How can I buy a variety of fresh ingredients for my birds?

[FieryPhoenix]

This is going to sound like a really dumb question so I apologize in advance. I want to include fresh produce in my birds' diet every day and make a chop mix for them, but when I see the videos of how people make it, I don't have the budget to buy all the different vegetables they use. I know at the supermarket they have fruit salads for people, is there something like that has a bunch of mixed vegetables I could use for my birds?

 

[zERo]

I’m not sure if you could find a mix of appropriate veggies in the right amounts premixed.
I have a flock of 10, it cost me about $40-60 to feed them thawed chop everyday, twice a day and it lasts about 2 months.
If I remember right, you have two birds? So a large batch could last you 4 months or more depending on how much of their diet is chop.
I freeze mine in freezer bags, flattened out so that pieces can be easily broken off.
Or I take each bag individually and let it thaw for 20 or so minutes and scoop it into an ice tray then take one ice cube per meal and thaw it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Make sure it’s cool!

As for variety, I would aim for 10 different veggies, even organic isn’t that expensive for some veg, others a bit more, I just buy from Walmart.
Here’s my last recipe:
Kale, mustard, and collard greens (this came in a trio bag) I used about 1/4 of the bag (the rest went to reptiles)
Carrots (2 lb. Bag)
Bell pepper (3 large bell peppers, if you can’t afford the colored ones get green! They’re cheap!)
Radish (1 lb. Bag)
Green beans (1 lb. Bag)
Zucchini (1 small, avoid these as they add to the mushiness)
Serrano peppers (1/2 lb. You don’t have to add hot peppers)
Broccoli (2 small heads)
Cauliflower (1 small head)
Brussels sprouts (1 lb. Bag)
And then I add sprouts which are mung beans, green lentils, peas, and quinoa.
I do a 3:1 ratio, 3 being the veg of course!

If you can’t afford 10 different veggies use one of each important kind, like 1-2 dark leafy green, 1-2 orange veg, and 2-3 other veg. Try to get a rainbow if you can.

I really hope this help 😊

 

[ravvlet]

A lot of grocery stores have an organic slaw mix that is carrot, red cabbage and green cabbage. You’ll want to add to this - sometimes they have cubed squash or sweet potato also you can throw in there. I kind of just mix and match and try to remember the correct ratios of everything (I use this post in the Amazon subforum). I only have one medium size bird now, but even when I had two I rarely spent more than $20-30 on chop, and it lasted about a month - so about the same as what zero is spending (I just don’t have much freezer space so I make less at a time!)

 

[Cottonoid]

If it's too expensive up front, you could get things one at a time and build up a stash of ingredients - something like if carrots are on sale this week, buy a lot, then chop up and freeze everything you don't use or feed this week. Then next week if peppers are on sale, buy a whole bunch and chop/freeze anything you don't use. Within a month or so you might have all the variety you're looking for and can thaw then mix it all together, and refreeze in chop batches.