I’ve recently been reading up on cat foods and have changed over to higher protein brands.

I used to use Royal Canin dry food and Whiskas/Sheba wet food.

I’ve now swapped to Orijen dry food and Applaws, Porta 21 & Animonda wet foods.

Everything’s going great, the cats love their new diet and they’re both thriving.

The only problem I have is… I bought 48 tins of various flavours of Animonda cat food in the big 400 gram tins (I don’t live in the UK so supply is difficult for me so I buy in bulk when and where I can find it). And it takes my 2 cats at least 4 days to finish such a big tin. I do keep the tin in the fridge after opening, and do let the food warm up to room temperature before serving it, but they just seem to get bored of the same flavour 4 days in a row, the 1st day on Animonda they're fine - after 2 days the get bored and eat less wet food and more dry biscuits. Meaning I am throwing an awful lot of the tinned food away.

I was wondering if I could open a tin and feed them it for a day, then freeze the rest in. That way I could give them a different flavour every day – which I am sure they would be far happier with. And with a bit of luck, with more variety in flavours I know they would eat more wet food and less dry food (which is my long-term goal for them, to get them on a diet that is predominantly wet).

So to cut a long question short…

can I take canned food out of the tin and freeze it in?

Have you tried e-mailing the manufacturer. They may help.

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Lives in a house full of neezers

This is what the US department of agriculture food safety and inspection service says.
What Can You Freeze?
You can freeze almost any food. Some exceptions are canned food or eggs in shells. However, once the food (such as a ham) is out of the can, you may freeze it.

Being able to freeze food and being pleased with the quality after defrosting are two different things. Some foods simply don't freeze well. Examples are mayonnaise, cream sauce and lettuce. Raw meat and poultry maintain their quality longer than their cooked counterparts because moisture is lost during cooking.

Thanks for that Hawksport. I’ll give it a try and see how it works. If it looks awful after freezing I ‘ll just chuck it away. I was mainly afraid I would poison them or something. Now I know it’s safe to try – I will do so!

Lulusmum, I think a lot of these pet food companies are German (I know Animonda is German), and well, lets just say (apart from ordering a beer) my German is rubbish. But thanks anyway.

If anyone has already frozen some cat food... please let me know how it went.

I haven't frozen tinned cat food but I would without hesitation. Obviously you need to take it out of the tin then portion it into plastic bags to freeze.


Or I would sppon out the portions onto a tray, freeze then put in a plastic bag or separately wrap.

It may go mushy when defrosted - then your cat may do the nose turning up that cats are well known for.

I froze 2/3 of a tin of Animonda in today… will give an update when I defrost and serve it to their highnesses.

I too fear it will be all mushy and they'll turn their nose up at it… but worth a try.

Oh btw Janee… I put about a tablespoon full on to a bit of cling film and just kinda rolled it into a meat ball shape and twisted the clingfilm at the top. Then put the ‘cat food meat balls’ into a Tupperware container in the freezer.

I can’t wait now to defrost a portion.. lol.. it’s probably not even fully frozen yet.

I cannot see any problems at all with freezing the excess as long as it is done fairly promptly after opening the can. If you look into the canning process you will see the food is cooked in the can after sealing, meaning it is only cooked once and sterile... so there is no chance of bacteria multiplying if it's frozen after opening.

I am very fond of Asian cooking so I've done the same myself with unusual ingredients such as canned bamboo shoots, sliced lotus root, and water chestnuts - I never need a whole can-full in one recipe (and would work out far too expensive). It's lovely to be able to dip into the freezer for a few of those ingredients for a stir-fry!

Sometimes it does affect texture though depending on what it is - but I'm sure the cats won't mind. You would obviously need to make sure it is totally thawed and brought up to room temperature before serving though, as cats tend to refuse cold food (it's just not as smelly and enticing!).

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just thought I'd come back with my update.

Well I froze it 2 weeks ago and defrosted their first portion yesterday and it was fine.

It wasn't mushy or watery or any different to how it is when it comes out of the tin.

And it passed the "taste test" with my cats. They munched happily at it.

Should add this is Animonda CARNY I was freezing, might be different if you froze those pouches with meat pieces in jelly or pate type foods.

All in all very pleased indeed.

Thanks to you all who helped me.