by Pajarita » Thu Aug 07, 2014 10:03 am
Yes, I freeze it. I cook a double batch of grains (I do about two cups of each grain), freeze one half and prepare the other half with the beans, seeds, lentils and veggies. This 'prepared' half becomes what I call the 'basic recipe' and gets split into daily portions which go into individual freezer baggies and all of them, except one for the following morning, go into the freezer. Every afternoon I take out one baggie and leave it outside (in the summer, I just leave it in a bowl -otherwise you end up with water under it- on top of the kitchen counter but, in the winter, I put the baggie in a stainless steel bowl I place on top of one of the radiators). In the morning, the gloop is thawed and at room temperature and gets the daily flavoring mixed in. I give them one day spicy and one day fruity. When I worked full time, I used to freeze the daily portions already with the flavors in and leave all the raw produce washed, cut and ready for serving in a large bowl which I placed inside a supermarket plastic bag and placed in the fridge in order to minimize the morning work.
I have 'developed' different recipes for the daily flavor hich I know my birds like and put names to them (yes, bird people ARE crazy -LOL) so we have "Apple Pie" which has naturally dried, unsulfured chips of organic apples, raisins and/or currants, organic lemon rind grated finely, a squirt of organic, wild flower or clover honey and a sprinkle of Ceylon cinnamon. "Pizza" has chopped sundried tomatoes, chopped green pepper, black olives (sliced, pitless and thoroughly rinsed to get as much of the salt out of them although I do buy the 'low salt' ones), oregano and black pepper. "Eastern Delight" has chopped dates and figs, a bit of maple syrup (not pancake syrup but real maple syrup) and a sprinkle of allspice and nutmeg. "Chili sin carne" has chopped orange or yellow peppers, extra beans and chili powder (real easy and one of their favorites). "Pina Colada" has naturally dried, unsulfured, low sugar pineapple bits, grated unsweetened coconut and a bit of all-fruit orange marmalade. "Brussels Sprout Stew" has chopped Brussels sprouts, chopped red peppers, paprika, white pepper and a touch of thyme. See what I mean? You think of a 'human' recipe and simply adapt it to parrots.