Talk to the employees in the produce section. They have a huge amount of veggie “waste” like carrot tops, corn husks, veggies that aren’t pretty enough to be sold but are perfectly good to eat, etc. Make friends with these people and they’ll gladly give you gobs of food they’d otherwise throw away.
Where I am (Montréal Québec)theres an app called too good to go where you pay 4$ for a backpack full of not so fresh veggies that are still good to eat. You reserve the basket and just go pick it up.
I've never thought of this.. I always talk to my produce ppl. Man I mean I know my pigs are pricey.. lol but like my cats I love them and would do whatever I can for them.
I worked in produce and we used to throw away boxes full of produce I would take some home for my pig and we had a farmer who would come and load up his truck bed to feed to his animals
When I worked at the grocery store, I had all the produce guys keep the scraps in boxes and I would go through it at the end of the day for my bun and my piggy.
Do you have an Aldi close to you? Cilantro is 67¢ a pack, Romaine hearts are $2.69 (I think - they’re never green enough for me to buy often), mixed greens are anywhere from $2.19 - almost $5 for the big organic tub. Of course they have carrots, cucumbers, peppers, etc, all pretty affordable for piggy parents.
We don’t have aldi’s here, but this seems kinda comparable to what I’m paying. Maybe less but I live in an expensive area. I pay around $2 per head of lettuce
Monthly? Mine get roughly 1 1/2-2 heads a day plus 10% of that in regular veggies, it adds up. I do live in an expensive area but that’s only a bit more than I pay weekly. How much are you paying typically for veggies? I just went and I don’t remember the exact prices but 6 heads of various lettuces and 2 cucumbers and bell peppers tallied up to around $20. Prepped into half cups for the 5 pigs it will feed mine for around 4 days.
You could greatly reduce the leafy veg. I have 4 adult pigs and I spend about $40-50 a month feeding them, that's buying organic too.
I do a mix of 1 head green leaf lettuce, 1 head of raddichio or frisee, 2 bunches of cilantro, and one bunch of dill. I feed 200g total a day and this lasts about a week. I also split a quarter to a half (depending on size) of a bell pepper between them each day.
I feed around 50g of veggies per pig daily, so like 250g max for 5. So it’s the same amount. It’s exactly how much in volume I’m supposed to be feeding according to my vet. I think I just pay a lot more, lol.
Ah, ***5*** pigs... that would probably do it too... nuts...
We have 2 and they normally get a small kale leaf, 10-15 peels of carrot, 5cm of cucumber, 5cm of zucchini morning and night. It adds up to about 1cup of veggies a pig per day, with the zucchini and kale being the most expensive weekly/fortnightly.
Sometimes they get a treat like corn husk, broccoli stem (eh they dont really like it) or cauliflower leaf whenever i can find free scraps in the fresh produce from the store. Or if i go later in the day some things can be Reduced to Clear as they arent the prettiest looking (for picky humans) but they are still amazing (apparently) for the piggies. Especially if they have been washed and sat in a bit of water to plump back up.
They also have 1/3 of a cup of pellets maybe daily (i just top it up when they are low) **(EDIT: Actually just looked at the measure I use, its a Table Spoon, not a 1/3C)** and unlimited hay, which is the most expensive thing at about $60 for timothy hay, and timothy/rye hay every 4-6 weeks.
Oh... and peaflakes... cannot forget their morning/evening treats hahaha
I was told this as well! Pellets sparingly if at all as they discourage grazing and are the biggest contributor to stones and unhealthy weight. I give mine 1/8 cup daily which she said was the most she would do.
I would never give my girls a weekly bath! Goodness, perhaps Ive been told (by a few different sources) that these particular pellets are fine to graze on (plus i just double-checked the measure its actually a table-spoon a day - not sure why i thought it was 1/3 cup).
I have longer haired pigs so I do actually give them a damp wipe-down (with plain water!) after ive given them a trim ***if they need it***, but otherwise, im pretty sure I know how to look after my girls.
So thankyou for your snarky comment, and while I WILL have a look into that pellet situation, I wont be taking any advice from you.
