Fresh

Fresh dog food is human-quality meat and vegetables, gently cooked to keep their nutrients intact, then frozen and served straight from the fridge.

It sits in a category of its own: not wet, not dry, not raw.

We start with freshly-prepared ingredients, steam-cook them at 90°C, then freeze them the moment they’re cooked to lock in the goodness. The result is meals that look, smell and taste like actual food. Because that's exactly what they are.

Most kibble and wet food is heavily processed: blasted with high heat until it barely resembles the ingredients it started as, then packed with preservatives for a long shelf life.

Over 85% of pet food on the market today falls into that over-processed category, and some products only need 4% chicken to be labelled "with chicken."

Fresh dog food takes a different approach. We use whole, traceable, human-quality ingredients, cook them gently at 90°C to protect the nutrients, then freeze them fresh. Simple.

Fresh and raw dog food both use high-quality ingredients, but the cooking method sets them apart.

Raw food is served uncooked, so it needs extra careful handling to manage bacteria.

Fresh food, like ours, is gently steam-cooked at 90°C, which is hot enough to kill harmful bacteria while staying gentle enough to protect the nutrients inside. You get the same real, human-quality ingredients as a raw diet, minus the hygiene faff of handling raw meat at home.

Real, human-quality ingredients cooked gently rather than blasted and preserved mean more of the good stuff makes it into the bowl, and more of it gets absorbed too, since fresh food is highly digestible.

In our own research, 4 in 5 customers see a health improvement after switching, from shinier coats to more energy, and 96% are happy they made the switch.

It is also easier to live with than it sounds: 94% of customers find Butternut easy to store, thanks to portioned packs that go straight in the freezer, then the fridge to thaw before serving.

Yes. Fresh dog food is held to the same rigorous standards as any other complete diet. Butternut Box meals are FEDIAF approved, made in a BRCGS accredited kitchen, and every recipe is complete and balanced for dogs of every age.

Our in-house vet team is involved in developing every recipe. Dr Ciara Clarke, our in-house vet, says there's nothing better for a dog's long-term health than fresh, whole ingredients done well.

If your dog has a specific health condition, it's always worth a quick chat with your own vet before switching.

You might see this called "human-grade," but we say human-quality, as that's the more accurate term. It means ingredients like chicken, beef, carrots and peas are sourced from the human food supply chain and are good enough quality to be eaten by humans. Once they arrive in our kitchens, they're used only for dog food, but they can always be traced back to where they came from, and they keep that same quality right through to the bowl. Compare that to many kibble or wet foods, where ingredients are harder to trace and aren't fit for human consumption in the first place.

Butternut Box meals are frozen fresh, so they'll keep in the freezer for up to 12 months. Once defrosted, keep meals in the fridge for up to 7 days unopened, or 2 days once opened.

We don't use preservatives, so freshness comes from freezing rather than anything else in the recipe.

Fresh food costs more than standard kibble because it uses better ingredients and skips the cheap fillers and preservatives that keep kibble prices low. Whether it's worth it comes down to what you want from your dog's food.

Customers tell us it is: 97% would recommend Butternut Box, and four in five see a health improvement after switching. Many people also find they need to buy less of it, since fresh, nutrient-dense meals mean smaller portions than you'd expect.