I've been training DH as he buys food at end of shift at WM. Cottage cheese brands vary significantly. Its shocking some have junk added. Just not necessary. We found only one cottage cheese labeled" milk, culture, salt ". Carrageenan can be avoided in cream by buying organic.

GRAS no longer means safe, IMHO, and selecting better foods will always be a chore. I'm finding having a garden reduces the stress.....no herbicides or pesticides. Dairy, Im not ready to jump into that. Though I do need to carve out time to visit a local non pasteurized dairy producer( that regularly deals with the state) and make my own dairy products. This doesn't mean organic. Just one step closer.


Do recheck labels!! I had found a new organic local butter and when i checked its labelling, no mention of organic grassfed. The company had been sold!! And new ownership changed the goodness to crap. I was extremely disappointed. Everyone cuts corners, even kerrygold has a problem in the packaging for butter sent to US. Packaging is fine and meets better codes for other countries. Its the US, send junk here. 😀 Our food quality rules are lax when the important aspects are scrutinized. Read those labels!!

Cream cheese…avoid the gums by finding it "spreadable" in a tub. Nancy's brand has been recommended…it is hard for me to find locally. They will list a store on "locator" but that store will only carry their yogurt, or cottage cheese, or be "out". Think it is a cult secret brand. :lol:

If you want a block, it will have something to keep it together on a shelf, one of the gum stabilizers. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods lists all three as options.

There was one tub, Philadelpha brand, with these ingredients: Pasteurized Milk And Cream, Skim Milk, Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Carob Bean Gum, Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum, Lactic Acid, Natamycin (a Natural Mold Inhibitor), Vitamin A Palmitate, Cheese Culture.

And I'm not big on Modified Food Starch. That was a red flag from the book, because we only know it's not food and maybe didn't start as a starch...

Organic has some meaning, it's true. I have to return two cartons of heavy cream with carrageenan in them. I rarely buy Hannaford house brand cream, only when Aldi is out, but I won't fail to read a label again. Because one burp in the stock market and they will change their recipe.

This also opened up a larger question. The book defined a food without UPF would be made from scratch, at home. Which is what I'm buying the cream cheese for. But there are practical considerations when it comes to milk storage, apparently, and distribution. Industrial ice cream production started with "what are we going to do with all this milk about to go bad?" Make it into a form that can be frozen.

Which cream cheese cannot. But sealed and refrigerated, it does have a longer shelf life than milk. Fresh still means local, and we do have a goat farm who makes cheese. We'll have to take a drive out there.

I still won't drink goat milk, since it has a reputation of being "goaty" and that element, all fans agree, is missing from their cheeses :)

Now I'm on a tear. The new cat favorite food will have to go. Carrageenan!

Watch out when WearBear is on a tear.
When you find the perfect cat food for a big, ginger boy, on the "fluffy side" let me know. PS: I will not be making it from scratch. :lol:

"There was one tub, Philadelpha brand, with these ingredients: Pasteurized Milk And Cream, Skim Milk, Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Carob Bean Gum, Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum, Lactic Acid, Natamycin (a Natural Mold Inhibitor), Vitamin A Palmitate, Cheese Culture."

Natamycin. We should all scream about this new addition!!!! I avoid this. Its an antibiotic!!

Homemade cream cheese is very easy. Whole milk plus lemon juice. Added salt optional.

Cat food. We find that by raising and butchering our own meat animals the dog eats more real food. Lots of bits and scraps easier to feed off than pack up for freezer. Cats benefit from real meat more than dogs.....taurine is critical for cats. Found in dark poultry, heart and.....liver, I think. Needs double checking on the liver.

Bet carrageenan is driven by customers opening a can where juices drip out. Just messy!! Canned cat food without the added grains is a far better choice.

Believe our HOA would have something to say about us raising meat animals and butchering them on our lawn. :lol: :lol:

WearBear had a recipe on her Cat website, even that was a bit much for me making a batch of innards indoors. ;)

Thanks for visiting, JEY!

