Most premium dog food arrives frozen, on a schedule, in an insulated box you have to be home for. There is a version that does not.
This page is written for owners in Berkeley weighing up freeze-dried raw. The nutrition below holds wherever you live — what changes locally is delivery, not diet — so we would rather give you the substance than pad it with things we cannot actually verify about your city.
Shelf-stable changes the logistics
Freeze-drying removes the water before the food ships. No refrigeration, no thawing, no freezer shelf, no delivery window, and no ruined box if a courier runs a day late in July.
It also travels — a weekend away or a stay at the vet does not require a cooler.
The quarter-bowl answer
Feed Loyal Saints as about 25% of the bowl, replacing a quarter of the existing food rather than adding on top. Because the food is concentrated rather than diluted, a quarter still puts real freeze-dried raw into every meal.
At Halo Club pricing that is about $4.04 a day for a 50 lb dog and $5.48 for a 75 lb dog.
Storing it properly
Sealed and dry, an opened bag keeps for several weeks. Roll the top closed and keep it out of humidity — moisture is the only thing that shortens its life, which is the flip side of why it is shelf-stable at all.
Do not decant into a container that has held oily kibble; residue goes rancid and taints what you put on top of it.
What you are actually paying to ship
Fresh refrigerated food is roughly three-quarters water by weight. That water is portioned, chilled, packed with single-use coolant and driven to your door, then occupies your freezer until you use it.
Cold chain logistics is one of the most expensive ways to move anything, which is why it is normally reserved for medicine and seafood.
What “no fillers” is supposed to mean
There is no regulatory definition, so the phrase is close to meaningless as a claim. The useful test is structural: read the first five ingredients, then mentally recombine anything sharing a root word.
A label listing ground corn, corn gluten meal and corn bran separately puts each lower down than combined corn would sit — possibly low enough to let a meat take first place. Nothing on it is false.
Why the bag can look part-empty
Freeze-dried pieces are light and irregular, so they settle in transit. The bag is filled to weight, not to volume.
A 14 oz bag is fourteen ounces, which works out to about 7.8 cups. Filling to visual fullness would make the amount you actually receive drift — and the feeding chart depends on it not drifting.
Single protein, and why it matters practically
Every Loyal Saints bag contains one named animal protein — Beef, Chicken, or Turkey with Salmon.
Beyond ingredient purity, this has a practical consequence: if your dog reacts to something, a single-protein food lets you identify what it was. A recipe blending several proteins makes an elimination trial close to impossible.
Before you order
Work the portion out from the printed chart first, then choose a delivery interval from it. Guessing the interval is how people end up with either a cupboard full of bags or a gap mid-week.
Common questions
How do I choose an interval?
Work it from the feeding chart, then adjust once after the first cycle.
Is there a subscriber discount?
Halo Club members hold 20% off every order, not just the first.
Does it need refrigeration?
No. It is shelf-stable because the water is gone. Store it sealed in a cupboard.
