Our Experience with Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Dog Food

We received a free 4-pound bag of Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Adult Chicken & Brown Rice Dinner Dry Dog Food from PetFoodDirect as part of a BzzAgent campaign.

Our dog absolutely loved this food, going back to lick his bowl several times after he had eaten. We appreciated that the food was made with real animal protein and that it doesn't contain corn.

Before we switched his food, we had been feeding him dog food from BJ's - Berkley and Jensen’s Holistic Dog Food - that has a similar nutritional profile as the Hill's Ideal Balance.

While PetFoodDirect carries a larger, more economical size of the Hill's dog food, at this point, we are going to go back to the Berkley and Jensen's food while we still have our BJ's membership.

Here is a comparison of the prices of the two dog food brands:

PetFoodDirect:  Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Adult Chicken & Brown Rice Dinner -  30 lb for $53.39 - $1.78/lb

BJ's: Berkley and Jensen’s Holistic Dog Food - 16 lb for $19.99 - $1.25/lb

Thanks again to BzzAgent and PetFoodDirect for allowing us to try this food!

How to Make Ogi (African Millet Porridge)

Ogi is a fermented grain porridge from West Africa. Two different methods for preparing this dish are described in Sandor Ellix Katz's "Wild Fermentation" and Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions": Katz recommends grinding the millet before soaking the grain in just water, while Fallon recommends pre-soaking the millet before grinding it and then soaking it in water mixed with whey. Both methods create a tangy, rich, thick porridge that can be eaten in both sweet and savory preparations.

This is Katz's method from "Wild Fermentation":

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Ogi (African Millet Porridge)
2 cups millet
water
sea salt

1. Coarsely grind millet using a grain mill or other technology.
2. Soak the millet in about 4 cups of water. Soaking time can range from about 2 hours to 1 week, and the taste will become progressively more sour as the days pass.
3. When you are ready to make porridge, boil about 1/2 cup water per serving, with a dash of salt.
4. Mix the fermented millet blend to a uniform consistency and add about 2/3 cup per serving to the boiling water. Lower heat and stir constantly to prevent burning, until the porridge cooks and thickens, just a few minutes. Add more water as needed to reach the desired consistency.

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We use a Vitamix with a dry container to grind the millet. We usually soak the millet for about 3 days and prepare it with roasted garlic, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper.

Gross but True

We've noticed some changes in the dog's poop since he's been eating the Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Adult dog food that we got from BzzAgent. His poop is more compact and less stinky, and we are guessing that this food is more easily digested and more effectively absorbed than other foods.
It's gross but true, and it's a good thing!

Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance for Dogs

The package from PetFoodDirect.com arrived on Thursday and the dog has been enjoying Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Adult dog food for the past few days. He's a dog, so of course he loves the food; we noticed that he goes back to lick his bowl a few times after the food is gone, but he does that sometimes with other brands of food and when we put special treats in his bowl. So it's hard to tell if it's good in terms of taste, but we are expecting to see some other benefits of this food (such as shinier coat and more energy) over time.

The dog says, "Thanks for the food, BzzAgent!"

Cut-and-Come-Again Leafy Greens

A single planting of some seeds can provide multiple opportunities to harvest tender, young leaves.

Chard, kale, and leaf lettuces can be harvested several times as the plants grow.

The greens of beets and turnips can be grown this way as well.

As the plants mature, simply cut the outer leaves and no more than 2/3 of the plant at a time. New leaves will begin to grow and will be ready to harvest again in a few days.

Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance dog food BzzCampaign

The Hill's® Science Diet® Ideal Balance™ dog food BzzKit arrived on Saturday, but unlike the Hill's Science Diet cat food BzzKit that contained a coupon for a free sample bag along with $3-off coupons to give away, this contained only a promotional flyer. This campaign is being run in conjunction with PetFoodDirect, and over the weekend, the dog food varieties in the campaign were out of stock. But they are back in stock today and we ordered a 4-lb. bag of Adult dog food for our adult dog. We are sure he will love it!

We prefer to buy dog food that doesn't contain corn and that has animal protein as the first ingredient. Hill's® Science Diet® Ideal Balance™ dog food contains chicken, fruits, and vegetables (but not corn!).

So now we wait for the next package to arrive!

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