How to keep your greens and veggies fresh.....

[BPelizabeth]

I know that when I first started taking care of lizards this was the hardest thing for me. I have tried so many different techniques and this seemed to keep them the best. Hope it helps you!

I will show you how to take care of your greens and store them. This will help them to last well over a week. You can also do this same process with your veggies as well. It will keep them crisp and fresh.

Start off with a paticular type of green in the sink. Make sure to wash them for a few minutes getting off all the dirt and any chemicals they might have come in contact with. Be sure to flip them a few times and break up the leaves.


Then go through your leaves and make sure to take out any that are floppy or look bad. If you can cut off the bad part do so. Any type of discoloring will affect the greens in your bag so be diligent about getting rid of everything that is not good. You will notice the difference in the picture below...a limp leaf and a fresh leaf.


Now you will want to pick each leaf up and cut the stem off. Just shake some of the water off...do not dry the leaf completely. In some cases such as mustard greens I cut the leaf in half keeping the stem as their are leaves all the way down the stem that you can use.


Take several paper towels....I typically use at least 4 and place the leaf in the middle of the roll of paper towels. Continue to do this until you are done with this paticular type of green.


Again if the green is too long to fit within the height of the paper towel....cut it in half. you do not want any greens sticking out on either end.


At this point you are going to roll the greens up in the towels tightly.


Get yourself some large ziplock bags. I can tell you it is a lot easier to use the zipper type of bag then the snapping ones. They are a little more expensive however you will be able to re-use these bags until they rip. Place the rolled up greens in the bag and now you will do the same type of rolling technique used with the paper towels with the bag. Once you get it in and roll it press down on the greens to get rid of an extra air and zip it shut.


Again this is a useful tip with carrots, green beans...really anything. With any type of large fruit or squash it is best to clean it...cut it and place it in your food processor and chop it up to your desired size. Then place it in a tupperware and store in the fridge. Depending on what it is this will last for a week to 2 weeks.



HIP TIPS

Remembering who you are cutting for. Always make sure it is for the size of that paticular reptile. Iguannas do not chew they swallow it whole so make sure you cut it accordingly. I have noticed that my beardies like to chew and like bigger pieces of lettuce. My uromasytx almost likes it all pureed. Just take notice how your paticular reptile eats.

If you have a difficult eater...try mashing up fruit and blending a little in throughout the salad

Always give your reptiles the staples...but vary the other veggies and greens week to week

Always spray your veggie dish with water before placing in enclosure. This will help the veggies to last throughout the day within a hot enclosure as well as help hydrate your reptiles.

Rhubard is toxic to pretty much every reptile I know...stay away from that.

If you have several plant eating reptiles...keep a journal as to who doesn't like what. This will save you money in the long run. For instance I have a Blue tongue skink that will NOT touch anything that has been near a carrot. This gets expensive when you make a dish and she wont go near it.

If you have a plant and cooked protein eater (such as a BTS) mix everything in a bowl and then put on the plate. This way they get their greens as well as their protien.



Ok feel free to add any tips guys...hope this helps!!

[steveboos]

Awesome, just awesome, thanks!!! Luckily i keep easy to care for reptiles and don't need to worry about greens!!

I know this will help out tons of people in the future though!

[cinderbird]

this is genus!

[Elise.m]

Crazy, I was just reading a cookbook about how to keep greens fresh and she does it very similar to you! Cookbook is Cookwise if you're interested. She has some very good techniques!

[bassistjon112]

I have some thing to add.

Buy the best quality greens you can get. I buy this one brand that come pre-washed and in a plastic container and it honestly will stay fresh for 1-2 months.

But I'm going to be trying this method with greens that aren't sold in my preferred brand.

[llovelace]

I use green bags

[BPelizabeth]

Watch out for some of that stuff in the plastic containers ....they put something on them to make it last longer!!!

[maverickgtr]

OMG I'm trying this as soon as I get new greens! Which will likely be in the next couple days as my greens are starting to go bad... Our beardie just can't eat the greens fast enough before they go bad especially now that she's brumating and only eating every other day.

I think this should be stickied...

[JLC]

Tis stick-a-fied!

Nice job, Michelle!

[Arock]

In your tuperware you can lay a damp paper towel over the top of the veggies and tuck them in like a bug in a rug. Helps lock in moisture as well