We go through a lot of dog treats in our house. A lot. I may be well educated on how to create a happy, healthy lifestyle for your dog, but I've never said I wasn't a pushover. I mean, it's not like my dogs aren't well behaved and trained, so it's ok if they get a treat every single time they go inside or outside, or before bed, or into their kennels, or if they go and stare adorably at the treat container...
Fortunately, all of the brands and varieties that I purchase have great ingredients that supplement their regular food, so I feel good feeding them to Jackson and Tinkerbell. With my strict criteria for treats, though, it can be extremely expensive to purchase organic, grain free options, and you can easily spend over $100 a month on just treats. Enter...the food dehydrator!
It wasn't too big of an ah-ha moment when I stood and looked at the bags of sweet potato chips, carrot chips, and green bean chips in the healthy pet product store selling for $8 and up and realized, "hey, I could make those in that food dehydrator that's collecting dust in our cabinet!"
So far we have just done sweet potatoes and carrots, but I will be adding other options like green beans, spinach, and kale soon. And yes, my dogs adore all of those and many other fruits and vegetables, which I've blogged about before: Jackson and Tinkerbell's Top 7 Produce Picks.
Here is the super easy process for making your own dehydrated treats!
I prefer to peel the potatoes and use a kitchen mandolin to slice them because it is easier to get a uniform thickness. You can slice either direction to create smaller round slices or longer slices. If you do not have a mandolin, slice with a knife and try to keep your slices the same thickness. Our mandolin is ancient and scary; please get one with more safety features than this!
Jax and Tink like to hover as soon as I start peeling...
If using a kitchen mandolin, make sure you use the accompanying safety holder so you do not remove any human parts.
All sliced and ready to be dehydrated!
Place slices in a food dehydrator, placing larger pieces toward the bottom. If you do not have a food dehydrator you can use your oven at around 140 degrees or your lowest setting.
During the dehydration process, I suggest checking on them and moving the trays around depending how each layer is cooking.
Viola! A few hours ready your treats are ready to give to your dog! I store in food storage containers right by the door to our yard.
