Super easy, super cheap, at the expense of the worst smell imaginable according to my drama queen brother.

Let's face it, dog treats are expensive for what they are. Hell, they're more expensive than normal kibble and human grade meat and who knows what's in them. Baffling. So, let's cut out the middleman.

To make this recipe I picked up a little more than a pound of beef kidneys from Publix for less than two dollars. I do not own a kitchen scale so I cannot at this time tell you how many ounces of treat I got out of it, but if I ever buy a scale, I will redo this and update you all.

All you need is a beef kidney and a dehydrator. You can theoretically also use an oven, but I didn't. If you're thinking of using an oven because you would only use a dehydrator for this one situation trust me when I say that dehydrated dog treats are a game changer and maybe after you stink up the house, you'll want a separate one for human food anyway.

Supplies

Dehydrator

Beef Kidney

Poor sense of smell

Optional Step 1

Freeze the kidney. As an organ, a kidney is sort of squishy and floppy and hard to cut. I am not good at cutting things to begin with, and my knives are not very sharp. By freezing the kidney, it becomes more solid and easier to cut since it doesn't move around. I froze mine for four hours.

Step 2

Cut the kidney into whatever size you want. I made these for treats, so I attempted to make half inch cubes. If you cut a thin strip through the kidney, you can make a more jerky type of treat.

Step 3

Stack those suckers in the dehydrator and jack that temp to 165. 165 degrees prevents bacteria from forming while providing enough heat to dehydrate and not burn the kidney.

Step 4

Wait, like, a day. Depending on how thick of a piece you cut, the dehydrating times vary. At the very least check in on it every couple of hours. I had originally set mine for 18 hours but felt that by 16 they were done.

Once done I placed my kidney bites in a glass jar like some sort of alchemist. If you do that and your glass fogs up, that's moisture and that is not good. If it has not been long, you can try sticking them back in the dehydrator. If it has been a long time, you effectively left cooked-ish meat in a jar for a random amount of time so weigh your own pros and cons before you decide to re-dehydrate, put them in the fridge, or just give them to your dog anyway. That's a you problem at that point and I am not a doctor, or anybody qualified to tell you what to do with neglected kidneys.

Step 5

Light a candle and enjoy.