I’ve compared countless brands in my search for the best fresh dog food. For most, there were obvious differences and clear winners. My test comparison of Nom Nom and The Farmer’s Dog, however, was a pretty tight race. After the in-depth analysis I made, I can conclude that these are two excellent fresh dog food choices that your pup will love.
Now that I’ve tried their recipes, I’m sharing my first-hand experience with the quality of each brand’s dog food. I’ll also discuss the experience with the company as a pet owner, and my fairly-calculated metric analysis of the price.
Who should get The Farmer’s Dog?
If quality is your number one priority and you don’t mind paying a little more, The Farmer’s Dog is an excellent choice.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for The Farmer’s Dog →Who should get Nom Nom?
If you’re looking for a fresh dog food brand that still tastes great but costs less, choose Nom Nom.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for Nom Nom →Quality
To compare the quality, I’m sharing how each brand’s dog food looks, smells, and tastes, as well as the ingredients that go into them and generally how they are made. I compared The Farmer’s Dog’s beef and turkey recipes versus Nom Nom’s beef and chicken dishes. Read on to see the results!
Appearance
Take one look at The Farmer’s Dog beef recipe and you’ll immediately notice the quality. There are abundant whole chunks of lentils, carrots, sweet potatoes, and ground beef. You can clearly distinguish the recipe’s individual components—in terms of whole ingredients, there is no question. Similarly, the turkey recipe boasts visible, whole vegetables with ample chunks of meat. Plus its colors are vibrant, which makes it very appealing to the eye.
Then there are Nom Nom’s recipes that look even fresher. Their ingredients are more identifiable, too—it’s very clear what you’re looking at. The various components of the chicken dish are even bigger than what you see with The Farmer’s Dog. Nom Nom meals definitely look like real, whole food that is appetizing to eat.
Smell
I also did a smell test to see which fresh dog food has the more appetizing aroma. The Farmer’s Dog turkey dish smells exactly like what they promised—turkey! It even reminds me of Thanksgiving leftovers. The aroma is pleasant and fresh, which was the same case for their ground beef recipe.
The most prominent aroma in Nom Nom’s chicken cuisine on the other hand is the sweet potato, which comes through bright and strong. This isn’t too surprising given that it has hefty chunks of sweet potato in it. Other than that, it smells delicate and fresh with no complimentary aromas or unpleasant odors.
Taste
Here are the results of my interesting taste test. The strength of The Farmer’s Dog’s dishes is that they both taste pleasant and clean. The beef recipe tastes exactly as savory as beef should be, and the turkey has a fresh and flavorful punch. As you chew, you can really taste and sense their recipes’ other ingredients, too. Both dishes are savory and give an enjoyable eating experience.
To compare, I also ate Nom Nom’s chicken and beef meals. When I sampled it, I immediately noticed that the texture of the Nom Nom chicken cuisine is especially great because their whole ingredients have a delicious mouthfeel. The flavor is clean and a bit sweeter than The Farmer’s Dog’s turkey recipe. Nom Nom’s beef mash tastes satisfying and has a superb texture, which I think is the brand’s biggest strength. However, in my opinion, the flavor is a little less savory than the beef recipe from The Farmer’s Dog.
Generally, both recipes from The Farmer’s Dog have a fresher taste, but when it comes to texture Nom Nom’s recipes have the edge.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for The Farmer’s Dog →Ingredients
Both The Farmer’s Dog and Nom Nom use whole ingredients, as well as nutrient supplements to meet AAFCO standards. The two brands also used board-certified veterinary nutritionists to formulate their recipes.
Here’s another comparison: The Farmer’s Dog fresh dog food is made in USDA-inspected kitchens, whereas Nom Nom only used USDA grade A ingredients.
And in terms of nutrition, The Farmer’s Dog consists of 8-11% protein as fed, whereas Nom Nom contains 7-10% protein.
Convenience
If you’re curious about the ease of dealing with these companies and their products, I’ve used my experience with purchasing, shipping, and packaging to evaluate each brand’s convenience.
Purchasing
If you’re interested in making a purchase, I’ve included special discount coupons in this article for you to use (use this link for The Farmer’s Dog and use this link for Nom Nom). Note that both companies require a subscription in order to purchase fresh food for your dog. However, both companies make it easy to cancel your subscription via the account dashboard.
Shipping
In terms of shipping, The Farmer’s Dog is really fast, but this can vary depending on your location. I ordered The Farmer’s Dog fresh dog food on Sunday and it arrived on Wednesday—two full business days in transit.
With Nom Nom, I ordered the food on a Friday and it was scheduled for Saturday delivery, but arrived the following Monday due to an issue with the carrier. In either case, that’s five full business days in transit.
Packaging
Both companies pack your dog food in dry ice to ensure the food is still frozen when it arrives at your doorstep. Despite the delayed delivery of my Nom Nom order, both products got here fully frozen.
The Farmer’s Dog food is packed with cellulose insulation. It needs to be dissolved down the sink to dispose, while Nom Nom uses completely recyclable packaging materials.
The Farmer’s Dog has nice thin patties that were about a pound each and thawed quickly in the fridge. The thawed food, according to TFD, can stay good for four days. Nom Nom came in slightly smaller 400g patties, so it wasn’t a problem to defrost them and the food remains fresh in the fridge for seven days.
Cost
I like to compare the costs of fresh dog food brands on a dollars-per-pound basis. This keeps the comparison fair and even, because most of the time these companies calculate your dog’s nutritional requirements [1] a little bit differently.
When I did the math, I calculated that The Farmer’s Dog comes out to about $7/lb, whereas Nom Nom comes out at about $4/lb.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for The Farmer’s Dog →Nom Nom is definitely a bit cheaper, yet it’s still a great quality food. However, I do think The Farmer’s Dog has a little bit of an edge when it comes to taste. At the end of the day, I don’t think you can go wrong with either brand. If quality is your top priority, go for The Farmer’s Dog. But if you still want great quality fresh dog food with a slightly cheaper price, then Nom Nom is an excellent alternative.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for Nom Nom →