How much food to buy at one time ?

We named our rescued Too "Shelby". They suggested using the "Zupreem" food for her. There's 3 lbs, 20 lbs of fruit, nut blend & vegi. How much will she eat and how long does it last ?

Having no preservatives we don't want to over buy to spoil. Also, do we get whole walnuts (and others) at the grocery store ?

Is there any other brands that are just as good,....but lower in cost ?
Where's the best price's ?

How do we keep her/us from wasting food ?

I see you can buy a feeder that the bird has to go in say,...a 1/3 of her body, so that they don't fling, spit out or drop so much food. Are these a good idea ?

This is what I feed my birds.

My macaw gets "Pretty Bird" pellets. It's what her breeder weaned her on and while I'm sure it's got it's critics, I haven't seen any ill effects from her or the place I use to work that fed them. I make sure she has access to these at all times.

The Grey's have Harrisons Course pellets, it's what they are use to. I am now mixing some Pretty Bird in with it to see if they like that as well, so I don't have to buy two seperate kinds.

They also eat "bountiful harvest" from mysafebirdstore. I gave some to my Macaw and she ADORES it, so I bought a 10 pound bag that will hopefully last me two weeks (hopefully, we'll see with 3 birds eating it)

Every morning I give fresh fruits and veggies. They have access to them for about two hours before I pull them out so bacteria doesn't start to grow. The fruits and veggies vary as to whats in season. I like to buy the "seasonal fruit" pack from walmart for 8.88 that has grapes, melon, strawberry and kiwi already sliced up. Then I chop up veggies. Occasionally i'll add some pasta, eggs, or grains to mix up.

In the evenigns I like to give treats. Macaws NEED to have some fat in their diet so I make sure she gets at least two nuts, like broken up walnut (she hasn't figured out breaking shells yet) and an almond. Depending on what I have for dinner I'll share that as well. If I make bird bread, i'll give them that too piggies that they are.

There is always waste when it comes to fruit and veggies.

Pellets are easier because you can leave them in the bowl and just refill (though my macaw likes to grind hers to dust.) Your bird may only like Zupreem (i tried giving it to mine and she didn't like them.) But definatly keep that until you've decided to change her pellets, and make sure to mix so she can get use to them gradually (and see if she even eats the different ones)

It's trial and error, but you'll figure out a good feeding routine and learn what you need to buy.

As to where to buy stuff, nuts you can buy from the grochery store. I like grabbing the bags during the holidays and freezing the extras, they're cheaper that way. I go online to buy a lot of stuff though and check prices at amazon then online bird stores and things like that.

Ok, I'm not feeding a cockatoo, but a 3.5lb bag of Zupreem lasts my conure a long time. When I had the other conure I went through it a lot faster. Not only was I feeding it to 2 birds, but the other conure was quite the little piggy and ate a lot of it. A 5lb bag of Harrison's lasted Pete about 2 months though. So I would either buy the small bags or freeze most of it.

I buy the largest bag of Zupreem fruit blend and also the hot and spicy when they are on sale. I check the expiration dates, and then when I open a bag, I put it in a sealed container.
I only have three birds and they eat other things besides the pellets, so they last a long time, and I've never had them go bad.