Greetings all,

Through a cost benefit analysis I have noticed that cat food in the larger tins is a much, much better buy. Ounce per ounce the food I feed in the 5.5oz size is 40% cheaper versus the food in the smaller 3oz tin. Whether the brand is on sale or not the net savings are still the same.

With the 40% discount in mind, I could just plop down the whole 5.5 ounces and just throw away any uneaten food daily. While spending slightly more per can at the register, in the long run I feel the overall food cost would be the same as just buying the 3oz. tins per the offset of their intake of dry which I feed at night, but why do that and let the wet go to waste?

In an effort to better conserve costs the question I have is and can anyone foresee any problem/risks with buying the larger tin and only dishing out half of it, then refrigerating the other portion for a later meal the next day?

The tin would always be placed inside a ziplock bag with all possible air squeezed out while in the fridge. I could only venture to guess never to feed if more than 48 hours have passed, but does anyone also have any idea of how long it would keep in the fashion I describe?

I used to give Kody alittle of the canned or pouched food at night. He eats 4 ozs. of raw a day, and alittle dry also. So when I gave him the cans, it was only 1/3 to 1/2 of the 3 oz. size. He never had any problems eating the rest of the can the next day and occassionly 2 days later even. He would even eat it right out of the refrigerator, I never had to warm it up for him.

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Anne

You can get plastic lids for cat food tins in pet stores and even most grocery stores around here. Just snap them on, place the tin in the fridge, and wash them off if there's food stuck to them before reusing. That way you don't have to use ziplock bags. Most canned foods will keep for up to a week in the fridge, but personally I would aim at using it up within 1-2 days from opening the cans. Some cats are sensitive to cold food though and may either not eat it or vomit after eating it. So it is recommended to let the food warm up to room temperature before serving it to the cats. It may depend on the cat - my Binky loves his food cold straight from the fridge, but Mikesch will vomit it back up, so I have to let his warm up first. You can also try mixing some hot water in with it. I think microwaving is not a good idea and usually not recommended.

I think it's perfectly OK to keep food 1 or 2 days once opened - as Tameeria says, you can get the plastic lids which keep them airtight once opened.

To avoid the problem of the food being too cold from the fridge, I leave my open food (carton of Bozita and some raw) in a cool bag with an ice pack during the day. That way it's kept cool but isn't too cold when I come to feed them the second half in the evening. I don't think I'd do it overnight though and I didn't do it during the few hot days we had back in June.

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Lots of purrs Sarah & Horatio

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Steph

aka The NO! ->

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Lots of purrs Sarah & Horatio

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Steph

aka The NO! ->