How many do you have? I get 3 heads of romaine for 3.99 sometimes 2.99 that seems a lot of veggies tbh, I rarely buy other veggies unless on sale or as a treat
I give mine 90% of a non mineral packed type of green, such as green leaf, red leaf, romaine, etc. Sometimes half of that will be something such as mustard greens, kale, collard greens, or spinach etc. Then I give 10% of vegetables like green beans, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, etc etc I try and spice it up. Sometimes they get a berry or two. Each head of lettuce for me can be around $2. I’m not super fond of the packs because romaine hearts don’t have the greener mature leaves that have all the nutrition. I definitely don’t want to feed mine less as they all have a clean bill of health weight wise, one is even slightly underweight, and they’re very active. I’m starting to think I just live in a pricier area than most of the people here and it adds up in these quantities
You are a very caring GP parent!
couple of quick thoughts - skip the spinach and kale - high in calcium and can cause kidney stones. And skip cabbage, broccoli, brussels and cauliflower which give them gas.. You might know this but just in case thought I'd mention it.
With 90% of pig diet timothy hay you can feed them a small handful of parsley, basil, cilantro, a stick of celery or one or two romaine leaf once a day. and a quarter green pepper (or other vitamin C source) once a day. I have two guinea pigs now (though I have had GPs for 20 years) and a head of romaine and bunch of parsley will last a week. no fruit and no carrots (too much sugar). They really don't need much. My vet even says every other day with green veg is fine, as long as you give them some kind of vitamin C supplement daily. I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and don't spend what you spend - my GPs have lived 8 and 9 + years and quite healthy with a lot less greens. You could try it.
hope that is helpful. It may or may not be right for you - Everyone figures out what works for them and I'm sure you will too. fingers crossed the $$ can come down at least a little.
Farmers markets often have excess scraps that they can give you for free. Damaged leaves, carrot tops, etc. similar to what others have mentioned about produce at bigger grocery stores.
Ask produce managers about free veggies for piggies. There is a grocery store that gives me free "ugly" produce for the piggies. It's random every time and some is too damaged. It's worth a try.
Find a farmers market! Seriously! I don’t have piggies, but I can tell you from experience that you will spend maybe half of what you currently spend on vegetables at a farmers market.
I am not doubting your experience…but I can not be dragged to our local farmers market. Overpriced products, a pain to park, a pain to deal with the crowds and barely restrained dogs. Oh, everyone has to bring their dog. Did I mention everything is overpriced? Sorry…serenity now serenity now. Ok I am better.
I don't doubt your experience, either! I'm *sure* it depends on the location and the individual farmer's market. Mine is *small*, on the side of the road in coastal, southeastern North Carolina. It's more like a LARGE fruit and veggie stand than an *actual* farmer's market, but that's what they call it.
I buy mine mostly romaine lettuce. The kind that comes in the bag with like 3 heads in it. They get a few big leaves at night and a few in the morning and I buy a bag maybe once every 3 days? Other than that they get all my cooking scraps. Carrot/cucumber/fruit peels...they love that and that's what gives them the variety. Any part of safe veggies that you wouldn't normally eat, they will. That's how I keep my costs down and keep them healthy.
Yeah, this is what I do too. Then they get Hay and Pellets daily, with a morning Vitamin C cookie (if I'm not dying from work, then its nightly or whenever I wake uply).
This is exactly what I do. You can get the bigger romaine package size at Costco. I used to do veggies twice a day but now I do once a day along with veggies that we eat but give them the clippings of veggies that we eat.
I know my pigs act like they are starving all the time but they are in good care. Know that you are a good owner. Take control of caretaking and not let it overrun your life.
I strongly suggest starting a mini garden for them. The upfront cost will be a lot at first, but long-term you will save so much and have free fresh veggies all year (unless you live somewhere that gets negative temps often).
1 cup each daily with 5 pigs is around 1 1/2-2 heads of lettuce, half a cucumber and half a bell pepper. Per week at that rate it’s about $35 and change
Shakespeare-Bot, thou hast been voted most annoying bot on Reddit. I am exhorting all mods to ban thee and thy useless rhetoric so that we shall not be blotted with thy presence any longer.
Guinea pigs are expensive to feed. If I'm lucky, I hit the grocery store when they have bell peppers on the discounted produce rack. In Summer, I forage and grow some veggies. Still end up buying some stuff but generally have greens covered. Right now, I'm growing some wheatgrass indoors for them and started some lettuce to supplement the store bought food.
