DIY: How to Make Your Dog Frozen Meal Toppers

Editor’s Note: This week we are so excited to bring you another edition of our TOC DIY series, brought to you by another wonderful member of our #TOCFam, Allison Jones. Allison lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with her dog, Indy (@indy_inspired on Instagram). She told TOC, “We both adore food and the outdoors! I love using food toppers to keep Indy fueled for our next big hike…I started adding pumpkin to Indy’s meals for more fiber when she started to have mushy poops. It solved that problem but only came in large cans that would take too long to use up. That’s when I decided to start freezing it in cubes so I could store it longer and easily add it to her meals.” Lucky us, Allison’s agreed to share the secret to her frozen toppers so we can make them for our dogs to help spice up their meals and/or introduce some added nutrients. Keep scrolling for all of the steps and ingredient ideas to make your dog frozen meal toppers. [Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning TOC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.]

Allison's dog, Indy, is a four year old rescue mix whom she adopted when she was around six months old.

📎 The Supplies You’ll Need to Make Your Dog Frozen Meal Toppers

• Your choice of topper

• An ice tray. Here’s one TOC found on Amazon.*

• A spoon

• A freezer bag

• Access to a freezer

⏰ Time Commitment

• Five minutes of prep

• Two hours minimum in the freezer

✅ Step by Step: How to Make Your Own Frozen Meal Toppers

• Get your choice of topper and do any cooking or blending needed (not always required) to get it into the desired consistency. You can buy pre-made mixes at a pet store or use something dog safe from a grocery store (like canned pumpkin!). A quick search online will give you other ideas, but here are some ingredients you could use: goat’s milk, yogurt, banana, sweet potatoes, carrots, blueberries, apples, bone broth, etc. For me, it’s about adding healthy whole foods (instead of treats like cheese or peanut butter) but it’s also thrifty! I make sure to dump the bottom dust/crumbles from a treat or kibble bag into a topper. (Note: before you make these, if your dog has allergies, be sure to consult with your veterinarian for advice).

• Using a spoon, portion a bit of your topper into each section of the ice tray. Depending on consistency, you may want to add water.

• Place the tray(s) in the freezer for at least two hours.

• Once fully frozen, you can pop the cubes out of the tray and into a freezer bag for easy access at meal times. (A note on why I freeze these: I once bought a frozen bottle of goat’s milk to try adding it to Indy’s meals. After taking it home, I saw on the bottle that it needed to be used within a few days of thawing. I wanted Indy to get the benefit of probiotics but not have to go through a bottle every few days! Freezing that in ice tray sized portions allowed me to use a bottle a month.)

If you have something that you’d like to DIY for our #TOCFam, please fill out our form here.

*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning TOC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.

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