How much on veggies

Engel

Engel

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
May 1, 2020
Messages
2,195
Reaction score
3,845
Points
1,175
Location
Shropshire, UK
Someone posted on social media stating that they spend £15 a week on veggies for 5 pigs. (From Tesco I believe). They were complaining that it was so expensive and need it to be cheaper.

Now am I living on a different planet? Am I doing something wrong? Because I have just totalled up what I bought to last 4 pigs the week and it's a lot less than £15.

What do you buy each week (the staples really) and how much roughly did you spend? I think this is something that people don't think of with pigs, they forget veggies cost.

I'll go first. I will admit that it's difficult as I don't buy anything specifically for the pigs as I eat it too. (I'm vegan and gluten free so make a lot of foods from scratch). So the price is the quantity of stuff they eat without my help.

Veggies for my 4 pigs:
Peppers (3 in a pack) 79p X2
Coriander 36p X2
Baby leaf salad £1
Kale Nero £1.25
Cucumber 43p
Romaine lettuce £1
Celery 29p

Total: £6.27
 
Hi, my list varies every week! But I definitely don't spend as much as £15! I dont think you are doing anything wrong as thay look like they are getting a variety and as long as they have enough food!
I will usually buy:

Bell Pepper
Celery
Cucumber
Romaine lettuce
Carrot (only 1 for piggies)

This cant have costed much more than £5.
(Bear in mind this is only for 2 piggies and I do vary this slightly every week. As well as this I also eat some of this myself.) Although of course including hay and pellets I guess it would be a bit closer to £15 but realistically it would have been just over £10 as hay probably costs around £5 (maybe less) per week.

Although I'm also interested about what those people who do spend £15 a week buy?!
 
That is utter maddness £15 we are only feeding two but it comes to around £5, we get

Little gem 90p
Celery 70p
Cucumber 50p
Coriander (big bunch) 90p
Mint (90p)
Bell pepper £1 but we don’t need these every week

They will also get the odd bit of watercress, carrot, kale but that is really bought for us. And that’s buying veg on Ocado so it’s M&S 😂 unless they are feeding their pigs daylesford organic I have no idea how they get to £15!
 
For our three pigs I shop a similar list to yours - but rather than the kale and salad bag I buy a raddichio and only celery occasionally if I plan to cook with it too. And coriander here appears way more expensive than in UK. Bell peppers are huge so 1x3 pack lasts the week. I spend approx GBP 8 weekly.

I just discovered one local supermarket has a 'bin' of free, help yourself bio pet feed in the fresh veg section so pick out local big lettuce leaves, spring greens and carrot leafy-tops. I think its geared more towards rabbits but its a great idea to reduce waste and occasionally some nice treats for piggies there and has knocked a bit off my weekly spend.

Edit: oops I meant I spend EUR 8 which is 7 pounds.
 
The only additional things I buy for the pigs is romaine lettuce and a mixed salad bag. Everything else we eat as well (peppers, cucumber, green beans, celery, and occasional carrot, blueberries etc) so feeding the pigs doesn't cost us much as far as veggies are concerned. Even if the food was solely for them, it would easily be less than £5 a week for 2 pigs.
 
I've just added up this weeks and it's about £8 for 6 piggies. It's a lot cheaper in the summer as I grow a lot myself.
 
I spend about £5 buying staples - cucumber, lettuce, pepper, coriander, green beans. But that lasts longer than a week.

Is she buying veg from Waitrose and over feeding them on veg 😳

PS just realised Tesco not Waitrose.
 
Last edited:
@Sophia_Oreo108 yes if you include hay and pellets then it'd be closer to the price however, this person claimed it was just on veggies! Which is mind-blowing.

@rp1993 I have no idea how either! Mine also get any left over watercress they get some swede and parsnip too on the odd occasion I feel like sharing 😂 I didn't know they could have mint. I've got some growing in the garden so I may try them with it ☺️

@swaller oh that's a good idea I hope many other stores and countries start doing that. Here in the UK I haven't seen any bins with veg scraps. I bet your piggies get quite the variety ☺️

@piggieminder oh you grow some veggies too? What are you planning to grow this year? I too grow my own veggies unfortunately last year was a bad year for me and hardly anything came :(

@Siikibam I have no idea! I thought I best check as my food bill for them is so low in comparison.
 
eileen said:
i buy veg for 16 piggies,and £15 is correct for this amount.! thats staples of cucumber,peppers,celery,corriander,lettuce,spring greens,beans,.
Click to expand...
KathT said:
I have eight pigs and probably spend about £12 per week on veg. I suppose it depends what you buy and where you buy it from.
Click to expand...
For you two that's understandable as you have a lot more pigs so not knocking that at all. Must be like piggy paradise ☺️
 
@Engel Corriander, parsley, mint, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, dandelions, sow thistle, lettuce off the top of my head! Some things are only occasional treats or things only 1 or 2 of mine will eat like tomatoes and mostly for human consumption. I've got some parsley and corriander on the window sill at the moment.
Have you seen this thread?
Our Gardens
 
piggieminder said:
@Engel Corriander, parsley, mint, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, dandelions, sow thistle, lettuce off the top of my head! Some things are only occasional treats or things only 1 or 2 of mine will eat like tomatoes and mostly for human consumption. I've got some parsley and corriander on the window sill at the moment.
Have you seen this thread?
Our Gardens
Click to expand...
Wow that's quite a lot. I've never had any luck growing corriander. It grows a tad then dies. Tried it outside, inside and in the greenhouse with the same outcome. Used soil from the garden, and compost. Tap water and water collected in the water butt. I don't think it likes it here lol.

