What’s actually in Sundays?
We analyzed the Air-Dried Beef Recipe — Sundays’ flagship formulation. The ingredient panel is meat-forward and unusually varied: beef, beef heart, beef liver, beef bone, quinoa, pumpkin, fish oil, sunflower oil, zucchini, kale, flaxseed, salt, parsley, dried kelp, dried chicory root, turmeric, mixed tocopherols, ginger, selenium yeast. Then a long whole-food tail: blueberries, carrots, apples, tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, oranges, cranberries, spinach, beets, cherries, strawberries.
Air-drying is a gentle dehydration process at 140–180°F — well below kibble’s 250–300°F extrusion temperatures, and somewhere between freeze-dried-raw (below 100°F) and cooked-fresh (180–200°F). The result is a shelf-stable product that doesn’t require refrigeration, freezer space, or rehydration — you serve it straight from the bag. That makes Sundays the most travel- and pantry-friendly option in the fresh food category. Shop on Amazon →
The good stuff
The top-of-panel protein stacking is unmatched in our database. Beef (muscle meat) at position one, beef heart (organ meat rich in CoQ10, taurine, B-vitamins) at position two, beef liver (organ meat rich in vitamin A, B12, iron, copper) at position three, beef bone (natural calcium/phosphorus) at position four — four named beef proteins before any non-animal ingredient appears. That’s a raw-prey-model-style nutrient density achieved without the raw safety concerns.
Zero synthetic additives is the company’s defining differentiator. Every nutrient in the recipe comes from a whole food: calcium and phosphorus from beef bone, vitamin A from beef liver and carrots, vitamin E from mixed tocopherols (natural) and sunflower oil, selenium from selenium yeast (more bioavailable than sodium selenite), iron from organ meats, zinc from beef and dried kelp, natural iodine from dried kelp. There is no "zinc oxide" or "copper sulfate" on this label, which makes Sundays a standout in the dehydrated category.
The whole-food tail is extensive — 12 different fruits and vegetables provide a natural polyphenol and antioxidant spectrum that no synthetic vitamin premix can replicate. Fish oil supplies EPA and DHA omega-3s in their natural form. Turmeric and ginger contribute documented anti-inflammatory compounds. Dried chicory root is a prebiotic fiber supporting gut microbiome health. Shiitake mushrooms add beta-glucans with documented immune-modulating effects.
The not-so-good stuff
AAFCO substantiation is formulation-only. The label says the recipe is formulated to meet the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles rather than validated through AAFCO feeding trials. That’s the industry baseline for fresh foods, but JustFoodForDogs specifically earns feeding-trial substantiation on some recipes. With a feeding-trial credit, Sundays could clear 95.
The rich organ content can cause digestive adjustment issues when switching abruptly from kibble. Dogs who have never eaten organ meats may experience loose stools during the first week. The company explicitly recommends starting with 25% of the new food mixed with current diet and gradually increasing over 7–10 days — sensible but worth noting.
Cost per day is higher than kibble — typical air-dried pricing — though the pantry stability and no-preparation convenience offset subscription-fresh logistics for many households. The recipe is entirely beef-based, so dogs with suspected beef allergies should consider an alternative format.
How it compares
At A/90, Sundays ties with The Farmer’s Dog (A/90), Ollie (A/90), JustFoodForDogs (A/90), and Open Farm (A/90). Within the dehydrated category specifically, Sundays scores 12 points above The Honest Kitchen Wholemade (B/78) — the protein stacking and zero-synthetic-additive approach are the differentiators. See the head-to-heads: Sundays vs The Honest Kitchen, Open Farm vs Sundays, and The Honest Kitchen Grain-Free vs Sundays.
Against the cooked-fresh subscription tier, Sundays has the shelf-stability advantage (no freezer needed, no weekly delivery) and typically meets or undercuts subscription pricing. The tradeoff is that air-dried preserves slightly fewer heat-sensitive nutrients than freeze-dried-raw or gently-cooked-fresh — but the whole-food ingredient density more than compensates for the modest processing delta.
Fresh-food buying guides featuring Sundays: Best Fresh Dog Food and Best Pantry-Stable Fresh Dog Food.
The bottom line
Sundays Air-Dried Beef Recipe earns an A grade (90/100) under the Fresh Food Rubric v1.0. The combination of four named beef proteins in the top positions, zero synthetic additives, a broad whole-food micronutrient tail, and pantry-stable packaging is genuinely unusual in the pet food category. For households that want fresh-food-level nutrition without freezer space requirements or weekly subscription logistics, Sundays is a near-ideal choice. Against The Honest Kitchen (B/78), the 12-point gap is real — Sundays is the stronger dehydrated option. Against cooked-fresh subscription peers at A/90, the decision comes down to format convenience rather than nutritional ceiling. Shop on Amazon →