I feed my cats mostly commercial canned. I pay mid-range because the expensive gourmet stuff they won't touch, and lately they won't eat the lowest range, either. When well I do supplement this, with simmered cheap meats. We even have a butcher in the next town, now. But while I have more energy lately, I don't have enough for everything.

Today I'm restarting with bulk canned chicken and tuna from discount outlets. This is people grade food I'd eat myself, though with stuff like tapioca and rice starch. Still a marked reduction, I'm sure.

Right now I'm mixing it with their canned foods, and will gradually decrease the cat food while I get a vitamin mix designed to be added to meat.

Pet food gets increasingly expensive and not-worth-it, especially since a favorite will change their formula and now I have cans to donate to the shelter. I want the cats to get increasingly used to the taste of actual food. I'm thinking the cats have the same problem as we do, since the industry is putting this in all the pet food, too. It might be cheaper.

The dry food is always a problem, but it's also a comfort food and a staple in rescue so we get the best grain-free/low starch from a local outlet. It means a cat never faces an empty bowl, which can make them stress eat.

Science-wise, we have two stations, and I'll leave the downstairs one as usual. Mr WayofCats has a very low pestering threshold. And there would be pestering, heartfelt beseeching eyes following us everywhere at the very least.

Then, they choose. It's a Davis experiment, as described in the book. Will they choose the high quality commercial product? Or will they go for the food closer to their instincts when it is offered?

I await the results with interest.

“Homemade cream cheese is very easy. Whole milk plus lemon juice. Added salt optional.“

If you can find whole milk yogurt without additives let it drain through cheesecloth or light muslin overnight - as for making Greek yogurt, but longer. It makes a perfectly adequate cream cheese substitute. Mix in some sour cream if you want it creamier. Daisy is a brand of sour cream without additives.
Save the whey for smoothies.

That's right! I used to do that. Good to remember, thanks.

Success! It was only yesterday that I started my Davis experiment about upgrading my cat's food, and already I see signs that someone is eating more of the real chicken than they are the cat food I sorta mixed in. Then, this morning, I opened a can of the scorned Reveal cat food that has no additives... and our biggest cat wasn't sure... and then chowed down.

Now I have a cat food I can serve, plus the canned meat/vitamin mix. Will give them variety, which I am a big fan of. Also, my little runt girl kitten ate up all the dessicated dry called Orijen I left out overnight, then let me know the bowl was empty. When I refilled it, I was stopped. Okay, she does want the Brewer's yeast on it. I do that to make sure they get enough B vitamins.

Maybe she likes the taste. Maybe she's doing intuitive eating.

Congrats on getting better food into kitties!!

I remember a new kitty to our house and while sitting on couch offered a bite of chicken to cat behind me , on back of couch. I didn't look, just kept reading a book, holding out treat to tempt this feral cat. Kitty bit my finger, drawing blood. Me bad. Cat didnot understand yet working around fingers, just took a bite of chicken, lol. That is when I realized how much interaction with animals, esp ferals, are learned. Ferals need experience to fit in comfortably. Like chicken vs fingers. Lol

More people are getting back to basics but usually move to the country first. Others do what they can. ...

Some folks use the garage to hide the butchering! 😂

Others keep hens in their house...no kidding.....chicken diapers for pet chickens and use the eggs. One lady let her house- hens perch on sound bar during TV time.

Truly, I like having a private zone in the woods without prying eyes. Avoids nosey neighbors. An HOA, imho, is too limiting.

Improving the diet of my chickens led to improving my own. Most recently, taurine is important for all of us, not just the cats. If you can tolerate heart and liver.... 😆

Hearts and livers are something I used to be able to buy in the grocery store! In little tubs.

I used to help a friend's mother make her chicken liver & chestnut appetizers on toothpicks. They were good!