Well, I told you I’d be calling this the “Chop Blog” if the hits and questions kept coming! I asked some of my Readers if they would be so kind to send me some of their photos and thoughts on their version of “Chop”, as well as how it’s going over for their birds. In the meantime, while they are responding, I’ll show you the last batch I made. I made a big batch of “Chop” on June ninth, and I still have about 18 meals left. I took some photos while I was making it:
This is a brown and wild rice mixture being cooked.
Choppin’Broccoli, I mean Collard Greens! I used the entire bag.
Some of the stuff I used in my chop this time around. It includes all the frozen vegetables you see, as well as cooked lentils, dry oatmeal, fresh radishes, quinoa, walnuts and dried apricots. There’s more stuff in there as well.
This is peeking into my big-ass stock pot as I am adding ingredients. You can see the fresh chopped collards, frozen chopped kale and broccoli, and diced green pepper, some frozen black eyed peas, hemp seed, rape seed, Flax seed, ground-up fresh carrots and sweet potato, walnuts, oatmeal and coconut. There’s other stuff in there, but I can’t remember what went into the pot at that stage.
Here I’ve added more frozen vegetables and frozen cranberries
I threw the dried “Higgins Snack Attack,” leafy herbs, twigs, weeds and leaves, (just kidding!) in.
The cooked and drained, hot quinoa, rice and spelt just got thrown in. As I was mixing it, it started steaming up because it was hitting the frozen vegetables.
Cooked lentils, broccoli slaw, chopped celery and radishes, and I think that black junk in the corner at two o’clock is the chopped up seaweed.
After mixing it all up, Parker is observing the “Bagging Festivities”. Making it was about an hour. I think it took me closer to two hours to bag it up. And as you can see he wasn’t beyond sampling a bit. Actually it was more like wolfing down a whole lot!
And here are 108 bags suitable for framing or freezing! There probably would have been more to freeze but the piglets were at it like the hogs they are. I loved it, because they were tails up and in their bowls forever. I used the half-bag, snack-sized zip-locs this time. And I’ve been washing them out to reuse. Each of those bags is one meal for three birds. So I use two of those bags a day, along with their other foods that they eat: sprouts, nuts and cooked beans. Off the hook for 54 days!
And here is the result: 108 bags of chop packed up in freezer bags. I can get about twenty meals in each freezer bag. There you have it. A step-by step story board on making chop.
All this free time! Gee, I wonder what I’m going to do with it…
I know! How about a quick trip to a French Grocery Store?
July 22, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Great post! Since I am a vegetarian who hates to cook, I think I should make this for myself!!!
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July 22, 2009 at 3:12 pm
That’s fine, but leave the seeds and the dry oatmeal out. Yechhh!
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August 25, 2009 at 3:09 pm
are the vegies cooked?
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August 25, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Nope! All fresh vegetables are chopped raw and if you use frozen, those are simply partially thawed and then chopped with a food processor. Raw vegetables have more nutrition than cooked.
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August 28, 2009 at 3:35 pm
just wanted to let you know that I have been feeding this to my two parrots for about a month now along with Harrison’s pellets. They seem much more active and I swear their feathers are more vibrant. Thanks for everything.
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August 28, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Thank you for letting me know! You know it’s so gratifying to hear that wonderful people like you are giving “chop” a whirl and seeing the results.
What I want to know is, how is it working in your life? Do you find it more convenient and easier to feed your birds well?
That’s what I love about it; it’s not only great for your birds, it’s easier on your life!
Thanks for the wonderful comment! and let me know how it’s going as time goes on.
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August 31, 2009 at 9:51 am
Well I made the chop yesterday….the boy would not stay out of the bowl! I made at least 40 portions for him and was patting myself on the back. This morning he wouldn’t go near it, he is so fussy, he will be getting it everyday and maybee he will have at least a little. He has been a real challenge to feed, I’ll keep trying!
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August 31, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Jane!
So glad to hear it! Now this is where you have to get crafty! Tomorrow, mix it in with some scrambled eggs…or add some warm pasta. Throw in some fresh fruit, or some bean mix…whatever he likes. The idea is to get him used to the idea of it being there every day. Add some pasta sauce or some low fat salad dressing. Anything to change the taste and make it different. As long as he keeps eating it for a while, he’ll recognize it as a basic “food.” But try and keep him from getting bored.
The beauty of “Chop’ is its flexibility. That’s what makes it so valuable and that’s why I don’t give a recipe.
Keep me posted and let me know how it goes, Jane. I can’t wait to hear of his progress!
Patricia
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March 6, 2010 at 9:18 pm
thats good stuff, i made my first chop about a month ago probably and i still have them in the freezer, tomorrow i will take some bags out and make pumkin balls and bake it.
good stuff really, a time saver for everyday.
good article!
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March 6, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Hi Maria!
Isn’t “Chop” great? I love the stuff. I feel like I have a life again!
Thanks so much for your comment.
P.
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March 6, 2010 at 10:57 pm
you are welcome! =)
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September 25, 2010 at 11:47 am
when making chop …do you cook the oatmeal ? Also can you add other vegetables like squash…. green beans…. sugar peas or snap peas…and fresh or frozen brussel sprouts ?
thanks !
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September 25, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Hi Brenda!
Nope, don’t cook the oatmeal. Just shake it in right out of the box. And as far as your other ingredients you mentioned, they’re all good!
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September 26, 2010 at 12:03 pm
What fresh fruit can I put in the chop recipe ? Also do I need to peel the fruit ?
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September 26, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Don’t put any. Fruit doesn’t freeze well. Add it fresh along WITH the Chop.
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September 27, 2010 at 10:45 am
I found another method to mix all the veggies and grains that go into chop !
Instead of putting all the mix in the bath tub I bought a rubbermade tub and washed it throughly with dish soap. I can keep this in the kitchen and not have to bend over the bath tub. Hope this helps !
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January 7, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Hi! I foster for a parrot rescue in Florida and was wandering if you could give some more specifics on how to make this chop for the first time, like how long do you cook it and on what temperature. I am not usually a “think out of the box” kind of person, so may need a little more direction to try it for the first time and will experiemrnt later on. I find this interesting though because we get so many birds into the rescue that are extrmely picky eaters because they have never been given fruits and vegetables, just seeds, maybe an apple or banana here and there, and so I think this would help with converting those types of cases over to a better diet and would like to try it this weekend! It was brought to my attention by a person applying to foster for our rescue. I have also sent this link to all of the fosters in our group (about 85 people) as I am sure we would all love to do something like this as many of us have multiple foster birds in our home. Thanks for your time and for the blog!!
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April 21, 2011 at 6:11 pm
So glad I stumbled on your blog! Even if I didn’t have parrots I think I would still read this. Great stuff!
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September 26, 2013 at 10:08 pm
Can you feed this to smaller birds, like lovebirds?
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September 27, 2013 at 6:03 am
You sure can, Emily! Just make the cut of the produce finer..
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