Alex Dubois 🥉

Keep it simple. Mini turkey meatballs with shredded zucchini, baked in batches, reheat without drying out. Egg bites in a muffin tin with cheese and spinach hold up in the fridge and microwave well. Sweet potato black bean quesadillas or rice with peas and shredded chicken handle next-day warming. I rotate three items per week and freeze half so the choices stay limited but eaten.

Been there. The feeders that struggle most with chunky kibble tend to use a flat paddle or a narrow gate because pieces bridge and the motor spins. What helps is picking a design that moves food with a single screw style auger or a straight gravity drop with a wide throat and the bigger the exit tunnel the better. If the maker lists a max kibble diameter, aim for twelve to fourteen millimeters, and avoid wafers and flat discs since those love to lock together. Round or irregular nuggets slide better than coins. Setup matters as much as the mechanism. Keep the unit level, leave headspace in the hopper, and keep fines out by pouring through your hand or a strainer so the dust does not cake the walls. Dry the bin thoroughly after washing to reduce tacky spots, and throw a fresh desiccant pack nearby so humidity does not swell the food. A taller bowl or a little gap under the chute helps too so kibble does not back up against the outlet. I get fewer hiccups with two or three medium feedings that push a real sweep through the throat rather than lots of tiny drops.