Willow & Bluebell's Story: A Fresh Alternative to Time-Consuming Home Cooking

Elizabeth Stringer used to spend entire weekends cooking food for her Toy Schnauzers, Willow and Bluebell. Now, her dogs are healthier than they've ever been and she's got time back in her life.

 "It's freed me. I have time back in my life... they love the food, and they are healthier than they've ever been."

Elizabeth Stringer is the proud pet parent of two Toy Schnauzers, Willow and Bluebell. But while loving the pups came easy, the journey to feed them right was anything but.

After some scary health issues causing seizures in both of her dogs, Elizabeth turned to the Internet and found a veterinary nutritionist who told her how to cook for them. While cooking fresh food did improve the health of her pets, it was time-consuming, stressful, and challenging to get right.

Time-Sucking Food Prep 

Still, for seven years, Elizabeth painstakingly made all of Willow and Bluebell's food from scratch, because it was the best option she knew about. "It was a nightmare," says Elizabeth. "It was killing me. Every two weeks I'd get up at the crack of dawn, fill a cart full of food, come home, start cooking. It took all day. I'd cook, then put it out on platters, then wait for it to cool, then bag it up in freezer bags. 40 bags every two weeks." The neighbors would tease her about all the time she was spending cooking, and the food took up most of Elizabeth's freezer space—meaning there was no room for meals (or even ice cream) for Elizabeth or her husband.

Even more troubling than the time commitment was the fact that Elizabeth was never sure if she was giving her dogs the right amount of food. Despite speaking with a vet and doing her research, it was challenging to know if she was doing everything properly. "Sometimes they'd get too much," she says, "and they'd still have occasional seizures if they had too much food."

A Perfectly-Portioned Solution

Then, a discovery: Elizabeth happened across Nom Nom on Facebook. "Cooking was such a hassle that I thought I'd give it a try." She experimented with a few recipes, and found success with Chicken Cuisine. "The chicken and sweet potatoes—that worked really well for my dogs."

The benefits have been many, shares Elizabeth. "The portion control has been a huge improvement compared to cooking for my dogs myself. It comes with dry ice, which is fantastic. It's ice cold and you know it's fresh and safe. And it takes up only half the amount of space in my freezer." Most importantly, Elizabeth loves knowing that her dogs are getting exactly the nutrition they need, in exactly the right portions.

"They are healthier than me cooking for them. They love the food, and they are healthier than they've ever been."

Willow and Bluebell have been eating Nom Nom for nearly a year now and it's made a huge difference in Elizabeth’s peace of mind—and in her dogs' health. "It opens up a lot of opportunities now," says Elizabeth. She has time back in her life, she can travel again, and if her dogs need to stay with someone else, it's easy to explain how to feed them. "It's a big relief," she says. "It's freed me."