This year I'm growing tomatoes, cucumber, onion, spring onion, lettuces (iceberg and little gem), beetroot, peas, beans, peppers, kale, carrots, parsnips, celery, cabbage, radish, maybe some spuds. Got some basil, mint, thyme and basil growing from last year. Oh strawberries too! Obviously spuds, iceberg and onions are for human consumption only but everything else I think they can have. Can piggies have thyme every now and again?

No I haven't seen that thread. I'll have a look :)
 
Engel said:
For you two that's understandable as you have a lot more pigs so not knocking that at all. Must be like piggy paradise ☺
Click to expand...
Sometimes it’s like piggy purgatory! I currently have one on palliative care (lymphoma) who is having a strong season and making her cage mates life a misery and one with a sensitive bladder and who needs spaying but not as an emergency so she’ll have to wait til lockdown ends. Her cage mate was spayed last November and has made a fantastic recovery, so I shouldn’t grumble. The more you have, the more you worry!:nod:
 
KathT said:
Sometimes it’s like piggy purgatory! I currently have one on palliative care (lymphoma) who is having a strong season and making her cage mates life a misery and one with a sensitive bladder and who needs spaying but not as an emergency so she’ll have to wait til lockdown ends. Her cage mate was spayed last November and has made a fantastic recovery, so I shouldn’t grumble. The more you have, the more you worry!:nod:
Click to expand...
That's normally the way. Glad she made a good recovery and I hope your other piggy make a good recovery when she's spayed :)
 
I think £15 is ridiculous for 5! Truthfully, I've just added up my online shop and have realised I have somehow spent over £15 on veggies from sainsburys. I have always shopped at Aldi and I would spend no more than £9 on vegetables a week. The last 3 weeks since I was self isolating I have got in the habbit of doing an online shop from sainsburys and it is much more expensive as I have just realised. Peppers are double the price. Normally I buy a pack of 6 wonky peppers for less than a £1 from Aldi. They are 1.35 for 3 in sainsburys. So £2.70 for their breakfast. I have brought four 100g bags of corriander which I realise has added up to £5. I have brought a few different lettuces which add up to around £3. Sweetcorn and watercress are a treat this week too.. in truth I would say my normal shop lasts around 9+ days as I always have a cucumber left over or celery. Think I have definitely overshopped this week though. I never waste vegetables even if it's they're not looking their best.
 
I think the max I could get to would be about £10 a week and that’s for 4 of them! Romain lettuce, 3 peppers, mixed salad leaves, green beans, mange tout and baby corn mix, coriander bunch, celery, greens - and they actually wouldn’t even eat all of that as some would be for us and I wouldn’t normally buy all that each week (From Tesco). The minimum staples cost me about £5 I think.
 
I'm lucky that my pigs now eat such a variety of veggies now. The bigger two were used to the sweet stuff like apples so getting them eating veg was difficult. Babies have never known any different so there's no battle with them.

Prepped their veggies for today, tomorrow and the day after. This is to share between 4 pigs. When prepping I do a standard portion for the babies as they've know no different. I know some advise 1/2 cup for babies however I have done it gradually so their rs are used to it.

Quick question though, can they have too much pepper? Between my 4 they have one whole pepper. They love it, colour doesn't matter. Within 30 mins all trace of veg is gone.

Anyway, here's their salad for the next few days. Quite the variety really. Some stuff was going to go off before I could use it so added it to their mix.

IMG_20210125_133001711.webp

(Anyone wondering this contains Romaine lettuce, small amounts of kale, small amounts of spring greens, celery, peppers, corriander and cucumber).
 
Looks lovely
Engel said:
I'm lucky that my pigs now eat such a variety of veggies now. The bigger two were used to the sweet stuff like apples so getting them eating veg was difficult. Babies have never known any different so there's no battle with them.

Prepped their veggies for today, tomorrow and the day after. This is to share between 4 pigs. When prepping I do a standard portion for the babies as they've know no different. I know some advise 1/2 cup for babies however I have done it gradually so their rs are used to it.

Quick question though, can they have too much pepper? Between my 4 they have one whole pepper. They love it, colour doesn't matter. Within 30 mins all trace of veg is gone.

Anyway, here's their salad for the next few days. Quite the variety really. Some stuff was going to go off before I could use it so added it to their mix.

