It’s chop day!!🥬🥦🥕🔪

[chris-md]

How well does it keep in the freezer? Doers it go all mushy? New to all this thing.

it keeps well. There’s always SLIGHT mush, but when you’re making chop, there are things you can do to avoid creating a mushy mess. Key is to minimize water, which is done by ingredient curation/choices. 1) do not add watery ingredients, which means malt fruits should not be included, and 2) adding ingredients that will absorb moisture: pasta, grains, etc.

 

[MissMac]

it keeps well. There’s always SLIGHT mush, but when you’re making chop, there are things you can do to avoid creating a mushy mess. Key is to minimize water, which is done by ingredient curation/choices. 1) do not add watery ingredients, which means malt fruits should not be included, and 2) adding ingredients that will absorb moisture: pasta, grains, etc.

So that means adding uncooked pasta and rice?

 

[chris-md]

No, you want to cook them properly, perhaps oh so slightly undercooked. But even fully cooked they will continue absorbing moisture (cooked is not the same as being fully saturated).

 

[Cynren224]

Hi guys,
I'm new to this forum and ran across this thread. I have a few questions that maybe you guys could help me with.

I have a 12 year old Blue Crowned Conure that was given to me a few years ago and was on a pretty bad diet, I have been trying to get her to eat chop but with no luck. I have been told to have patients and just continue to give it to her and I have but that is a lot of waste and I'm worried she is not getting enough food. I have been getting her freeze dried food and she eats this more then she did the chop but really only after I crush most of it up. I also give her pellets with a bit of seeds in it, also give her alternating 1 different nut each day.

I also have a Cockatiel that I got very young and when I first brought her home and gave her chop she would eat some of it but now she won't eat it. I even get them veggies fresh from the garden. I wonder if I should really chop it fine, and reading chris-md's post they mention blanching, how in the world do you blanch chop?? Well actually I know how to blanch but how do you get all the water out of it? I so want to give my babies fresh foods but I'm just at a loss on what to do to get them to eat it. She also gets pellets and more seeds then my Conure does, neither one of them really eat to much of the pellets either,
oye vey!

Any help you guys have to offer would be so appreciated.

I'm new here also. I had the same problem trying to get my RB2 to eat chop. The breeder said she was eating it there. It has taken about 5 weeks for her to really show interest in it. Be sure to not offer too much of the other stuff. She could be filling up on it, possibly. Good luck!

 

[MissMac]

No, you want to cook them properly, perhaps oh so slightly undercooked. But even fully cooked they will continue absorbing moisture (cooked is not the same as being fully saturated).

Made my first batch of chop yesterday. She was enjoying it as I was making it but she hasn't gone near it so far this morning. On that note she seems to be less inclined to eat first thing in the morning now. She's three months old and I'm not sure I should be only giving her one meal of her neo food daily or two - one in the morning and one before bed.

 

[chris-md]

Great job!! It can be a challenge sometimes getting them to accept new food. One of the best ways to get them to accept is simply to add, just before serving, some favorite foods. Top dress it with favorite seeds or shave (cheese grater) some almonds over the top. Or mix sunflower seeds on.

Anything to trick the beak into the bowl.

 

[MissMac]

Great job!! It can be a challenge sometimes getting them to accept new food. One of the best ways to get them to accept is simply to add, just before serving, some favorite foods. Top dress it with favorite seeds or shave (cheese grater) some almonds over the top. Or mix sunflower seeds on.

Anything to trick the beak into the bowl.

I didn't have too, just after writing that she hoed into it.... still isn't eating as much as she has done tho but seemingly enjoyed her chop and I still had her peas, corn and cooked egg alongside in case she didn't want the chop.

 

[kme3388]

Hey Chris, Have you tried red lentil pasta in chop? Do you know if this is okay for ekkies?

 

[chris-md]

Holy shittakes! In researching chop ideas, i found this. Im JUST down to my last bag of this chop. I seriiusly cant believe this lasted so long. nearly a year😱🤯 this was a TON of food! Hope i dont repeat this day again. This was a bit much.

 

[MissMac]

Today is chop day in our household. And it’s an epic one! It’s a bit of a “clean out the pantry” chop, since I had a bunch of dried things (grains, legumes, etc) sitting around for over a year. Problem is i didn’t realize that just how much I had, so I’ve had to double everything else to keep up!

View attachment 32292
View attachment 32293

We’ve got two tubs here. You can see All the cooked grains/legumes in one tub. the other are the chopped up veggies.

Here’s what we have:

chickpea elbow pasta
Chickpeas
Adzuki beans
Mung beans
Green lentils
Red lentils
Quinoa
Amaranth
Spelt
Farro
Red kale
Red cabbage
Acorn squash
Pumpkin
Raw hulled sunflower seeds
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Bell peppers
Sweet potato
Jicama
Corn
Peas
Green beans
Pomegranate seeds
Ginger

ready for blanching
View attachment 32302

blanching in progress

View attachment 32303

finished product

View attachment 32304


i did some new stuff for this batch (cooked lentils/chickpeas/farro, etc…and used pumpkin and acord squash), and learned a few things. Overall I’d give this finished chop product a solid B-. Bit of a sticky/slimy texture, it not as bad as my last batch which used too much spaghetti squash.

