# Making & Freezing a mix of foods



## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

So far, I haven't been able to find many treats that Milly likes, other than meal worms and bananas. Kibble is her staple food, and I don't want her to miss out on the fun and nutrition of fruits, veggies and possibly wet cat food. I just need a simpler (and cheaper way) to go about it - I have spent more money than I want to think about on baby food & fruits/veggies that she sniffs and walks away from.

I have heard a lot of people mention that they mix up different fruits/veggies and baby food or wet cat food and throw them in the freezer so the stuff doesn't go bad. Can anyone give me step-by-step instructions on this? Do you blend everything together, then put it in ice cube trays & freeze them? Or is there more to it?

Examples of what you use in your mix would help, too.


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## cylaura (Jan 13, 2011)

Here is my mix recipe:

1 bag frozen steamed veggies, defrosted and chopped into bite size pieces (the kind I use is called Steamfresh, and has broccoli, carrots, snap peas, and water chestnuts)
1 can of cooked chicken (the same size as a tuna can, sometimes I use fresh cooked chiken if I have it on hand)
1 1/2 cans Spot's Stew wet cat food, any variety
Few tbsps chicken broth

I just mix this all together in a large bowl, then spoon into ice cube trays and freeze. Liam gets one cube per night. You can add kibble if you like, but, if you are a weirdo hedgie like Liam, and don't like to eat wet kibble, you can put out a separate small bowl (he gets 20-251 pieces) of kibble next to the wet food.

In total, it makes me 32 cubes, so a months worth 1 food! Totally revolutionized my food 
routine. :lol: And Liam loves it as well! Hope this helps you!


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## cylaura (Jan 13, 2011)

Also, by 20-251 pieces, I clearly mean 20-25. Oops! :lol:


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## panda (May 23, 2011)

i think i may steal this recipe as well! sounds like they would love it.. as well as sounding fairly cheap & time saving. do you let it fully thaw before putting into the cage?


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## cylaura (Jan 13, 2011)

Panda: I'll either put a cube in the fridge before I leave for work in the morning and let it thaw that way, or just microwave one for 30 seconds or so a little while before I give it to Liam. Easy as pie. :lol: 

Also, sorry for all the spelling/grammar errors on the first post... stupid browsing HHC on my phone! :roll:


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## panda (May 23, 2011)

thanks! :]


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I've been using primarily baby food for Lily since it's so easy to get, and she usually avoids solid veggies, even if they're mixed into meat baby food. Right now I have two mixes - 

- chicken/apple, peas, broccoli/carrot, butternut squash
- turkey, sweet potatoes, peas, banana, butternut squash, carrot/potatoes/spinach

The butternut squash is the real thing that I bought a bag of, steamed in the microwave, then mashed and mixed in to the rest of the things, which are all baby foods. She gets the chicken mix one night, then the turkey mix the next, and so on. I have both mixes frozen into ice cubes, 1 tablespoon per cube, and in bags in the freezer. I just microwave a cube each night for Lily and she'll lick her dish clean of the baby food. She also gets dry kibble in the same dish, but next to the baby food (it's a little kidney-shaped dish, so the foods don't usually touch). She'll eat between 10 and 20 pieces of kibble each night along with the baby food, 5-6 crickets, 1-3 mealies, and usually at least one of the several kinds of cat treats I have for her.

These are just the mixes I'm using right now, and I'm starting to run out of the chicken one, so I'll be mixing up a new batch soon. It probably won't be the same mix, I figured I'd just go through the baby foods I have, find a variety and mix them together. :lol: The woman who runs the wildlife center I volunteer at mentioned being careful because the ratios of phosphorus/calcium aren't balanced in the baby food mix, but we figured that since she's still eating a decent amount of kibble besides, it'd be fine. I might ask my vet about this the next time I take her in.


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

Thanks for all the great input, guys! Milly had her first taste of a mix... She wasn't too keen on it. I've tried 3 nights in a row now. I'm going to make a new mix tomorrow and see if we have more luck! Fingers crossed


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## xspiked (Feb 27, 2011)

Hanhan27, I don't know if you've tried/read about meatballs because I know quite a few people on HHC make them, myself included.
Everyones been talking about making more of a wet mix, but I made Bulu a bunch of tiny little meatballs. I mixed in ground chicken, a little bit of ground pork, lots of veggies like spinach, carrots, cucumbers etc, an egg yolk and some cilantro (you only need a bit to flavour the entire batch, and they make so many meatballs that you don't have to worry about giving them too much herb). The cilantro probably makes it smell tasty to Bulu (trickery  she can't smell no veggies muahaha).I know a lot of other people add in other things like barley, brown rice etc because it adds fibre and other nutrients, but when I made my first batch I didn't have them on hand so I tried it without.
I steamed them, then popped them in a ziplock and froze them. I don't know how long I should really keep them in the freezer, so I try not to make that much (a couple of weeks worth). I thaw out a couple of meatballs for a serving, then microwave it again, wait for it to cool and cut it up a bit smaller for her. She really loves them.

Here's two really silly things I do for saving costs on trying different fruits and vegetables. Whatever fruit that my family/I'm having, I save a bit to try with Bulu. If she doesn't like it, I haven't wasted a whole fruit. And I can always try again tomorrow if I have some more of that fruit left. If she likes it, I make a note of it. 
Also, fruit stores often have little samples of their fruit for you to try before you buy. I live right next to a fruit store, so a few times I've seen something I'd like to try with Bulu, and took a sample piece and walked home with it


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

The meatball idea sounds really neat. I really would like to try this for mine. Loken will probably snub it but I might have a chance with Sandra.


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

xspiked said:


> Hanhan27, I don't know if you've tried/read about meatballs because I know quite a few people on HHC make them, myself included.


It's funny that you mention the meatballs, because I just read something yesterday about them and thought "I should look into that..."

My main issue is that my hedgehog is really really picky. I figure if I figure out the individual things that she likes, I can put a bunch of stuff together in a mix and freeze it, or even try the meatball thing. But that doesn't work, because while she likes, say, turkey and carrot individually, she won't eat the turkey and carrot baby food. :roll:

Anyway, I'm really interested to try the meat balls. Maybe it's the consistency of her mix that she didn't like?

Do you just mix your ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl? Or do you use a blender to really really get everything mixed together? Also, you said you steamed them - what do you mean by that? I've made meatballs for spaghetti once, and that's all the experience I have with that sort of thing. :lol:

I'm really interested in doing this now! Thanks so much for the suggestion & info. I'm going to try to get the stuff I need to make them this weekend.


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