I compared two fresh dog food brands: Nom Nom vs A Pup Above. I did a thorough analysis of the quality, convenience, and price differences between the two—this article is based on my firsthand experiences.
I must say I’ve had a really pleasant experience trying out both these fresh dog food companies and tasting the recipes, but which brand is a better choice for you and your pup?
Who should get Nom Nom?
If you’re deciding between these two, I’d say go with Nom Nom. It is a high-quality fresh dog food that is reasonably priced. Even more so if you use my link below:
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for Nom Nom →Who should get A Pup Above?
A Pup Above makes excellent fresh dog food and it doesn’t require a subscription, but it’s expensive and there’s not a massive deliciousness difference from other brands. I think there are more affordable options if you are planning to give your pup a fresh food diet for the long haul. My link below will help get you started if you want to give it a try:
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for A Pup Above →Quality
With human food, we like to judge the quality of a product based on appearance, smell, taste, and ingredients used. This is precisely my basis when it comes to comparing these two brands. I tried the beef and chicken recipe from both Nom Nom and A Pup Above. Here are the results:
Appearance
The Beef Mash recipe by Nom Nom is an appealing food in that you can easily pick out what’s in it from the nice big chunks of ingredients including meat, vegetables, and even scrambled eggs. Although not as presentable as Nom Nom’s Beef Mash, the Texas Beef Stew dish by A Pup Above also shows nice chunks of the ingredients. Unfortunately, A Pup Above’s recipes do not look as nice as advertised on their website.
Nom Nom’s Chicken Cuisine recipe also shows big pieces of the ingredients—the meat especially. On the contrary, with A Pub Above’s Chicka Chicka Bow Wow meal, it is a little hard to pick out what you’re looking at. Looking more subdued than the other dishes, APA’s chicken dish almost appears like a homogenous mash but a little more solid.
Smell
Nom Nom’s Beef Mash has a nice, clean aroma with not all that much fancy going on—you’re mostly picking up on the aromas of the ingredients themselves. With the Chicken Cuisine the smell of the sweet potato comes through, giving it quite a sweet and pronounced aroma.
On the other hand A Pup Above’s recipes have a complex aromatic profile across the board. The herbal fragrances dominate the aroma of the beef recipe, and the smells of the other ingredients themselves don’t really cut through. Same goes for their chicken dish.
Taste
What I really appreciate with Nom Nom’s fresh dog food is the excellent texture. The big chunks of the ingredients make for a pleasant chewing experience—something I am sure any dog will love. The most notable flavor in the Beef Mash is the meat itself and it really comes through savory and pleasant without too much complexity in the taste. With the Chicken Cuisine, the big cuts of meat and other ingredients really make a difference. The sweet potatoes add a pleasant contrast to the texture of the rest of the meal components, and the entire dish generally tastes great.
Consistent with the smell, there are a lot of aromatic elements with A Pup Above’s Texas Beef Stew. It tastes of herbs and other flavors making it more complex compared to Nom Nom’s Beef Mash. The flavor of the Chicka Chicka Bow Wow is a much more appealing experience for me, nonetheless. The aromatic component is a bit more mild and synergistic bringing this recipe together in a nice and balanced fashion.
Although Nom Nom’s food has a better texture, A Pup Above’s Chicka Chicka Bow Wow has an edge when it comes to flavor. For the beef dishes, however, I like the clean and fresh taste of Nom Nom’s Beef Mash better, and the fact that I can savor every ingredient as I munch on it.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for Nom Nom →Ingredients
Both of these companies use whole ingredients in their recipes, plus nutrient supplements to make sure that the food meets AAFCO standards. Both Nom Nom and A Pup Above also claim that their recipes are formulated by veterinary nutritionists, although Nom Nom states that they are board certified and A Pup Above doesn’t.
Furthermore, while Nom Nom uses USDA grade A ingredients, A Pup Above actually makes their food in USDA-inspected kitchens which to me is a higher level of assurance on quality.
Lastly, I always look for protein content when of judging nutrition. Nom Nom has 7-10% protein as fed which is a bit below the industry standards. A Pub Above on the other hand is packed with protein, coming in at about 13-14% as fed which is higher than average—this is one of the brand’s strongest selling point.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for A Pup Above →Convenience
Let’s talk about how convenient these brands are to the pet owners themselves in terms of purchasing, shipping, and packaging.
Purchasing
Like most fresh dog food brands out there, Nom Nom does require a subscription for those wanting to buy their product. That said, cancellation is still fairly easy and can be done from the account dashboard.
A Pup Above stands apart from all the other companies by allowing you to purchase their fresh dog food without a subscription. This is convenient as you can get single flavors or multi-packs. You can even subscribe, although not required, if you want to bring your price down a little bit.
Shipping
My first experience with Nom Nom didn’t go very well in terms of shipping, but this was the courier’s mishap. I placed my order on a Friday, and while it was scheduled for a Saturday delivery it arrived on the following Monday—again. Shipping mishap or not, this came in at 5 full business days delivery time.
A Pup Above’s shipping was even longer, probably the longest among all brands I have experience with. I placed my order on a Sunday and I received the package not the following Thursday but the Thursday after that. In total, that’s a full 8 business days in transit.
Both companies use recyclable insulation and dry ice for their packaging to make sure the food stays frozen. remarkably, despite the shipping mishap with Nom Nom the food still arrived frozen.
Packaging
The frozen patties I received from each of these companies are quite comparable in size. Nom Nom came in at just about 400g per patty or a little bit under a pound, whereas A Pup Above is right about 1lb (464g) per patty. The main difference here is that Nom Nom’s packages have an easy-peel tab, where as A Pup Above’s don’t. This means dirty scissors every time you open a package.
Both companies recommend the fresh dog food to be consumed within seven days once thawed, which is a bit more time than a lot of other brands offer.
Cost
I like to compare the costs of fresh dog food on a dollars per pound basis which helps keep things even when you’re comparing from brand to brand. When I did the calculations, Nom Nom came in at about $4/lb, whereas A Pup Above came in at a whopping $13/lb—and that’s when you buy their multipacks which is a similar amount of food and variety that you get with a subscription from other fresh dog food brands. If you buy a single flavor and a small quantity, the price can be almost double that with A Pup Above. Remember to use my discount below if you do choose A Pup Above to take the edge off:
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for A Pup Above →My Recommendation
Both Nom Nom and A Pup Above make high quality fresh dog food recipes and most of them taste great in their own right. However, I don’t think that the high price tag of A Pup Above really justifies any disparity in quality between them and other brands like Nom Nom, The Farmer’s Dog, or Spot and Tango. If you’re just looking for a one-off fresh pet meal, it might be worth giving it a try, but if you’re diving in full force with a fresh dog food diet for your beloved pup, then I think Nom Nom is a better deal.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for Nom Nom →