Pet food quantity - large package or small package?

Pet food don't last forever, not even dried pet food.
Think about beef jerky, or cereal. Sure they can last for a while if the package is still sealed. Once the package is opened, they can't stay good indefinitely, right?

As a fish keeper, I have come to learn that it is the best to buy smaller bottles of fish food than the big giant ones. Even though the dry fish food might stay good for months or even longer after the seal is opened, the nutritious value decay over time. Especially the vitamins, from the moment you opened the seal you get less and less of them.

It should be the same for all other pet food.
Do you buy smaller packages of pet food for the freshness?
Or do you buy large packages for the bulk discount?

Depends what I'm buying. I buy the largest package/best value I can get without that amount of food going bad/drying out before I can use it. I pretty much use that mentality with cat food, frozen rodents, live insects, fish food, whatever. I have stumbled on a few things. If you go to target or walmart, you can buy the same type of airtight food storage containers they sell at places like petsmart for 1/4 - 1/2 the price. They seem to keep the food looking and smelling as good for at least 3 weeks. Same with rodents, I use either a local rodent breeder that euthanizes the rodents while I'm there, or a closer smaller frozen rodent supplier, (for anyone reading this, I strongly recommend not using rodent pro.) And figure it so I am through them in at least 3 months. I mostly use frozen fish food, though I would have to admit some of the dried fish foods have been around a while, as they are mostly a "just in case" type of scenario.

I buy smaller portions of pet food. When I had dogs I would buy a lot of single sized small dog meals, that were easy to prepare. It also took the guess work out of portion control. I know it's odd but I also enjoyed buying different flavours and making sure my dog wouldn't have to eat the same meal twice in a row. When it came to dog biscuits however I'd often buy a big bag, as that's how they normally come.

Well, the larger the package, the cheaper they actually are. So many people would buy huge bags of pet food. The expiration date on the package are usually meant for before the seal is removed. Once you started using it, it won't last nearly as long as the date on the label.

If you use look and smell to judge the freshness of the pet food, it isn't going to be accurate. Especially for the dry food. The more they expose to the air, the faster they decay.

One way I use to delay the decay is to use an even smaller bottle to get some food from the larger retail bottle, and I start to use the food in the smaller bottle. Until the smaller bottle is empty, I won't be opening the larger bottle again. It can keep the dry food in the larger bottle fresh a little longer by not open the bottle every day to expose to fresh oxygen.

Since I'm currebtly feeding ten cats, obviously I buy the BIG bag. I use the plastic cat litter buskets with the lids to store it in, and will often miz several kinds together this way; I can stretch the good foods with some of the mediocre food mixed in. My main concern with having an opened bag is bugs getting in, and the plastic bucket storage takes care of that. From there I use a scoop to fillk large catfood plastic jugs that you can buy some brands in. By the way, those large tins you sometimes get gifts of popcorn in around the hilidays are great for cat food storage. The popcorn I dump out for the squirels and birds.

Yeah if you can go through a large bag of pet food quickly because you have a lot of mouths to feed, then go for the bigger bags.
For those that a large bag will last forever, it is not a good idea to have it. Although I have over 70 tropical fish, they don't eat much. A single bottle of 2.1oz fish food can last for a year or more. I also feed a variety of fish food for a balanced diet, that would even make each type of food staying around longer. I get the smallest package I can find, but they seem to be still quite big. Maybe I should get more fish instead to go through the food faster, so I can buy fresh food more frequently.

We usually get the medium sized bag for our two cats. The bag would normally last a week so we don't have to really worry about it going bad before using it all. Plus, it's included when we do our weekly grocery shopping. Another thing we get is two of the small bags of treats for them, of course different flavors and combined the two bags into a sealable container. The treats will last a long time and they get something different or the same each time so it keeps them guessing the flavors.

Well, we don't purchase the big ones because we find it a waste. Our cats' food usually lasts a month, therefore, when the cat food is done there is a sale across the street for cat food.

I tend to give the cats portions as opposed to my fiancee, who fills the entire bowl up. Only if the big bag is the same price as the smaller bag then I will purchase it, but if it isn't then we'll just stick to the bag we buy every month or so.

I buy my bird's main diet (Harrison's bird mash) in a 1 pound bag. It's only good for six weeks once it's opened, and the bag conveniently lasts almost exactly six weeks.

My cat eats mostly canned food, but he always has dry food available. I buy the 5.5 ounce cans, which last him two meals. I get the smallest bag I can of his dry food, because he doesn't go through it very fast. One 5 pound bag lasts him about 2 - 3 months.

I buy medium large packages of dry food, and they usually last for about a month. I keep the bag shut, and the smell stays the same, but I have never though about the food loosing it's nutritious value for staying open too long :O Is a month too long? I usually leave the dry food in the bowl for them to eat when they're hungry, does that get bad too? My parents have taught me nothing about food, apparently T.T... I buy the bigger cans of wet food too, and they last for a few days, but I keep them in a closed dish in the fridge, not in the can, and I never leave it outside in their bowls when they're not eating. The treats last for a while too, but they're in shut containers too, so I hope they don't lose their nutritious value.