View attachment 165437

(Anyone wondering this contains Romaine lettuce, small amounts of kale, small amounts of spring greens, celery, peppers, corriander and cucumber).
Click to expand...
Looks amazing! And I think pepper is a daily vegetable so it should be okay. My 5 have a large pepper between them every morning for breakfast. Then lettuce for lunch. Coriander for dinner. And generally a piece of cucumber for a late night snack. It looks so nice all served together though! 😍
 
Tara95 said:
Looks lovely

Looks amazing! And I think pepper is a daily vegetable so it should be okay. My 5 have a large pepper between them every morning for breakfast. Then lettuce for lunch. Coriander for dinner. And generally a piece of cucumber for a late night snack. It looks so nice all served together though! 😍
Click to expand...
Ah I know it's ok as part of daily veg but sometimes I get carried away. So if 1/2 pepper between 4 pigs is more than enough then I can cut back. If it's ok as it is then it'll stay like it. Just wondering what others with several pigs do really. That being said I think I'd get squawked at if they got less veggies lol.

Mine have a salad like above every morning (minus kale and cabbage normally that's a once/twice weekly thing. They missed out last week so they have an extra day this week). Then pellets at night when I give dry feed to the other rodents.
 
I use about half a pepper per day between the two piggies and one of the rabbits (the other two rabbits won’t eat pepper). So my two piggies get about quarter of a pepper per day
 
Engel said:
Ah I know it's ok as part of daily veg but sometimes I get carried away. So if 1/2 pepper between 4 pigs is more than enough then I can cut back. If it's ok as it is then it'll stay like it. Just wondering what others with several pigs do really. That being said I think I'd get squawked at if they got less veggies lol.

Mine have a salad like above every morning (minus kale and cabbage normally that's a once/twice weekly thing. They missed out last week so they have an extra day this week). Then pellets at night when I give dry feed to the other rodents.
Click to expand...
I always have a bit left over and then I think why waste a little bit of pepper especially as it's never the same the next day. I generally chop it up into 7 pieces, a piece of pepper for every pig and 2 spare pieces for pigs that have food stolen off them. 😂 If I'm ever running low on peppers I might give them 3/4, but I generally am always stocked up. I'm surprised they don't get sick of it having it everyday 🤣
 
I spend very little a week on my piggies. I only have two, but on a weekly basis I would make sure to have:

Cucumber
Lettuce
Parsley
Coriander
Celery (not weekly)
Bell pepper
Carrots

Sometimes I would get them a head of broccoli, but they aren't too fond of it. They prefer parsley and coriander. Definitely max 10euro! And this is very cheap compared to some animals a person could own which would need 50euro plus a week on food!

So you aren't the only one anyways 😊
 
I can tell you exactly from my sainsbury's receipt here my most recent weekly veg shop for 8 pigs is...
2 cucumbers 86p
2 little gem lettuce £1
4 red peppers £1.80
150g bistro salad £1.25
100g coriander £1.25
30g parsley 75g
150g babycorn £1.65
... so £8.56, but this in lockdown where I only shop once a week, online, considerately without stockpiling!
Pre-covid we might have bought a couple more posh salad mix bags or beansprouts whenever we popped to the local supermarket midweek for non-essentials, I couldnt ever buy a frivolous bag of crisps or bottle of wine for myself and not pick up extra piggy veg treats!
 
Mind you our team leader was making fun of me in our meeting today for spending about £60 per month on posh hay, she spends less than that on hay for her 3 horses! She said though horses out on pasture all year are better with the toughest driest brown hay just for the fibre to stop them getting horsey bloat, so she buys up year old dry brown hay that the local farmer hasnt sold on the cheap!
 
Piggies&buns said:
I use about half a pepper per day between the two piggies and one of the rabbits (the other two rabbits won’t eat pepper). So my two piggies get about quarter of a pepper per day
Click to expand...
So I could ge
PigglePuggle said:
I can tell you exactly from my sainsbury's receipt here my most recent weekly veg shop for 8 pigs is...
2 cucumbers 86p
2 little gem lettuce £1
4 red peppers £1.80
150g bistro salad £1.25
100g coriander £1.25
30g parsley 75g
150g babycorn £1.65
... so £8.56, but this in lockdown where I only shop once a week, online, considerately without stockpiling!
Pre-covid we might have bought a couple more posh salad mix bags or beansprouts whenever we popped to the local supermarket midweek for non-essentials, I couldnt ever buy a frivolous bag of crisps or bottle of wine for myself and not pick up extra piggy veg treats!
Click to expand...
Thats not too bad for 8 pigs if I'm honest. I thought corn wasn't very good for pigs? or is fresh in small amounts ok? I haven't tried mine with it so it could be something interesting for them to try.

PigglePuggle said:
Mind you our team leader was making fun of me in our meeting today for spending about £60 per month on posh hay, she spends less than that on hay for her 3 horses! She said though horses out on pasture all year are better with the toughest driest brown hay just for the fibre to stop them getting horsey bloat, so she buys up year old dry brown hay that the local farmer hasnt sold on the cheap!
Click to expand...
ive seen cheap large bales near me (£3-£4) but it looks so brown in comparison and I don't think they'd deliver 1 lone bale for me to try :soz:
 
Baby corn is a treat food, sometimes we get babycorn, sometimes carrot or apple- they rarely get the lot, maybe 1 baby corn each in a week and a couple go to Mr Alice the gender confused extended family hamster :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top