My new approach to gutloading

[Silkyslim]

So these past few weeks I have become more and more turned off at having to constantly buy veggies and fruits for my feeders and always have to change out the whole foods themselves and attempt to keep it fresh to reduce spoilage etc.

So what I did today was go out to the natural foodstore and bought the following: Mustard greens, Collard greens, Turnip greens, papaya, apple, orange, carrot, butternut squash, yam and blended them up in a blender and put them into ice cube trays. Once those are frozen I am going to put them into a zip lock back and then I will always have good food ready to rock.

Anyone else do this? how can I improve upon this?

 

[TommyTsunami88]

So these past few weeks I have become more and more turned off at having to constantly buy veggies and fruits for my feeders and always have to change out the whole foods themselves and attempt to keep it fresh to reduce spoilage etc.

So what I did today was go out to the natural foodstore and bought the following: Mustard greens, Collard greens, Turnip greens, papaya, apple, orange, carrot, butternut squash, yam and blended them up in a blender and put them into ice cube trays. Once those are frozen I am going to put them into a zip lock back and then I will always have good food ready to rock.

Anyone else do this? how can I improve upon this?

I am about to do the same thing. Ive heard a lot of people including me buying an ice cube tray from the dollar store etc, and putting the blended mix into those and serving your feeders one frozen cube a day. Just my opinion. Hope it helps.

 

[lisa h]

Definitely simplifies things. As long as the food isn't still frozen (or too hot if you thaw it in the microwave), it should work fine. That, and the crickets will have the benefit of the variety, since everything is blended.

BTW, if you prefreeze any green leafies, they will go through the blender a lot easier. We do something similar for our dogs, which are raw fed.

Good luck!

 

[Chase]

So these past few weeks I have become more and more turned off at having to constantly buy veggies and fruits for my feeders and always have to change out the whole foods themselves and attempt to keep it fresh to reduce spoilage etc.

So what I did today was go out to the natural foodstore and bought the following: Mustard greens, Collard greens, Turnip greens, papaya, apple, orange, carrot, butternut squash, yam and blended them up in a blender and put them into ice cube trays. Once those are frozen I am going to put them into a zip lock back and then I will always have good food ready to rock.

Anyone else do this? how can I improve upon this?

I've heard of people doing this. I created a little mixture about 3 years ago, and my feeders love it. It was fairly cheap, and the crickets and superworms loved it.

Here is the link:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/cricket-feeder-8250/

 

[jandie]

.....

the only thing i would worry about, as i thought about doing this too....

i work at an adult day health care center and we get audited and monitored by various medical professionals, licensing agencies, etc. and we were informed by our last auditor, less than a month ago, that we should NEVER put the fruit in the freezer (we were doing that sometimes to cool it down or keep it colder until ready to serve) because it actually depletes ALL of the nutrients in the fruit when you freeze it..... so we're not allowed to do that anymore....

could be wrong...i dunno....i would assume that's not true for flash frozen fruits like you would buy pre-frozen, but i'm not even sure about that.....

not trying to rain on the parade, but just sharing what we were told by our food program licensing auditor....

 

[Silkyslim]

I actually did freeze them into little ice cubes. I figure I will just pull one out and cut it in half and let it thaw in a little tin foil bowl until I create something better.

It has such a applesauce like texture I was getting into it. It was nice and sweet from the papaya and apples. A touch of honey would been perfect for the flavor but wasn't sure how it was for the animals. And it had a nice earthy finish from all the greens and yams. I think the insects will really like it, that will be perfect along some cricket crack I ordered but have yet to receive.

 

[pssh]

Freezing does destroy nutrients and what not. Fresh is always better. You could just put the goop in the fridge and spoon it out as needed. A little methyl paraben and Potassium sorbate would keep it preserved longer and inhibit mold.

 

[Silkyslim]

the only thing i would worry about, as i thought about doing this too....

i work at an adult day health care center and we get audited and monitored by various medical professionals, licensing agencies, etc. and we were informed by our last auditor, less than a month ago, that we should NEVER put the fruit in the freezer (we were doing that sometimes to cool it down or keep it colder until ready to serve) because it actually depletes ALL of the nutrients in the fruit when you freeze it..... so we're not allowed to do that anymore....

could be wrong...i dunno....i would assume that's not true for flash frozen fruits like you would buy pre-frozen, but i'm not even sure about that.....

not trying to rain on the parade, but just sharing what we were told by our food program licensing auditor....

Weird. Maybe it's different in Wisconsin. I am a certified safe food manager and licensed food manager for the state.

In my culinary experience most of the kitchens I have been in all froze or used frozen fruit in some form. Most of the time when preparing food for the freezer it is blanched to help deactivate the enzymes within the product and get it ready for long term holding, otherwise the freezer has a tendency to suck the moisture right out of the fruit (I have witnessed this many times personally). A quick internet search should tell you that frozen foods retain most of the nutritional value if processed correctly. The crap part of frozen fruit is that once it is thawed, all the cell walls have been broken when the water within it expanded so it's visually mushier once thawed.

