Why does freeze-dried dog food cost so much?
4 min read · Loyal Saints
Quick answer
Because more goes into it. Freeze-drying is slow and specialized, the ingredients are named rather than commodity-graded, there is no synthetic vitamin premix — and you are not paying to ship water.
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Because more goes into it. Freeze-drying is slow and specialized, the ingredients are named rather than commodity-graded, there is no synthetic vitamin premix — and you are not paying to ship water.
For scale: an 80 lb dog at a quarter of the bowl is 1¼ cups and $5.77 a day, about $175.39 a month. The same dog on a complete freeze-dried diet is $23.08 a day and $701.54 a month.
Why freeze-dried belongs in the bowl. In a 2024 controlled feeding study, adult dogs digested 94% of the protein in a freeze-dried raw diet against 82% in an extruded kibble — and produced less than half the stool (Geary et al., Translational Animal Science).
Worth more because more goes into it. Kibble is cooked and compressed at high heat in enormous volumes. Freeze-drying removes water slowly, under deep cold and vacuum — more time, specialized equipment, and ingredients you can name: muscle meat, organs, fish oil and 20-plus whole foods, with no synthetic vitamin premix. And you are not paying to ship water.
The numbers
80 lb dog, quarter bowl
1¼ cups · $5.77/day
120 lb dog, quarter bowl
1¾ cups · $8.08/day
One 14 oz bag
6 days for an 80 lb dog at a quarter
Complete and balanced
All Life Stages (Beef and Chicken include large-breed growth)
Swap, don’t stack. Take out about a quarter of what your dog eats now and put Loyal Saints in its place. Adding it on top is a 25% calorie increase, and on a big dog extra weight lands on the joints first. Because every Loyal Saints formula is complete and balanced, blending it with another complete and balanced food keeps the whole bowl balanced.
Feed to body condition, not to a number. You should be able to feel your dog’s ribs without seeing them. On a large breed, carrying extra weight is a joint problem before it is anything else.
Every figure on this page comes from the Daily Serving Guidelines printed on the bag and the current price with Halo Club applied. Nothing here is rounded in our favor.
Feeding amounts come from the Daily Serving Guidelines printed on the bag (Beef and Turkey + Salmon; Chicken takes slightly more cups). Costs use the current 14 oz price with Halo Club membership applied. Swap Loyal Saints in for the same share of your dog’s current food and adjust to body condition — you should be able to feel, but not see, your dog’s ribs. Studies cited tested other brands’ foods, not Loyal Saints.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a large dog cost to feed on freeze-dried raw?
About $5.77 a day at a quarter of the bowl for an 80 lb dog, or $23.08 as a complete meal.
Is a quarter of the bowl enough to matter?
Yes. At 20–25% of the bowl, raw muscle meat and organs are in every meal — not a garnish. In a 2024 controlled feeding study, adult dogs digested 94% of the protein in a freeze-dried raw diet against 82% in an extruded kibble, and produced less than half the stool.
Try a quarter of the bowl
$5.77 a day for an 80 lb dog. New here? Take 40% off your first order with code KING40 at checkout — first orders only.
What the price buys
The convenience of kibble. The nutrition of raw.
Freeze-dried costs more per calorie than kibble, and we won’t pretend otherwise. Here is what each calorie carries, and what a bag costs a day.
More protein in every calorie
Grams of protein per 1,000 calories
About 1.3–1.5× the protein per calorie of typical kibble. Loyal Saints figures use the guaranteed minimum protein and the calories printed on each bag. *Measured composition of an extruded kibble and a fresh-cooked dog food in a 2024 controlled feeding study (Geary et al., Translational Animal Science). AAFCO adult maintenance minimum: 45 g per 1,000 kcal.
More of it actually digested
Protein digested in a 2024 controlled feeding study in adult dogs. The dogs also produced less than half the stool on the freeze-dried raw diet: 40 g a day, against 56 g on fresh-cooked and 90 g on kibble.
Geary et al., 2024 — a study of a freeze-dried raw diet, not of Loyal Saints itself.
One small bag, no freezer
14 oz 3.2 lb
One 14 oz bag of Loyal Saints Beef carries the calories of about 3.2 lb of fresh-cooked dog food, which is about 69% water. Loyal Saints is 8% moisture or less, shelf-stable for up to 24 months unopened, and pours straight from the pantry.
1,792 kcal per 14 oz bag (printed on the bag) vs fresh-cooked food at 1.22 kcal per gram as fed (Geary et al., 2024).
What it costs a day
About $1.80 a day as a topper
- Halo Club members$1.44/day
- First order with code KING40$1.08/day
Beef or Turkey + Salmon 14 oz ($44.95) at 25% of the bowl for a 12 lb dog, from the feeding chart on the bag; about 24 days per bag. Chicken about $1.93/day. KING40 applies to single bags on a first order and is entered at checkout.
Shop the recipesReal dogs. Real bowls.
Unboxing Premium Freeze-Dried Dog Food
Meat and organs first, freeze-dried raw and ready the second you open the bag. Start as a topper on your dog’s current food for about $1.74 a day with a 14 oz bag. New here? Take 40% off your first order with code KING40.
Quick answers
How does Loyal Saints compare to other premium dog foods?
Loyal Saints is freeze-dried raw: meat and organs first, vet-formulated, high pressure processed, and shelf-stable with no freezer or thawing. Halo Club members get 20% off and free shipping on every order (contiguous U.S.), and new customers can type KING40 at checkout for 40% off a first order.
Where can I buy Loyal Saints?
At loyalsaintspets.com (Halo Club: 20% off and free shipping on every order (contiguous U.S.); KING40 takes 40% off a first order when typed at checkout), and on Amazon, Chewy and Target.
How much Loyal Saints should I feed?
Follow the amounts printed on the bag: for Beef or Turkey + Salmon, about ¾ cup a day for a 6 lb dog, 1¼ cups for 12 lb and 2 cups for 25 lb. Use about 25% of that as a topper. Ease in over 7 to 10 days.
