substitution for vegetables?

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kamjay

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Hello, I recently adopted 2 beautiful guinea pigs about 2 months ago. They are doing very well. Anyways, I have been buying vegetables a lot and have come to realize that they do in fact start to become very expensive. I am not saying I do not want to feed them vegetables but is there anything else that I can put in place of them once in a while because money is a thing that I really want to keep track of coming this new year.

-Thanks in Advance!
 
Hay is the thing they need most of - constant supply. You can’t cut out or replace veg with anything I’m afraid. What are you feeding them?

You can do a leaf of lettuce (any except iceberg), 1-2 sprigs of coriander and a slice of pepper and cucumber. I would say those are the staples. You can then add in other veg you may have to hand.
 
Siikibam said:
Hay is the thing they need most of - constant supply. You can’t cut out or replace veg with anything I’m afraid. What are you feeding them?

You can do a leaf of lettuce (any except iceberg), 1-2 sprigs of coriander and a slice of pepper and cucumber. I would say those are the staples. You can then add in other veg you may have to hand.
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the list of things I buy are green leaf and romaine lettuce, parsley, cucumber, cilantro, green.red.and yellow bell pepper, zucchinni, kale

and blueberries for fruits which i only give once a week
 
Do you buy all that every week or every two weeks? I would say the kale and parsley aren’t a ‘necessity’ and would suggest you only feed one of them in a week if you feel you must. And the blueberries I’d do maybe once a month and even then just 1-2 each. The parsley, blueberries and kale should last quite a while if you’re buying it for the piggies only.

When I bought parsley for my four, it used to still be there a month later. I rarely give them fruits/carrot or anything high in calcium. Probably every other month if that.
 
I like to mix things up with the veg. I buy the cheaper packs we get in the supermarkets (especially of the veg we eat) or I buy from our local market which works out cheaper. This means that the piggies might get something 2-3 times in a week which should only be fed occasionally but they won't have it for a couple of months again. It saves buying lots and lots and running the risk of having to bin gone off veg
 
Yes I would say that you can focus on essentials, then buy one or two other things each week depending on prices and availability and what you are buying for yourself.
My staple piggy veg is usually cucumber and peppers, which are quite cheap and keep all week- with other things rotated in for variety. So having a cucumber, pepper and cilantro week, followed by a cucumber, pepper and kale week... is fine overall.
The peppers are good to have as a high vit C daily or almost daily food, but there is no nutritional difference really between zuchini and cucumber, or cucumber and lettuce, or between the higher calcium veg options like parsley and kale- you can just buy one thing from each food group per week. And for a treat, a plain old carrot or apple slice is cheaper than blueberries with the same nutritional content and just as exciting for piggies!
 
Its also worth remembering that although we pride ourselves on the forum being factually correct, many of the photos and messages you see about piggies wallowing in expensive veg buffet piles are people sharing a happy treat day moment- its aspirational, and doesnt fully represent all the days when we open the fridge and see there's just half a cucumber left until we go shopping! Like all those instagram chefs never bother posting if they just had beans on toast one day lol :)
 
I buy mixed bags of lettuce (none that have spinach in) for about £1.50
A pepper (red or green) 50p
Half a cucumber 40p
And either, cellery, fennel, parsley, coriander or green beans 50p-£1
I buy these every week and they also occasionally get little bits of sweet potato, spinach, cabbage, raspberry, blueberry or carrot if that's what the humans are eating.
 
I plan my meals around the veg I get for my piggies so there is rarely any wastage. For example I’m having roast peppers and fine beans with fish today. I use it my advantage and my vitamin c and fibre intake has never been so good 😁
 
I second what Qualcast&Flymo said. If you can, find a hardware store that sells untreated, plain grass seed. It cannot have the fertilizer or any treatment on the seeds. Grass is really easy about growing indoors in containers as long as it gets light and watered.
 
RedLoredAmazon said:
I second what Qualcast&Flymo said. If you can, find a hardware store that sells untreated, plain grass seed. It cannot have the fertilizer or any treatment on the seeds. Grass is really easy about growing indoors in containers as long as it gets light and watered.
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so I can replace veggies for grass for the most part?
 
Siikibam said:
Do you buy all that every week or every two weeks? I would say the kale and parsley aren’t a ‘necessity’ and would suggest you only feed one of them in a week if you feel you must. And the blueberries I’d do maybe once a month and even then just 1-2 each. The parsley, blueberries and kale should last quite a while if you’re buying it for the piggies only.

When I bought parsley for my four, it used to still be there a month later. I rarely give them fruits/carrot or anything high in calcium. Probably every other month if that.
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I would say I am buying most of those almost every week.
 
If you can get a good amount of fresh grass, then I believe you can reduce the amount of veg they have. My 3 get a handful of grass once or twice a day, often with a little of other plants such as dandelion which they like, then their cup of veg in the evening which is usually a lettuce leaf, chunk of cucumber, piece of celery, red pepper, a sprig of coriander and maybe a blueberry or sliver of carrot. When more grass is available in summer I could probably reduce the veg and give more grass.
If you do start giving them grass, it needs to be introduced slowly as it can be very rich and cause problems if they are not used to it. Also it must be freshly cut or picked, not lawn mowings, and be clean, ie not have dog or cat pee on it at all.
 
You can’t completely replace veg with anything. But as mentioned above, on the days you give grass, you can reduce the amount of veg. That’s what I also did when my piggies would have lawn time - they had less veg that day. But I didn’t completely eliminate veg.

Stick to the staples - bell pepper, cucumber and coriander - and just add in others as you buy them for yourself.
 
Siikibam said:
You can’t completely replace veg with anything. But as mentioned above, on the days you give grass, you can reduce the amount of veg. That’s what I also did when my piggies would have lawn time - they had less veg that day. But I didn’t completely eliminate veg.

Stick to the staples - bell pepper, cucumber and coriander - and just add in others as you buy them for yourself.
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Okay! Thanks so much!
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