If you’ve decided that your dog needs to eat only the highest-quality food (and you’re willing to pay whatever it takes to make sure they get it), you might have already come across Nom Nom and The Farmer’s Dog.

These services send you meals for your dog that are made using all-natural ingredients, so you don’t have to worry about giving your dog artificial colors, animal by-products, or other questionable ingredients.

Both are high-end foods that are loaded with nutrition (and quite expensive), so it’s understandable that you want to research them before buying one. Here, we take an in-depth look at each to see which one is better for your dog — and your wallet.

A Sneak Peek at the Winner: The Farmer’s Dog

The Farmer’s Dog edges out Nom Nom by the slightest of edges. The fact is that these two services are extremely similar in terms of price, quality, and variety, so you can’t really go wrong with either one.

Both have similar ingredient quality and cost, but The Farmer’s Dog has a slightly better refund policy. It also has better meal options, while Nom Nom is a bit better in the snack department.

In the end, these two services are almost identical, but there are slight differences that might make one better for you than the other, and we explore those differences in more detail here.

The Farmer’s Dog Overview

The Farmer’s Dog is a mail-order dog food service that sends you pre-portioned meals for your dog. The meals are sealed, so all you have to do defrost and serve.

Of course, if you’re considering brands like Nom Nom and The Farmer’s Dog, convenience is the least of your concerns, so let’s break down the other factors that make this a quality food.

Ingredients

The Farmer’s Dog uses fresh, premium ingredients, just like Nom Nom. Its foods also exceed AAFCO standards and are made under the supervision of veterinary nutritionists.

As with Nom Nom, the recipes used by Farmer’s Dog follow a basic outline: Start with lean meat, then add veggies and a nutrient pack. It offers the same protein sources too: beef, turkey, chicken, and pork.

However, Farmer’s Dog is more likely to add in extra meat, including organ meats, ensuring that your dog gets more protein and a wider nutritional profile.

Will this make a night-and-day difference for your dog? Probably not, but the slightest edge is better than none, especially at these price points.

Price

At first glance, The Farmer’s Dog would seem to be just as expensive as Nom Nom. Its prices also start at roughly $2 per day, and your overall costs will largely depend on your pet’s needs.

However, Farmer’s Dog tends to be a bit cheaper at the higher end. Depending on your dog’s size, you could pay from around $1.70/day up to $17. While Nom Nom’s meal plans regularly top $10 per day for full-sized portions. We’ve got our The Farmer’s Dog pricing guide which explains it in more depth.

You’ll be spending more on freshly made dog food either way.

As far as The Farmer’s Dog refund policy goes, it has a 30-day money-back guarantee, but it comes with a catch: You have to donate the unused food to an animal shelter. The additional hoop to jump through may be a hassle, but it’s for a good cause.

Customization Options

This is a bit difficult to judge. On the surface, The Farmer’s Dog would seem to be way more customizable than Nom Nom. Its initial survey is more thorough and lets you enter more information about your dog, their medical history, and their nutritional needs.

But does any of that information actually impact the food that you get? It’s hard to say that it does. At best, it seems like the website uses the information that you provide to guide you to one of their ready-made recipes, so don’t expect a fully custom meal plan for your dog.

Ultimately, both these foods are geared toward improving your dog’s general health through superior nutrition. If your dog has specific needs, you’re likely better off just asking your vet to recommend a meal plan for you.

Variety

The Farmer’s Dog has roughly the same types of meals that Nom Nom offers. It doesn’t sell treats, though (although it’s happy to offer recommendations). If that’s important to you, it can’t help you.

Nom Nom Overview

Nom Nom may sound similar to The Farmer’s Dog because the two services are near-carbon copies of one another. They both operate under the same business model, they both sell food made from high-quality ingredients, and they’re both more expensive than your regular grocery store brands.

That said, there are a few key differences, which we will discuss further.

Ingredients

All of Nom Nom’s recipes are created by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, and each is designed to meet AAFCO Food Nutrient Profiles. This means you won’t have to worry about your dog getting all the vitamins and nutrients that they need — a common issue for pets being switched to a raw or freshly made diet.

