Hey guys!! So, I know that giving our fids a healthy diet can be difficult... especially when we struggle with burnout and mental health, or if you're like me, my diet is garbage, so it's a struggle making sure my pets are eating better than I do
I think I've come up with a pretty good process, so I wanted to share!
It starts with... frozen mixed veggies! I have a large tupperware that I empty bags of mixed veggies into. Generally I get the mixes with corn, peas, carrots, and green beans. This makes up about 1/2 of my birds daily veggie intake, and the best part is that it takes no prep. So, if I run out of prepared chop, I always have mixed veggies to fall back on.
What my birds get REALLY excited for though is... the chop! I make it in bulk once every 3 weeks or so. Every batch has:
1) 1 full package of baby spinach
2) 1 bag of broccoli florets and cauliflower
3) 1 bag of baby carrots
4) 1 cup brown rice (measured uncooked, then prepared in a rice cooker)
And then I'll mix in other veggies depending on the season and what I find at the store that looks good. Right now it's pie pumpkin season and OH do they love it! I put 1 pie pumpkin in the mix, 1 yellow squash, 1 apple, and 1 peach. When it's not pumpkin season, I like using sweet potato. I usually don't even cook it--I peel it and then process it raw. They seem to like it just as much raw as cooked!
I use a food processor and focus on veggies that are on the dry side, because I find lower liquid content makes for better freezing. It's important to dry each veggie after washing because a little bit of water in the food processor turns what would be veggie bits into a veggie paste instead. If the ingredients are dry, everything is processed to tiny tiny bits and stirred together, then the rice is added.
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After processing I portion it all in an ice cube tray. I put 3 frozen pomegranate seeds on each cube as a little treat hehe.
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I actually found that it was kind of hard to find ice cube trays that were a good size, and for my flock (on the small/medium side), I found this:
https://www.target.com/p/ice-cube-tray-brightroom-8482/-/A-79607092#lnk=sametab
It's the perfect size for individual portions AND the bottom of each individual cube is silicone so you can just pop the cubes out. I used to have to scrape each portion out of the tray with a butter knife and it was messy and annoying!
The mixed veggies in their tupperware and the chop in ice cube trays all goes into the freezer. I thaw them only as needed--it stays fresh much longer that way!
That brings me to my daily prep. Every night before bed I grab bowls. I put 3 spoonfuls of mixed veggies in each bowl first, then 1 cube of chop. I put the bowls of frozen portions in the fridge to thaw overnight. Then, when I wake up in the morning I put 1 spoonful of rolled oats on top for heart health, and that's breakfast!
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I hope this inspires someone to add chop to their daily routine. I'm no stranger to burnout and depression... I've found that the only way to guarantee a high baseline of care for my pets is to make routines and limit the amount of daily work I need to do. Making a full batch of chop takes at least an hour of chopping and processing and cleaning but I don't have to do it often at all!
