Veggie/Fruit list!

[Honesty]

Here is a list of vegetables...

VEGETABLES

Vegetables add bulk and roughage to your pet's diet. They need plenty of roughage to chew on. All vegetables should be washed with mild soap and scrubbed with a vegetable brush. The following vegetables are safe and nutritious. It is just a basic list and a good, safe place to start.

Broccoli - whole vegetable
Lettuce - romaine, chickory, boston, aruula, etc. Any but iceberg, which has little or no nutritional value.
Sweet potato - Raw or slightly microwaved (45-60 seconds per sweet potato). It tastes sweeter that way, but is still crunchy and appetizing.
Cauliflower - whole vegetable chopped up
White potatoes - whole spud, chopped up. Remove all eyes, as they are poisonous.
Squash - zucchini, acorn, spaghetti, butternut, yellow, pumpkin, etc. Any portion of the squash is good, especially the seeds. They are high in silenium and other healthy minerals.
Melon - watermelon (pits are okay), canteloupe (rind is toxic), canary melon, sabra melon, honeydew - the flesh is good, remove seeds and rind.
Tomato - the tomato only, leaves and stem are toxic
Carrots - whole plant is great!
Beets- The whole plant served raw is supernutritious.
Corn - On the cob, Corn can cause problems with proper calcium metabolism, so although it is usually relished by all birds, it must be limited.
Turnips- The turnip itself and the greens. The greens are rich in vitamin A
Kale- Rich in Vitamin A, E, K
Watercress- Rich in vitamin A, C, E
Collard Greens - Rich in vitamin A, C, Potassium, Calcium
Dandelion - Rich in vitamin A. If you collect your own, make sure they are untreated chemically.
Chicory -Vitamin A
Mustard Greens
Cabbage - Cut horizontally to avoid long stringy pieces.
Kohrabi
Brussell Sprouts - Sprouts on the stalk can be hung in the cage as a perch or food toy.
Swiss Chard
Peas
Beans- Beans will be covered in the following section in detail.
Celery- peeled and cut up in samll horizontal pieces, so there are no long stringy hard to digest pieces to obstruct digestion.

This is a list of fruits:

FRUITS

Fresh fruits, thoroughly washed and rinsed in order to remove dirt and any chemical pesticide residues should make up a large portion of a bird basic diet. The following are recommended but do not use the pits - many are poisonous: apples, oranges, cherries, pears, nectarines, plums, peaches, whole cranberries, papaya, mango, persimmons, apricots, leechees (seeds OK), pomegranites (the seeds are the best part), bananas, grapes - seeded or seedless, berries - black, blue, raspberries, mulberries, currants are all great. Commercially grown strawberries have the highest level of stored pesticide residues of any fruit or vegetables, so should be avoided. Homegrown or organic strawberries are fine. This is just a basic list, many other fruits can be fed.

[Mare]

Thanks, Wendy,,I'm definitely going to buy a brussel sprouts stalk and try that out!

[Honesty]

Brussel Sprouts are one of Codie's favourite veggies :)

[coltfire]

You almost got my full list of fruit and veg I brought today for my fids. A quick $180 spent on my babies food this week.

[smidge]

Really helpful. Thank you :)

[Honesty]

You're welcome Lisa!

[Macaw Lover]

Any fruits or veggies get washed first with Dawn soap, the original type, not the others. Then everything gets sprayed with white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Doesn't matter which order for the spraying, then things sit for 5 minutes. I wash everything off a second time with the soap. I keep the two separate bottles under the sink. The peroxide must be left in the brown bottle it comes in because it will deteriorate if exposed to the sun. Just pick up a couple of spray bottles at Kmart or Wal-Mart, fill the one with the vinegar and the second one make sure the sprayer hose is short enough for the short bottles that the peroxide comes in.

This gets rid of the dirt but also the pesticides that can be on things. I also don't buy things that are grown in South America because those countries use pesticides that have been banned here in the States.

[jacksmom]

Since pesticides are actually present inside the fruit or vegetable as well, we are pretty strict about it - we follow the current year's "Shopper's Guide" to produce. If it falls on the bottom half of the list, there is no need to go organic, just rinse well. If it is on the top, or worse yet, in the "Dirty Dozen", we buy organic, or pick another fruit or veggie. Some, like potatoes, are "self-cleaning", meaning they naturally expel the pesticides...while others, like apples, hold the pesticides for a long time. That doesn't mean that if I am eating an apple one time that I am very sure is probably soaked with pesticide, that I am not going to give him some - of course I would! A little bit isn't going to hurt him. I just don't put it in his regular diet. ;)

[Lady]

These threads are so helpful!:thanks4sharingthumb