The Farmer's Dog: Step-By-Step Feeding Tips

I didn't expect fresh dog food delivery to become a regular part of our routine. We have three dogs — a poodle, a westie, and a third that I've been feeding The Farmer's Dog for going on 18 months now — and when we first started, I figured it would be one of those things we tried for a month and quietly abandoned. That's not what happened.

The reason I finally made the switch was pretty simple: I kept seeing the ads, kept reading the reviews, and eventually decided to just test it myself. What I actually wanted to know wasn't whether the food was "good" in some abstract sense. I wanted to know if it was realistic to feed three dogs this way on a daily basis without it becoming a whole project. That's what this comes down to for most people, I think. The food sounds great in the marketing. The question is whether it holds up when you're just trying to get through a Tuesday morning.

What the Daily Feeding Routine Actually Looks Like

The short version: it's not complicated, but there is a learning curve in the first week or two. The food comes pre-portioned for your specific dogs based on their weight and health info, which removes a lot of the guesswork. You store the sealed packs in the fridge, and there's a clear enough system for rotating through them. Where people seem to get tripped up — based on the questions I get — is figuring out the thawing and separating process when you're feeding multiple dogs with different portion sizes. Once you've done it a few times, it's just a habit. The first few days, you'll probably be standing in the kitchen longer than you want to be.

The recipes themselves are straightforward. Real ingredients, not a long list of things you can't pronounce. Our dogs took to it immediately, which honestly wasn't a surprise — fresh food is more appealing than kibble to pretty much every dog I've seen try it. What did surprise me was that none of our three had any major digestive adjustment issues, which is something I'd read about with other fresh food transitions. Your results may vary, but ours went smoothly.

How It Compares

I've looked at Ollie, which comes up constantly in the same conversations, and I think The Farmer's Dog is the better product. The formulations feel more consistent, the packaging and portioning system works better for multiple dogs, and the quality has been steady over 18 months — it hasn't dipped in a way I've noticed. That's not nothing. A lot of subscription products are great at the start and get worse once they have your credit card.

The cost is real, and I won't pretend otherwise. Feeding three dogs fresh food is more expensive than feeding three dogs kibble. Whether that math works for you depends on your situation. For us, the consistency and the fact that our dogs are clearly into it has made it worth keeping around. I track this stuff — I've logged over 1,000 meals at this point — and I haven't had a reason to switch.

The Practical Side

If you're just starting out, the setup process on their website is more detailed than most — they ask about breed, age, weight, activity level, and health conditions before putting together a plan. That's actually useful rather than just data collection theater. The packs come labeled, which matters when you're juggling different portion sizes for different dogs.

Storage takes up a reasonable amount of fridge space. Not an overwhelming amount, but worth knowing before your first box arrives. The packs for each dog are separated, which makes feeding straightforward even when you're half-awake.

After 18 months with three dogs, the honest bottom line is that the daily routine is manageable and the food does what it claims. If you're on the fence about whether it's realistic long-term, it is — you just need to get through the first week of figuring out your system. After that, it's pretty low-effort for what you're getting.