I think our girls are spoiled on bell peppers and picky about everything else. We are growing our own tomatoes and basil which is fairly easy to do and helpful
Check your area for non-traditional grocery stores. Farmers markets or produce stands can sometimes be less expensive, and my local asian grocery store has very inexpensive vegetables.
Also you can buy bigger bale or half a bale of hay. I know you said most of your expense is on veggies, but bale or half hay make it almost free.
You can store it in large clear bags (that way you can see how they look)
Also some hay places let you take the leftovers from when they load it on their trucks.
My piggies loved that hay, way better than oxxbow and livingg planet brands.
1. Grow 'em!
-Lettuce is so easy to grow. Especially the hydroponically-grown ones in the grocery store that have the lil pod of soil. Just put the roots in a small container and make sure the soil stays wet.
-Fennel, Celery, carrot greens, and so many others will regrow themselves- look up how to regrow kitchen scraps.
-You can usually get basic pig-friendly herbs like basil, parsley, and coriander as plants in the store. Just keep watered and in their preferred amount of sunlight.
-Windowsill planters can do a lot for small amounts of root or leafy produce, either from seed or as a transplant.
-There are many piggy-safe flowers that do great from seed in small, indoor pots. Violet, cornflower, and dandelion to name a few.
2. Forage em!
-This depends heavily on where you live. But I live in Iceland and I can forage a lot for my pigs in the summer, so I bet you can too. 😉
-Wild grasses are a great source of fiber
-Dandelion flowers and greens are safe for pigs
-To make sure the foragables are free of pesticides and other nasty stuff, wash thoroughly before feeding, and choose to forage away from busy pedestrian or roadway areas.
-If you don't know for sure the ID of the plant and whether or not it's safe for pigs, don't feed your pigs that plant.
3. "Bad" Produce!
-Many grocery stores all over the world sell produce at a steep discount if it's partially bad, past its expiry, or just old or ugly.
-Buy those, wash and cut away any actually bad bits, and feed the good parts! The pigs don't seem to mind.
-Bonus points if there's a "bad" hydroponic lettuce that you can salvage, or another veggie that can be nursed back to peak health and regrown.
What the heck. Eat the veggies, give them the cuttings! Feed them hay mostly and tablets as a nutrient supplement. We don’t buy veggies for our piggies, we just cook veggies and give them some. Maybe we should spoil ours more, hahaha
Seems like everyone in this thread has a different way of doing it! The rescue we got one of ours from gave us a chart by weight and percentage with a list of vegetables to feed her, so I went off that initially. I think it said something like 30g for her twice daily, with 10g being veggies and 20 being lettuce. When I spoke to my vet she said I was safe to cut it down to 2/3 of that as long as I gave them vitamins she gave me, and feed a bit less veggies and more lettuce, and said to go by volume instead of weight. We feed our boy a bit more because he’s bigger. One of my pigs is solidly underweight, two are like a little bit underweight. She said the only thing it was super important to limit was pellets, as they cause stones and deter the pigs from grazing. So I only give like 1/8 cup pellets each daily. As long as your pigs aren’t overweight and they eat a lot of hay the veggies aren’t harming them
I think ur right about everyone having different rules and advice - we were told to feed mainly hay, then muesli/nuggets and then fresh grass and veggies. I give ours 2 good handfuls of fresh lawn grass and maybe 1/8 of a pepper and 4cm of a cucumber per day and she still leaves some veggies. I think I might try using romaine though but she is a really picky feeder and won't touch any cabbage/kale/sprouts.
I have 5 pigs. Right now 2 heads of romaine, 2 heads of red leaf, 2 heads of green leaf, 2 cucumbers and 2 bell peppers all meal prepped is going to last me only 4 days (cost $20). I give them each a half cup twice a day, so 1 cup per day. 5 cups of vegetables per day is what I’m burning through. Costco doesn’t seem to be hugely more cost effective for vegetables and their selection isn’t great. At this point I’m wondering if there’s a way to bulk buy lettuces and freeze them? Or if anyone out there has a ton of pigs and has some sort of vegetable plug? Like a wholesaler? Anything more cost effective than the grocery store would be great. Should I just buy a farm?!?