If I were you I would go after that dudes job because he obviously doesn't know crap about food. Although considering it is a care center it is governed by a whole different set of laws. I remember doing temp jobs in hospital cafeterias back in the day and was always laughing at their ridiculous food rules, I understand the importance of not compromising peoples bodies through unsafe food but most of the time it was overboard.

 

[lisa h]

Freezing does *not* deplete foods of all nutrients. Nutrients are lost from the time the food is picked, so freshly picked produced that is frozen right away contains more nutrients than that same produce after a week on the produce truck, and then a few days in the grocery store, then a few more days in the fridge. And no, I can't quote my sources, but I did do a bunch of research before I started feeding my dogs a raw food diet. Even food that is thawed and refrozen is still nutritious. I'm sure Silkyslim's crickets will be eating healthier than many of us.

 

[Eltortu]

we were informed by our last auditor, less than a month ago, that we should NEVER put the fruit in the freezer (we were doing that sometimes to cool it down or keep it colder until ready to serve) because it actually depletes ALL of the nutrients in the fruit when you freeze it.....

Freezing does destroy nutrients and what not. Fresh is always better. You could just put the goop in the fridge and spoon it out as needed. A little methyl paraben and Potassium sorbate would keep it preserved longer and inhibit mold.

You guys are good!

 

[lisa h]

Freezing does destroy nutrients and what not. Fresh is always better. You could just put the goop in the fridge and spoon it out as needed. A little methyl paraben and Potassium sorbate would keep it preserved longer and inhibit mold.

Letting the mix sit in the fridge (without perservatives) will deplete more nutrients than freezing it, and I'd worry about spoilage. Birds are very sensitive to any spoilage, so a lot of people do a premix and put the food in ice cube trays and leave it frozen until used. I'd never use anything that's been sitting premixed in the fridge, and I think preservatives defeat the purpose of feeding healthy foods.

 

[jessica]

You could blanch the greens, that will help preserve some of the vitamins in them before blending and freezing.

 

[Eltortu]

So these past few weeks I have become more and more turned off at having to constantly buy veggies and fruits for my feeders and always have to change out the whole foods themselves and attempt to keep it fresh to reduce spoilage etc.

So what I did today was go out to the natural foodstore and bought the following: Mustard greens, Collard greens, Turnip greens, papaya, apple, orange, carrot, butternut squash, yam and blended them up in a blender and put them into ice cube trays. Once those are frozen I am going to put them into a zip lock back and then I will always have good food ready to rock.

Anyone else do this? how can I improve upon this?

How many feeders do you have on average? I used the same tecnique of blending and freezing it, but you have to clean the food daily or bacteria will grow contaminating your feeders and then your chams. I would stick to giving them small pieces of veggies and fruit.

 

[Silkyslim]

Freezing does *not* deplete foods of all nutrients. Nutrients are lost from the time the food is picked, so freshly picked produced that is frozen right away contains more nutrients than that same produce after a week on the produce truck, and then a few days in the grocery store, then a few more days in the fridge. And no, I can't quote my sources, but I did do a bunch of research before I started feeding my dogs a raw food diet. Even food that is thawed and refrozen is still nutritious. I'm sure Silkyslim's crickets will be eating healthier than many of us.

Yeah that's what I was thinking so that is why I decided to blend and freeze right after purchase just to avoid the nutrient lost and degradation.

I usually have about 500 or so crickets, my quickly growing dubia colony and I always usually have 50 or so superworms. I get silkies and hornworms as well from time to time, actually should be getting some silkies in the next day or two.
I would never put whole cubes in, I have a lot of small lids that would be perfect to hold the gutload as it thaws out in the keeper

 

[Amanda1801]

when I was feeding crickets and such I never had a problem with feeding them - because I always have a variety of fruit and veg in my house for ME! Don't you guys eat fruit and veg?

 

[JasonSinger]

when I was feeding crickets and such I never had a problem with feeding them - because I always have a variety of fruit and veg in my house for ME! Don't you guys eat fruit and veg?

Haha ... I agree completely ... Everytime I have a little left over, into the bug bin it goes!!!

 

[Amanda1801]

Haha ... I agree completely ... Everytime I have a little left over, into the bug bin it goes!!!

mine get it before i do! I get the left overs!

 

[pssh]

Didn't know about the fridge thing. Also, if you notice, I put a few preservatives in my post.

Anywho, freezing, thawing, and blanching does indeed destroy or cause the loss of certain nutrients. The most prominent being vit C. I guess I should have said SOME nutrients.

 

[ghettomike]

I do the same thing as you and it works great for me. One ingredient that I would suggest for your next batch is bee pollen that can be found at natural food stores or markets.

 

[Silkyslim]

I do the same thing as you and it works great for me. One ingredient that I would suggest for your next batch is bee pollen that can be found at natural food stores or markets.

Yeah I would have included that and some spirilina but I was a little short on cash at that time. Going to go with it the next batch for sure.