Copper and Skye need different meal plans because our male Klee Kai needs to lose weight and our female Klee Kai need to gain weight.
It was great that The Farmers Dog labelled their individual meals to ensure we were feeding the right dog food to the right dog to meet their weight goals.
Not only that, but The Farmers Dog clearly display how much food to feed at each mealtime. It takes the brain work out of feeding human grade food to your pet.
When compared to other human grade fresh foods in the pet food market, The Farmers Dog is competitively priced. We paid $193 for Copper and Skyes meals every 40 days, which is cheaper than most fresh dog food brands that Ive reviewed.
While we recommend The Farmers Dog based upon our experience, you wont go wrong if you opt for The Honest Kitchen and their range of human grade dog foods, either.
The Honest Kitchen have created shelf stable food that doesnt require freezer space, so thats a plus. Theyve got grain free and grain inclusive recipes too.
Where To Buy The Farmers Dog
If youre ready to start your journey with human grade brands, you can begin signing up for The Farmers Dog by completing their sign-up questionnaire by clicking this link or the button below.
How To Save 50% On The Farmers Dog
We reached out to The Farmers Dog and managed to secure an exclusive 50% discount for our readers. To avail of this 50% discount, you need to click this link or hit the button below.
Where To Buy The Honest Kitchen
The Honest Kitchen is available to buy at your local pet stores but Id recommend getting started online to make your life a little easier and choose automated deliveries. To get started, click here or the button below.
How To Save 10% On The Honest Kitchen
We managed to secure a 10% discount for our readers who want to try The Honest Kitchen. To get this discount, you can save 10% provided you use code AFFILIATE10 at the checkout.
Anything Else To Consider?
We recommend speaking to your vet before you decide to make a change to your dogs diet. Your vet can offer guidance on how to make a successful transition to human grade fresh food.
You can also ask your vet if you have questions about the human grade food in the recipes or proprietary blends containing supplements such as iron amino acid chelate, vitamin e supplement, zinc amino acid chelate and copper amino acid chelate.
Wrapping Up
Weve reached the end of our comparison dog food review.
We recommend The Farmers Dog based upon our success feeding their fresh food to Copper and Skye, alongside the convenience and level of detail feeding their pet food to our Alaskan Klee Kai.
While you wont go wrong with The Honest Kitchen, we believe The Farmers Dog offer a slightly elevated human grade fresh food service that suited us and our dogs preferred.
Kieran runs Life With Klee Kai on social media and other online platforms alongside his wife Yasmin. With over 10 years of experience as a journalist and a passionate dog owner, Kieran loves to combine his passion for pets and writing to share useful insights and product reviews to help other dog owners.