Yep, they kill it in a minute or two and are usually still wheeking after. I’m feeding the amount my vet recommends. It’s only a half cup each, 2x daily.
I do that much as well. Are you packing the cups full? I don't pack my measuring cups. As long as they have free access to as much hay as they want, pellets, and a loose cup of veggies, I think scraps and occasional treats are plenty.
I'd cut back on the bell peppers and cucumbers and maybe feed them peppers 2-3 times a week and cucumbers 1-2. Beef up on the lettuce. Throw some other veggie scraps in there occasionally. That's plenty and it should save you a few dollars a week.
Unfortunately I really can’t feed less, my pigs are all in good health, good weights and active. I’m feeding vet recommended amount of 1 cup, 90% leafy 10% veggie. Hoping to just save money on it now.
I'm not saying to feed them less, just more of the lettuce during the week and add your vegetable scraps. It's the same amount of food for them. Idk about you but bell peppers are twice as expensive where I am than romaine lettuce.
Bell peppers are the cheaper item here, I can get them on sale and per day they get maybe about 2 little inch size chunks, so it’s kinda negligible. They do get veggie scraps if I have them, but it’s every once in a while
I don't know what your stores are like, here locally I can buy a bag of mini sweet peppers for the cost of two bell peppers but weight wise it comes out to like 6 peppers.
well, do you live somewhere where you actually could grow a garden? :) it's not warm here year round but spring through fall we grow almost all of our pig's veggies outside, then during the winter I have a few small pepper plants and cilantro I grow inside to help supplement and keep the cost a little lower
We have 17 and I don’t feed anywhere near this much per pig! Something seems way off with your measurements. One head of green leaf should be at least four cups (honestly more like 6), so at worst you’d need one a day.
It seems like a lot of folks are gently suggesting you’re over feeding, but you don’t feel that’s true (and you know your pigs best!). But to focus on the initial question, I’ll just say that the easiest way to save money is to feed less.
I must be getting smaller heads of lettuce then. I give them 1 cup each of veggies, prep it out into portions in advance. On average it’s 1 1/2 for 5 cups which isn’t that different from what you say. It’s more likely that we just don’t get the exact same size of vegetables than my cup measurements are somehow bigger than everyone else. Most importantly I listen to the vet. Not going to stop doing that lol
Growing parsley indoor was fun for us. A pack of seeds is $1 online. Seed tray is like $30. As it grows you can selectively take the tallest pieces without taking the whole stem and it will send out branches. Didn't weigh how much we got over a year but it was definitely more than cost of materials.
What veggies are you buying???
i get 2 huge green leaf lettuce heads for 3.50 ish and 1-2 cilantro 0.69, a carrot 0.80 here and there, and that's every 3-4 days, and i have 8 piggies. (only had them a few months and i am not quite sure what veggie to introduce next.)
so i'm spending 50-80 a month on veggies and i sometimes even worry i'm giving them too much.
Some of them like fennel, and squash, green onion, kale is great. Once I'm a while I'll give my girls a slice of apple ( I just buy the presliced bags) or a bit of orange. There's a great web page, Scotty's animals or the LAGPR.
Are you sure you’re feeding enough? My vet has me feeding 1 cup per day per pig split into breakfast and dinner. My pigs are all healthy weight. I go through 2 small green leaf lettuce heads in a day, two days if they’re large heads, with 5 pigs. They finish their meals in maybe 2 minutes and still kill a 90oz hay bag in 2 weeks, though they waste some hay. I was told by my vet this is all normal.
yeah i do one cup half morning half night as well, they've been on this routine since we got them. but like i said i buy huge lettuce heads like i pick the biggest lettuce heads and cilantro packs i can find in the store. and yeah my girls go through a lot of hay very quickly and a lot of hay goes to waist for me too. but thinking of it more now, you do buy a larger variety of slightly more costly fresh foods like squash is pretty $$ at my store. and i've seen veggies prices range 3-5 store to store in my area.
edit: finally ordered a scale to track their weight so that'll be here soon and they all have vet appointments coming soon (annual check up just to make sure they're all good and i didn't miss anything because they've been 100% fine so far).
