Comparing Costs of Fresh Dog Food Delivery vs. Store-bought Kibble

Knowing how much it will cost each month to feed your dog a specific type and/or brand of food, based on the dog’s weight, is important for any pet owner on a budget. It can be difficult to accurately budget in the price of your pet's meals if you're unaware of what each type of food option costs per month, per the weight and requirements of your dog.

Prices of different types of dog foods vary drastically. However, the clearest difference exists between the cost of feeding a dog fresh food from a delivery service and the price of store bought kibble that dog owners pick-up at their local grocery or buy online.

Traditionally, feeding kibble or homemade dog food were the only two options that pet owners had. But recently, the market has evolved to include a dog food delivery services as a new, big competitor to store-bought products. We have even reviewed several such services to test how they work and what fresh dog food they deliver, including the three most popular ones: NomNomNow, Ollie, PetPlate and The Farmer's Dog.

After tons of journalistic investigations and scientific reports over the past few years that revealed the deplorable quality of many commercial bad dog food brands, more owners  considering switching to a human-grade fresh dog food delivery service. But the biggest disadvantage of such services is their cost – unsurprisingly, fresh dog food is far more expensive than store-bought kibble. But how much more expensive is it, and is the price worth it? That's what we're going to take a look at in this article.

Cost of Fresh Dog Food Delivery

Below is a list of seven most popular dog food delivery services in the U.S., their monthly costs and whatever deals the companies may be running. Before you look at the chart, there are a few important notes to keep in mind:

1) The monthly price ranges provided in the following chart are approximate costs of each meal delivery service’s cost per month, based on the price each company charges per each main size category of dogs (small, medium, large breeds).

2) The price range information is calculated based upon the approximate amount, in pounds, of fresh dog food that each different weigh category of dog requires per month, determined by their size.

3) For the purpose of this chart, the prices reflect the costs of the required amounts of fresh dog food for the following size and weight categories of dogs:

• • Small Breed Dogs: weighing between 5 to 20 pounds.
  • Medium Breed Dogs: weighing between 21 to 60 pounds.
  • Large Breed Dogs: weighing between 61 to 100 pounds.

4) You can click on the included links that are provided to visit each fresh dog food delivery company’s website to learn more about the specific ingredients included in the different types of meals they offer, discounts, deals, delivery schedules, shipping costs, and more.

Cost of Store-bought Commercial Dog Food/Kibble

Below is a list of five popular premium quality dog food brands (dry kibble) in the U.S., their price per pound of dog food and total monthly cost based on dog size. Before you look at the chart, here are a few notes to keep in mind:

1) The price range per pound of dog food is given due to the fact that the price per pound of each food can vary based upon which retailer the food is purchased from.

2) The price range of total monthly cost that's calculated per size of a dog is based upon the weight of dry food that the three different dog size categories require per month, in general. That information is then translated into the price per pound of each specific type of dog food brand that's included in the chart, and what that price per pound equals to each moth, for each of the three size categories of dogs.

3) Here are the amounts of dry dog food that each size category of dogs will generally require, per month:

• • Small Breed Dogs: that weigh between 5 to 25 pounds, need approx. 2 to 8 pounds of dry dog food per month.
  • Medium Breed Dogs: that weigh between 26 to 50 pounds, need approx. 8 to 16 pounds of dry dog food per month.
  • Large Breed Dogs: that weigh between 51 to 100 pounds, need approx. 16 to 24 pounds of dry dog food per month.

4) Use the “price per pound” information provided in the chart to calculate the specific amount of dog food that you know your pooch consumes. Having the overall price range of each type of dry dog food for each breed size category calculated per month allows you to easily and effectively compare the overall prices of a wide-variety of store bought kibbles versus meal delivery services noted above. 

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