Nom Nom uses premium ingredients in all its recipes, and each meal is slow-cooked to ensure that there’s minimal nutrient loss. What’s more, the meals are cooked in kitchens that are completely devoted to making the food. Many other commercial dog foods share kitchens to save money, which can lead to ingredients from one food leaching into another. You don’t have to worry about that with Nom Nom.

Real meat is the first ingredient in all its recipes, and you won’t find any artificial ingredients inside. You’ll also see foods like spinach, squash, and kale inside — sometimes literally — so you know that your dog’s eating real food.

One issue that we have with Nom Nom is that several of its recipes are stuffed with russet potatoes. This isn’t bad, per se, but neither is it ideal — potatoes are kind of a nutritional blank for dogs. Still, some pups have trouble digesting them, and for the price, we’d prefer to see a more nutritious food used instead.

Price

On average, Nom Nom clocks in at between $2 (for half portions) and over $10 per day (for full portions). You’ll easily pay several hundred dollars a month for your dog’s food if you sign up with Nom Nom.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: That’s a great deal of money. However, this is some of the healthiest dog food that you’ll find anywhere, and it may save you money on medical bills, especially if your dog has diet-related issues (and Nom Nom will ask you about such things while preparing your meal plan).

That price is fairly standard for this type of meal service, so while it’s far more expensive than the dry kibble that you can buy at the grocery store, it’s in line with similar services. These foods are aimed at people who don’t mind paying whatever it takes to keep their dogs healthy and happy.

Nom Nom bills you on a recurring basis, so you don’t have to worry about reordering meals. The plans are designed to ensure that your dog never runs out of food, taking that worry off your plate.

Given that the meals are highly perishable, the company doesn’t accept returns, but the first 30 days are protected by a money-back guarantee. It also has a multi-pet discount if you’re feeding several dogs, though that’s not enough to take much of the sting out of the cost of the subscription.

Customization Options

There are four basic recipes to choose from: beef, chicken, pork, and turkey. Nom Nom also has a Sampler Pack that gives you each one if you’re not sure which your dog will like. You can set up your subscription to ensure that you get a mix of several foods if you prefer (though this might cause your costs to go up).

When you sign up, you’ll be asked to fill out a brief quiz about your dog. This is your chance to tell explain important things about your pup’s diet: what foods they like and dislike, any allergies or medical conditions, and whether they need to drop a few pounds.

The software will then figure out the diet that is recommended for your dog. You can customize which recipes you receive, but you can’t do much past that. If your dog is allergic to a certain ingredient, for example, you’ll just have to choose a different recipe — you can’t remove or substitute that ingredient.

You can also decide between full and half portions. If your dog is overweight, it will automatically encourage buying half-portions, but that’s about as far as it goes in terms of being dialed in for weight loss.

Variety

There are four basic recipes. Each starts with lean meat, then has a few vegetables, followed by an assortment of vitamins and minerals.

The menu is enough to ensure that the pickiest eater never gets bored, but it’s not going to blow you away with its expansiveness either.  Most of the recipes are similar, and they’re all built on the same basic (but solid) foundation of meat and veggies.

Nom Nom also offers healthy jerky treats for your pup, so you don’t have to feed them the processed junk found in most other dog treats, and they even have options for your cat.

 

The 3 Most Popular The Farmer’s Dog Food Recipes

1. Turkey

This recipe kicks off with lean turkey before quickly adding chickpeas, carrots, broccoli, spinach, and parsnip. That means your dog will get an excellent array of nutrients and plenty of protein.

Fish oil is included for omega fatty acids, and the nutrient mix has important amino acids like taurine, which is vital for heart health.

The biggest issue we have with this recipe is that it’s fairly low in fiber, so don’t expect it to keep your dog’s digestive tract moving smoothly.

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2. Beef

The beef option starts with beef, and further down the label, you’ll also see beef liver listed. That gives your dog extra protein and nutrients that can only be found in organ meats.

The issue of fiber is solved, as the second ingredient is sweet potatoes. You’ll also find highly nutritious veggies like kale and lentils inside.

There aren’t as many veggies in here as in the turkey recipe, though.

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3. Pork

As with the beef recipe, the pork option has organ meat in the form of liver. It also has plenty of fiber, thanks to both sweet potatoes and regular potatoes.

Those regular potatoes are an issue, though, because they largely just take up space. As a result, there are only a few other veggies inside, such as cauliflower and green beans.