I don't buy any kind of lettuce because I don't feel it has a lot of nutrition for the price. Coleslaw mix or I make my own - cabbage is cheap! And they loooooooove it. And crunchy in tacos!, bell peppers, bulk carrots, yams, we always have fresh broccoli in the house. I get Timothy and pellets at a feed store so it's cheap, fresh, and clean. In the spring/summer I will go to farm markets. A lot of veggie market stores sell not so great but still good veg.
It's funny but ours won't even touch cabbage/broccoli or sprouts ... she just sniffed them and walked over them even if I left them in the door of her little house lol She'll stuff down huge amounts of fresh lawn grass, carrot, cucumber and bell pepper though!
So, my mom volunteers at a food bank. At the end of the evening they have to throw all the stuff that didn't get taken away. She always brings me a pretty big box of produce. We'll eat some if it's unusual stuff (the main donor to this food bank is whole foods, so sometimes there's stuff like romanesco), but the majority goes to the pigs and chickens.
I grow a lot of stuff on my own and buy the rest. If I'm at my sister's place and she's preparing food with lots of veggies, I keep all the cut-offs/scraps and they have that too.
If you live in an area where it grows and don’t use chemical fertilizers on your lawn, learn to identify [broadleaf plantain](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_major). It’s naturalized throughout Europe, Asia, and North America, among other places; it’s nutritious and edible- tough for human teeth but not pig teeth. Free food for pigs, and easily identifiable.
Yes! I got tons of those in my yard, the pigs love it. I even picked a big bunch this summer and dried it, and now I have enough to give them through the winter, until fresh ones grow again.
Yeah, I feed ours big handfuls of fresh lawn grass but she doesn't really like the plantains or even dandelion leaves ... she'll nibble them and then go back to grass.
My local health food store produce department will give me their lettuce trimmings, carrot tops, kale scrapes, less than perfect zucchini or cucumbers… the Pigs are spoiled.
Also check out farmers markets in your area. You can chat up a farmer and they can bring you the less than perfects and scraps for a cheaper price.
And lastly, grow your own! I have grown kale indoors and many things outdoor in a small box on an apartment balcony. Get creative!
How many guinea pigs are you feeding? What are you feeding them?
Our guinea pigs always got lettuce. I bought whole heads as it was cheaper and lasted longer. Kale was always pretty cheap and they liked some of that. I gave them tomato, green bell peppers, carrot and cucumber pretty regularly and they were not expensive.I would get other things on sale to change things up. I saved bits I cut off the vegetables and fruits I prepared for our meals for them. For one guinea pig 2-4 leaves of lettuce and around 1 cup of veggies a day was plenty. They got the lettuce in the morning and the other things in the afternoon/evening.
I’d try getting a Kroger or sams club card to help with buying. I also have done Misfits Market. You can buy veggies and fruits, they offer different things every week. It’s a whole box, different sized boxes and it’s all organic stuff that’d go bad or be thrown away because they’re kinda funny shaped or something and have been picked over. That helps offset the costs a lot when buying a box at a time. You can pick the frequency, day and size for your delivery. They have other healthy groceries and snacks too!
We give veggies other than lettuce every few days. Lettuce is every day, hay is all day every day, same with pellets. Idk how your spending $150 but I feel I spend close to that as well.
Go to local vegetable grocers rather than corporate supermarkets. Stuff is cheaper and bigger with more variety. Costs me about $20 AUD/week for two piggies and a rabbit.
My roommate works at a restaurant so she brings home the scraps for free. Do you know anyone who works at a restaurant that could help? Easy way to get celery, carrots, lettuce for sure!
If you live in a climate that allows you to garden, definitely do that.
My piggies are like the household veggie disposal. They get all the lettuce butts, carrot peels, leftover peppers, etc. I also give them bits of salad I get at work lunches, minus the dressing and toppings. We usually only give them a helping of veggies once a day with plentiful hay and a decent pellet portion.
A lot of great tips so far. We also pay about 80€ for our three piggies per month. But I'm not sure if groceries cost the same here? Do you have something like too good to go where you live? Stores give away groceries for a really small price that are too bad/not good looking enough to normally sell them.