We buy a couple of different kinds of dry food and mix them for our two cats. I tend to buy the smaller bag size, mostly because of budgeting. That usually lasts about a month for our girls, and I like that because I think then it's fresh for them. We store the mixed food in a Tupperware container and the not-yet-mixed in the manufacturer's bags, rolled down tight to keep the air out. It's a system that seems to work for us and our fuzzy friends!

I used to buy smaller quantities of fish food for my koi, because as Ram stated, the quality of the feed tends to deteriorate over time once the pack has been opened and exposed to air. I used to live in Southeast Asia and this was pretty much obviously due to the high humidity where I lived (84-85% on normal days and sometimes even higher).
When I lived in Madrid, I would buy large amounts of food for my goldfish and store it for a long time. Once I left the pack open for 3 and a half weeks as an experiment during the even drier Spanish winter. There was no change in the smell, color and texture at all.
This is something that you could never do in Thailand, India or Singapore. The humidity just gets right in and encourages oxidation and all kinds of nasty molds and fungi to spoil everything.

I usually start out with a small package but once I see that my dog likes it and everything is in order, I buy a bigger package the next time I go out for dog food. Buying bigger packages are less costly than buying many small ones on a regular basis. When the big package is consumed, I usually get another small package of something new - perhaps a different flavor or a different brand. If my dog likes it, I buy a bigger package of the new food in order to save some money. The same is true with canned dog food. I buy one can first and if my dog likes it, I buy a dozen cans wholesale. I would like to buy more than a dozen to save more but canned dog food is expensive.

Chinchilla food mostly comes in smaller packages. I think there are some brands, such as Mazuri, that are sold in larger quantities, such as a 25 pound bag. However, I bought that from a feed store several miles from home. It is also available online. The brands readily available in pet stores are usually about 2 to 5 pounds. When I owned several chinchillas the larger bag was more practical. However, now that I only have the one chinchilla, I buy the smaller bags both for convenience -- the pet shops are nearby -- and for the freshness of the food.

I have found that the best value for me, and the best option for my dog, is purchasing a big 40lb bag of dry dog food. Since my dog eats about 3 times a day, he ends up finishing those 40lbs before the bag goes bad. And buying the big bag is cheaper than purchasing the same amount of food in smaller quantities. For example, I used to buy the smaller 8lb bags, but I noticed I would have to buy bags more often. Once I did the math, I found out purchasing the large bag is cheaper for me than purchasing the smaller bags. And that means less trips to the store. My dog is happy with a full stomach, and I am happy with a full wallet. Everyone wins!

I think it is important to buy the right sized bags of food for the size and amount of pets that you have.
When I used to have two Great Danes, I not only bought the largest bag of dog food that I could find at the feed store, I also went to the butcher shop, and asked them for any large bones from the beef they were cutting up. They would usually send me home with a huge garbage can of meat bones and fat scraps, which I dumped out under the trees for the dogs to chew on as they pleased.

Now, I only have these tiny little dogs, and except for Tootsie, they are older dogs, as well. So I just get the small bags of dog food, and make sure that it is the smallest size of kibble that I can find.
Around the size of a pea is about right for my little dogs. I also get them the little packages of moist dog food, and share that between them every day or so, so they are not lacking in food to eat.

I buy in bulk and use airtight containters. That way, I can get the bulk discount, not have to worry about buying pet food for a couple months at a time, and have food that my cat Jane is happy to eat. Everybody wins!

Aside from the financial aspect, Jane has a tendency to get very upset if she doesn't know that there is lots of food around for her. It makes her feel safe. When we first got her, she had a regular food bowl, and she would vomit around the house and try to hide it for later, just in case. I switched her to a feeder that holds about two weeks' worth of food for her, and it has majorly cut down on her puking. And she looks less anxious overall, so long as I make sure it's always full.

Sometimes, if I forget to refill her feeder for a bit and she gets to the end, she will refuse to eat the last bits. I don't know if its because of staleness, or her fear of being out of food. The world may never know..

I buy food in different sizes depending on what species I'm feeding. My horse goes through approx. 25lbs of grass hay/alfalfa. 1lb of beet pulb and 1lb of rice bran a day. All of these are bought in bulk and hay is brought in by the ton. Although, for my rabbit, hay is bought in small, packaged pounds.

Feeder crickets for the frogs are bought in relativity small and frequent quantities because they don't have a very long lifespan, and I only go through two a night, one for each frog daily. Cat and dog food is bought in medium sized bags. The hermit crabs, crickets, and tortoise all get their meals fresh prepared at home.

There are cheap brands out there, that are quite good!

If you shop at Costo, Kirkland Signature Dog Food.
Diamond Naturals
4Health (At Tractor Supply Stores)