Freeze dried raw dog food in the UK

Freeze dried raw is frozen raw with the water taken out, so it keeps in a cupboard and weighs a third as much. It is also several times the price per kg once you add the water back. Here is how it differs from dehydrated, air dried and cold pressed food, how to compare the cost honestly, and when it earns its place.

Updated 31 October 2026
7 min read
Formats and prices checked against UK brands

The short answer

Freeze dried raw is useful for travel, for a few days without a freezer, as a topper to get a fussy dog eating, and as high value training treats. As an everyday diet for a medium or large dog it costs 3 to 5 times what frozen raw costs for the same food in the bowl. If the attraction is "raw without a freezer", a dehydrated food such as Pure Pet Food does the no freezer part more cheaply and simply is not raw, which for many households is the point. The brand comparison has the frozen prices this page compares against.

Five formats compared

Format	How it is made	Raw?	Water	Freezer	UK price	Notes
Frozen raw	Minced or chunked, frozen	Yes	About 70%	Yes	£4.38 to £7.98 per kg	The standard. Everything else on this page is compared to it.
Freeze dried raw	Frozen, then the ice is removed under vacuum without heat	Yes	Under 5%	No	Typically 3 to 5 times frozen raw per kg of food as fed	Rehydrate with water before feeding. Still raw, so still handled as raw.
Dehydrated	Dried with warm air at low temperature	No	Under 10%	No	Priced per dog, about £2.57 a day for 14 kg (Pure)	Gently cooked by the drying. Add warm water. Not raw and does not claim to be.
Air dried	Dried slowly in moving air, sometimes with light heat	Usually no	10 to 15%	No	High per kg	Jerky like texture, fed as is. Mostly sold as complete food in small bags or as treats.
Cold pressed	Ground meal and dried meat pressed into pellets at 40 to 80°C	No	Under 10%	No	Similar to premium kibble	A kibble made at lower temperature than extrusion. Often mixed with raw. Not raw.

The price, done honestly

Freeze dried food is sold by the weight of the dry product, and a 1 kg bag looks like a bargain next to a 1 kg tub of frozen raw. It is not the same kilogram. Raw meat is about 70 percent water, so a kilogram of freeze dried food is three kilograms or more of what the dog actually eats. The comparison that matters is per kg as fed.

Dry price per kg	Rehydrates to	Price per kg as fed	20 kg dog, 15 kg a month
£40	About 3.3 kg	About £12	About £180
£60	About 3.3 kg	About £18	About £270
£80	About 3.3 kg	About £24	About £360
Frozen complete raw, for comparison		£4.38 to £7.98	£66 to £120

Dry prices in the table are illustrative of the UK range for complete freeze dried raw rather than a specific brand, because packs and ratios vary. Use the pack's own rehydration ratio: if it says 1 part food to 3 parts water, a kilogram makes about 4 kg as fed and the sums improve. For a 5 kg dog eating 125 g a day, a month is 3.75 kg as fed, or just over a kilogram of dry food, and the premium is a few pounds a week rather than a few hundred a month. Freeze dried makes most sense for small dogs for that reason.

Rehydrating and handling

Weigh the dry food by the pack's feeding guide, which will be a fraction of the frozen raw amount. Check it against the calculator's daily figure once rehydrated.
Add warm water, not boiling, at the ratio on the pack, usually 1 to 2 or 1 to 3. Stir and wait 3 to 5 minutes.
Treat it as raw from this point. It is. Fridge for a day at most if there is any left over, bowl lifted after 20 minutes, bowl and spoon washed.
Store the dry food sealed and cool. Opened bags last weeks, not months, because the fat oxidises once air gets in.

Fed dry, without water, the food is very concentrated and the dog will drink heavily to make up the difference. Occasional dry pieces as treats are fine; dry meals are not what it is designed for.

When freeze dried raw earns its place

Travel and holidays. A week of food for a 10 kg dog is under a kilogram and needs no cool box. This is the strongest case.
Training treats. Freeze dried liver, heart and sprats are single ingredient, high value and crumble into small pieces. Count them in the daily amount.
Toppers for a fussy dog. A spoon of rehydrated freeze dried over a bowl of frozen raw or kibble often gets a reluctant eater started.
A backup pack. One bag in the cupboard covers the day the freezer fails or the delivery is late.
Very small dogs. At 100 to 150 g a day the premium is small in pounds, and the freezer space saved is real.

When it does not

As the everyday food for a dog over about 15 kg. The monthly cost runs to several times frozen raw for the same nutrition.
As a safety upgrade. Unless the brand uses high pressure processing and says so, the bacteria that were on the raw meat are still in the dry food and wake up with the water.
As a way to avoid handling raw. It is raw once wet. If the aim is a clean, shelf stable food with no raw handling, a dehydrated or cooked complete is the honest answer.

No freezer, or cheapest frozen

Pure is the dehydrated option: add warm water, no freezer, not raw, priced per dog. If the freezer is not the problem, Bella + Duke delivers frozen raw portioned for your dog and Nutriment is the cheapest frozen complete in the comparison.

Affiliate disclosure: links to brands here are affiliate links. If you buy through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change the calculator results or the order brands appear in. How this works.

Sources

Brand descriptions and prices from each manufacturer's website and third party samples, as recorded in the site data file with the date checked
GOV.UK, raw pet food: handling and hygiene guidance
FEDIAF, nutritional guidelines for complete and complementary pet food

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Is freeze dried dog food actually raw?

Yes, if it says so on the pack. Freeze drying removes water by freezing the food and then lowering the pressure so the ice turns straight to vapour. Nothing is heated past room temperature, so the meat is still raw and the bacteria on it are still alive, just dormant. That is why freeze dried raw is handled like frozen raw once water goes back in. Dehydrated, air dried and cold pressed foods use heat and are not raw, whatever the marketing implies.

How do I work out the real price of freeze dried raw?

Divide the price per kg of the dry food by how many kg of fresh food it makes. Raw meat is about 70 percent water, so 1 kg of freeze dried is roughly 3 to 3.5 kg of fresh equivalent; the pack will give its own rehydration ratio. A £60 kg of freeze dried that makes 3.3 kg of fed food is £18 a kg as fed, against £4.38 to £7.98 for frozen raw. Do the sum before being impressed by a small bag.

Do you have to add water to freeze dried dog food?

You should. Fed dry it is very concentrated and pulls water from the dog, who then drinks a lot. Most packs say to add warm water at about 1 part food to 2 or 3 parts water and leave it a few minutes. Once rehydrated, treat it exactly like fresh raw: fridge for a day at most, bowl lifted after 20 minutes, everything washed.

Is freeze dried raw complete?

Check the label. Some freeze dried products are complete meals formulated to FEDIAF guidelines and some are toppers, treats or single ingredient pieces (freeze dried liver, chicken breast, sprats) that are complementary. Treats and toppers are the most common freeze dried products in UK shops and are not a diet on their own.

Is freeze dried safer than frozen raw?

Not materially. Freeze drying does not kill Salmonella or Listeria; they survive the process and recover when water is added. Some brands apply a high pressure treatment before drying, which does reduce bacteria, and will say so. Without that, the hygiene routine for freeze dried is the same as for frozen. The convenience is real; the safety advantage is mostly not.

What about cold pressed dog food, is that raw?

No. Cold pressed food is made by pressing ground ingredients into pellets at lower temperatures than kibble extrusion, usually 40 to 80°C. It is cooked, less harshly than standard kibble. It is popular with raw feeders because it can be fed in the same meal as raw without the digestion concerns people have about kibble, but it is a dry food, priced like a premium dry food, and belongs in that comparison rather than this one.

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