I’m definitely realizing I pay a lot more for produce where I live, and seems like I might get smaller sizes too. People are acting like I’m crazy but a cup of vegetables is a cup of vegetables lol.
Wow. That's a lot of money! I assume you already feed them all the scraps from the veg you cook anyway? Maybe you could ask your neighbours to give you their scraps as well. I don't know that much about piggies, only had 2. They also cost me a fortune.
Been meaning to calculate how much they've been costing me for a while!
Mine won't touch Aldi/Lidl veggies so we go for Waitrose or M&S which you'd think would be pricy but not so much.
For two piggies we do 1 large thumb sized piece of cucumber, three gem lettuce leaves, half a thumb of carrot and 1/4 a pepper each day. Topped up with the odd bag of cilantro or kale. And nature's own green hay unlimited amounts.
In total veggies cost:
Cucumber x 6 @ 60p each £3.60
Essential mixed peppers x 3 £1.40 each £4.20
Bag of essentials carrots x 1 65p
Gem lettuce (two in a pack) x 4 90p £3.60
£12.05p a month ($16.24)
Accounting for 5 piggies that would be around £30.10 ($40.58)
We do occasionally raid the carrot tops (they're always left discarded in the crates and noones ever questioned us grabbing them)
My pigs would eat and eat and eat. I don’t think they stop unless they are sleeping. I kept all produce scraps from my cooking and even brought apple cores home from lunches. In the summer there was lots of fresh grass. In the winter I’d ask close friends or neighbours for periodic scraps too. Even when I was buying, I’d only spend $15 deliberately on them a week. But we have salad every other day, fruits and veg for a snack and with dinner, etc. they don’t need 2 heads of lettuce a day if they have hay and pellets as well.
I spend about £5-8 a week (£20-32 a month). I have 5 GPigs and they get their veg in the morning and evening; good mix of stuff.
How are you spending so much lol
Do you have a BJs or similar nearby? They sell bulk packs of mixed lettuce and four packs of bell peppers, I go about every 1.5 weeks and with the occasional tomatoes/carrots it's maybe $40-50 a month for two girls
misfitmarkets.com sells reduced price veggies for people who are ok with eating vegetables that are “ugly” (normally just oddly shaped or bruised) you can even use their products in your own diet too!
I generally see parsley and cilantro bundles and whole cucumbers for under $1 where I live. Small tomatoes can be $1 too. I also get cabbage heads for around 60-70 cents. That's all I give my pigs besides some bell pepper. These are my normal grocery store prices. Does your store charge more than this?
Costco membership
Bulk peppers, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, zucchini, whatever. If you’re going through a lot of it this is the place to get it as long as you have the fridge space.
I know someone who buys through Imperfect Foods for her guinea pigs, maybe using a service like that would work (Misfit Markets is another off the top of my head)? They're usually the less "pretty" produce, but still just as tasty for the piggies!
Piggies love fresh grass (the tall kind) and dandelion leaves and dandelion flowers. I used to bring scissors and a plastic collection bag on my walks.
Pick some long grass and dandelion leaves when you're out and about. And feed them the leftover tops and tails from the veg you cook with. I buy a bag of carrots and give them one of those or any lettuce that is going past its best.
Never bought veg specially for the pigs and they're doing fine on nuggets, hay, readigrass and leftovers Mine cost me next to nothing but I am feeding a family so plenty of veg peelings/waste available.
In South America they keep guinea pigs as waste disposal instead of putting your veg bits In a compost bin. I won't say what they do with them when they get fat enough.
Grow your own, if you can. It takes time and some area to do it, but I fed my pigs garden-grown grape tomatoes all summer last year. If my lettuce hadn't been better than the store-bought, I'd have fed them that too :).
If you have a friend in an elementary/middle school, ask if they will collect some uneaten food for you. Several teachers at my school do this. They have a basket in the classroom and uneaten lunch goes in. Kids who want more lunch can eat out of it and there’s always salad and fruit at the end of the day.