The nutritional blend does have everything that your dog needs to stay healthy, and there’s even fish oil mixed in.

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The 3 Most Popular Nom Nom Dog Food Recipes

1. Beef Mash

Ground beef forms the base of this recipe, but it also gets extra protein in the form of eggs. This is an excellent recipe for any dog that needs to drop weight or build muscle.

There are plenty of excellent veggies, including carrots and peas. There’s also a healthy dash of omega fatty acids due to the sunflower and fish oil inside.

The second ingredient is russet potatoes, though, so a large portion of this recipe is fairly useless from a nutritional standpoint. The potatoes and eggs could cause issues for dogs with digestive issues, so expect a fair amount of noxious emissions to emanate from your pooch.

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2. Chicken Cuisine

There are plenty of potatoes in this recipe, but these are sweet potatoes, which have more to offer from a nutritional perspective (including fiber).

This recipe starts with lean meat (in this case, diced chicken), and the veggies on offer are squash, spinach, and the aforementioned sweet potatoes. There are even omega fatty acids, as it includes canola, sunflower, and fish oils. As a result, this chicken recipe also has more fat than the beef recipe. That’s good and bad because it should keep your dog feeling full longer, but it may not be ideal for heftier pups.

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3. Pork Potluck

If you like feeding your dog veggies, this is the recipe for you. It has green beans, squash, kale, and mushrooms, so your dog will get all sorts of important vitamins and minerals.

It has russet potatoes, though — in fact, they’re the second ingredient listed. All those veggies also pushed out omega fatty acids, as this recipe only has fish oil.

There’s more fiber in here than the other recipes, though, so if your dog has issues staying regular, this might be the way to go.

Recall History of Nom Nom and The Farmer’s Dog

As best we can tell, neither of these companies has ever been subjected to a recall. However, while their foods seem well-made and safe, keep in mind that they’re highly perishable and need to be kept refrigerated before serving.

If you don’t store these meals properly, they could spoil and harm your dog, even if that’s no fault of either company.

Nom Nom & The Farmer’s Dog Head-to-Head Comparison

These two companies are similar, so don’t expect huge differences or for one to blow the other one out of the water. Even so, we look at how each performs in several categories before we crown a winner.

Price

Edge: The Farmer’s Dog

Both services are comparably priced and both are incredibly expensive. At the lower end, the prices are virtually identical, but Farmer’s Dog tends to be a bit cheaper on the high side. You won’t save much by going with Farmer’s Dog, but it is definitely less expensive.

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Nutrition

Edge: Too Close to Call

You’ll find high-quality, fresh ingredients in the foods from both services. Both are engineered by veterinary nutritionists, and both will meet all your dog’s health needs.

So, which is better? It’s hard to say. You’re not going to go wrong with either option, and your pet will likely thrive on freshly made food like this.

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Ease of Use

Edge: Too Close to Call

As you might expect, given that these two services are virtually identical, they’re almost equally easy to use. Nom Nom’s packaging makes it a bit easier to store and open, but it’s not a world-changer.

As far as signing up for the services is concerned, it’s much easier to sign up for Nom Nom, but that might not be a good thing. If you’re paying this much for dog food, having to spend an extra 10 minutes filling out information about your dog’s dietary profile may be seen as a feature rather than a bug.

Ultimately, all of this comes down to personal preference, making this category another tie.

Conclusion

If you’re trying to decide between signing up for The Farmer’s Dog or Nom Nom, take heart in knowing that it’s one decision that you can’t mess up. They’re both great food services, and they’re both extremely similar.

We gave The Farmer’s Dog the slightest of edges here, mainly because it’s a bit cheaper. Honestly, though, you won’t see much of a difference either way.

Regardless of which service you end up choosing, your dog will be rewarded with some of the tastiest, healthiest food that they’ve ever had — and that’s a big win for everyone.

You may also be interested in these other reviews:

• Nom Nom vs Ollie Dog Food: Our In-Depth Comparison
• Nom Nom vs Spot and Tango: Which Freshly Made Dog Food is Better?
• The Farmer’s Dog vs Spot and Tango: Which Freshly Made Dog Food is Better?
  
• Dr. Marty Dog Food vs. The Farmer’s Dog: Pros, Cons, & What to Choose