I knew I was in trouble when:

1) the cooked grains looked shiny once in the tub, a sign of sliminess. Cooked legumes (lentils especially) don’t have a nice consistency for chop.

2) cooked legumes mash easily. Good lord, during the water removal process they WILL break apart and contribute a lot of mash to the mix, not really good for consistency.

3) any squash will be slimy. I knew spaghetti squash added significantly to a sad, slimy texture. But the pumpkin and score squash both clearly had slightly slimy textures even before I chopped them.

so basically, squash and cooked legumes can be problematic. Especially if they are half the mix like they are here. But I wanted to clear my pantry so it couldn’t really be helped. I used what I had.

so how much did this yield? 93 snack bags. 9 dang months of chop!! I usually do 3-4. All because I wanted to get rid of some extra grains! I really hope this will stay good for that long!

View attachment 32305

My girls don't like chop if it has been frozen. It's fresh or forget it and considering I live alone my veggies don't make it fresh for them from shopping day to shopping day.

How well does it keep in the freezer? Doers it go all mushy? New to all this thing.

It does go soft if having been frozen. My girls don't fuss on it once it's frozen.

 

[MissMac]

Today is chop day in our household. And it’s an epic one! It’s a bit of a “clean out the pantry” chop, since I had a bunch of dried things (grains, legumes, etc) sitting around for over a year. Problem is i didn’t realize that just how much I had, so I’ve had to double everything else to keep up!

View attachment 32292
View attachment 32293

We’ve got two tubs here. You can see All the cooked grains/legumes in one tub. the other are the chopped up veggies.

Here’s what we have:

chickpea elbow pasta
Chickpeas
Adzuki beans
Mung beans
Green lentils
Red lentils
Quinoa
Amaranth
Spelt
Farro
Red kale
Red cabbage
Acorn squash
Pumpkin
Raw hulled sunflower seeds
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Bell peppers
Sweet potato
Jicama
Corn
Peas
Green beans
Pomegranate seeds
Ginger

ready for blanching
View attachment 32302

blanching in progress

View attachment 32303

finished product

View attachment 32304


i did some new stuff for this batch (cooked lentils/chickpeas/farro, etc…and used pumpkin and acord squash), and learned a few things. Overall I’d give this finished chop product a solid B-. Bit of a sticky/slimy texture, it not as bad as my last batch which used too much spaghetti squash.

I knew I was in trouble when:

1) the cooked grains looked shiny once in the tub, a sign of sliminess. Cooked legumes (lentils especially) don’t have a nice consistency for chop.

2) cooked legumes mash easily. Good lord, during the water removal process they WILL break apart and contribute a lot of mash to the mix, not really good for consistency.

3) any squash will be slimy. I knew spaghetti squash added significantly to a sad, slimy texture. But the pumpkin and score squash both clearly had slightly slimy textures even before I chopped them.

so basically, squash and cooked legumes can be problematic. Especially if they are half the mix like they are here. But I wanted to clear my pantry so it couldn’t really be helped. I used what I had.

so how much did this yield? 93 snack bags. 9 dang months of chop!! I usually do 3-4. All because I wanted to get rid of some extra grains! I really hope this will stay good for that long!

View attachment 32305

My girls won't eat chop once it is frozen and thawed. And because I live alone the amount of veggies I buy fortnight to fortnight, just doesn't cover them.

 

[HeatherG]

Made my first batch of chop yesterday. She was enjoying it as I was making it but she hasn't gone near it so far this morning. On that note she seems to be less inclined to eat first thing in the morning now. She's three months old and I'm not sure I should be only giving her one meal of her neo food daily or two - one in the morning and one before bed.

I love the dirty food face! Your yellow guy loves your chop!!

I have some chickpea and lentil pasta and I don’t like it much. Maybe my birds would like it.

If you add peppers do you leave the seeds in the chop?

 

[MissMac]

If you add peppers do you leave the seeds in the chop?

My girls just loooove the peppers seeds. I save them the whole seed part when I am using peppers.

 

[chris-md]

Def keep the pepper seeds.

 

[WingDing]

My girls won't eat chop once it is frozen and thawed. And because I live alone the amount of veggies I buy fortnight to fortnight, just doesn't cover them.

I'm finding the same with our eclectus. He has been avoiding his morning breakfast chop and waiting for pellets to eat. Today, I gave him fresh unfrozen chop and he cleaned the bowl.

How to deal with that? Buy a huge variety of fresh veg every 3 or 4 days? Then chop enough to make one day's worth every morning? I tried that found it exhausting and the veg went limp or bad before he ate it all. Maybe there are a number of ingredients I can chop in bulk and freeze and then add some fresh ingredients to make it more enticing.