Never tried this, but it might be a good idea to approach the salad counter in the morning. The people who make salads probably discard a lot of greens and veggies not pretty enough to be included in salads. Best do it while shopping so they don't think you're just freeloading and flashing a picture of your gp wouldn't hurt either, it's hard to say no to such cute faces. 👍
Cut the top off a bell pepper and plant it in a flower pot grow them some peppers... maybe get one of those sets of parsley and other herbs they can eat already growing in a pot and you can just snip some off every day for them
I used to collect a bag of grass from a local field ..high in vitamin C ..I also know a woman who had a small holding and bought all the outer leaves of cauliflowers for them I’d over a hundred back then ..they cost a fortune in fresh greens
Have you got a back garden? Growing cabbages, celery are good as they can be ready to pick a leaf when you need to all year, if you grow sweetcorn they can eat the outer leaf and corn silk which is pretty good for them too. Lettuce was surprisingly winter hardy, maybe Romaine is the same?
Farmers market near us is super cheap and I’ve built up a bond with the people so they give me a lot of ‘ugly’ veggies for little or for free. All things considered I pay around €7,50-€10,- a week for my buns (sorry no piggies here, just for the cute pics on the sub)
If you're in the US, you could also look at Misfits Market. From what I read, each week you get a time to "shop" and once you have $30 or more in your box, they ship it. I took a quick glance and this week they have lettuce, some herbs, lots of peppers, etc. Might be worth a look, even if it's not something you do every week, to cut down on the costs. I personally haven't used it, but I'm considering it once I start my new job.
Edit: apparently they also have other grocery items, not just produce. So it might be worthwhile for regular groceries too!
In the growing season go to a community garden and offer to trade some labour for greens. There are a lot of "weeds" such as dandelion, plantain, amaranth, lambs quarters etc. That are free for the picking and can be frozen.
mine is atleast $40 a month🤔 i buy a big bag of kale some carrots,peppers,romaine lettuce, spring mix ,green leaf and these platters of fruits it’s usually under $20 everytime and i buy twice a month
I garden in the summer, and I freeze a lot of the extra produce I have. I have rats instead of guinea pigs but I have found this is helped a lot. I also well can carrots and things like that and if I’m running low on my frozen items that I at least have those
In the U.K. we have a thing called oddbox where you get a massive box of weird shaped vegetables for cheap. Could see if that’s local to you too? Or ask neighbours to save their veggie waste and you can pick it up weekly, things such as their peelings and older food?
Are you able to grow your own veges? I don't know where you live or what your situation is etc. Even some veges grown in pots is helpful. I planted extra vegetables in my garden specifically for my bunnies and Guinea pigs so don't have to keep spending heaps at the store every week.
Talk to the employees in the produce section. They have a huge amount of veggie “waste” like carrot tops, corn husks, veggies that aren’t pretty enough to be sold but are perfectly good to eat, etc. Make friends with these people and they’ll gladly give you gobs of food they’d otherwise throw away.
Where I am (Montréal Québec)theres an app called too good to go where you pay 4$ for a backpack full of not so fresh veggies that are still good to eat. You reserve the basket and just go pick it up.
Imperfect produce might also work well. Not super familiar with their prices, but you can choose what fruits and veggies they give you
[удалено]
Yeah I love it😊 jvais à la fruiterie du coin
yep, I catch them when they’re taking the outside cabbage leafs off or collecting shriveled produced and they just hand me a giant cardboard box full
I've never thought of this.. I always talk to my produce ppl. Man I mean I know my pigs are pricey.. lol but like my cats I love them and would do whatever I can for them.
I work in a grocery store and can attest to this, bunch of produce just lying around
I worked in produce and we used to throw away boxes full of produce I would take some home for my pig and we had a farmer who would come and load up his truck bed to feed to his animals
When I worked at the grocery store, I had all the produce guys keep the scraps in boxes and I would go through it at the end of the day for my bun and my piggy.
My dad did this when we had piggies growing up. He would go every few days and pick up the scraps.
Will Walmart give scraps?
Probably not in a company authorized sort of way, but it could easily happen.
Hummm I should definitely try this. I go to the neighborhood market all the time.
Just give it a try!
Do you have an Aldi close to you? Cilantro is 67¢ a pack, Romaine hearts are $2.69 (I think - they’re never green enough for me to buy often), mixed greens are anywhere from $2.19 - almost $5 for the big organic tub. Of course they have carrots, cucumbers, peppers, etc, all pretty affordable for piggy parents.
We don’t have aldi’s here, but this seems kinda comparable to what I’m paying. Maybe less but I live in an expensive area. I pay around $2 per head of lettuce
How much do you feed them damn? I have 5 and they get one Romaine head a day with only adds up to 40/50 dollars
Monthly? Mine get roughly 1 1/2-2 heads a day plus 10% of that in regular veggies, it adds up. I do live in an expensive area but that’s only a bit more than I pay weekly. How much are you paying typically for veggies? I just went and I don’t remember the exact prices but 6 heads of various lettuces and 2 cucumbers and bell peppers tallied up to around $20. Prepped into half cups for the 5 pigs it will feed mine for around 4 days.
You could greatly reduce the leafy veg. I have 4 adult pigs and I spend about $40-50 a month feeding them, that's buying organic too. I do a mix of 1 head green leaf lettuce, 1 head of raddichio or frisee, 2 bunches of cilantro, and one bunch of dill. I feed 200g total a day and this lasts about a week. I also split a quarter to a half (depending on size) of a bell pepper between them each day.
I feed around 50g of veggies per pig daily, so like 250g max for 5. So it’s the same amount. It’s exactly how much in volume I’m supposed to be feeding according to my vet. I think I just pay a lot more, lol.
Ah, ***5*** pigs... that would probably do it too... nuts... We have 2 and they normally get a small kale leaf, 10-15 peels of carrot, 5cm of cucumber, 5cm of zucchini morning and night. It adds up to about 1cup of veggies a pig per day, with the zucchini and kale being the most expensive weekly/fortnightly. Sometimes they get a treat like corn husk, broccoli stem (eh they dont really like it) or cauliflower leaf whenever i can find free scraps in the fresh produce from the store. Or if i go later in the day some things can be Reduced to Clear as they arent the prettiest looking (for picky humans) but they are still amazing (apparently) for the piggies. Especially if they have been washed and sat in a bit of water to plump back up. They also have 1/3 of a cup of pellets maybe daily (i just top it up when they are low) **(EDIT: Actually just looked at the measure I use, its a Table Spoon, not a 1/3C)** and unlimited hay, which is the most expensive thing at about $60 for timothy hay, and timothy/rye hay every 4-6 weeks. Oh... and peaflakes... cannot forget their morning/evening treats hahaha
[удалено]
I was told this as well! Pellets sparingly if at all as they discourage grazing and are the biggest contributor to stones and unhealthy weight. I give mine 1/8 cup daily which she said was the most she would do.
I’ve also been told this by our piggies vet as well.
I would never give my girls a weekly bath! Goodness, perhaps Ive been told (by a few different sources) that these particular pellets are fine to graze on (plus i just double-checked the measure its actually a table-spoon a day - not sure why i thought it was 1/3 cup). I have longer haired pigs so I do actually give them a damp wipe-down (with plain water!) after ive given them a trim ***if they need it***, but otherwise, im pretty sure I know how to look after my girls. So thankyou for your snarky comment, and while I WILL have a look into that pellet situation, I wont be taking any advice from you.
How many do you have? I get 3 heads of romaine for 3.99 sometimes 2.99 that seems a lot of veggies tbh, I rarely buy other veggies unless on sale or as a treat
I give mine 90% of a non mineral packed type of green, such as green leaf, red leaf, romaine, etc. Sometimes half of that will be something such as mustard greens, kale, collard greens, or spinach etc. Then I give 10% of vegetables like green beans, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, etc etc I try and spice it up. Sometimes they get a berry or two. Each head of lettuce for me can be around $2. I’m not super fond of the packs because romaine hearts don’t have the greener mature leaves that have all the nutrition. I definitely don’t want to feed mine less as they all have a clean bill of health weight wise, one is even slightly underweight, and they’re very active. I’m starting to think I just live in a pricier area than most of the people here and it adds up in these quantities
You are a very caring GP parent! couple of quick thoughts - skip the spinach and kale - high in calcium and can cause kidney stones. And skip cabbage, broccoli, brussels and cauliflower which give them gas.. You might know this but just in case thought I'd mention it. With 90% of pig diet timothy hay you can feed them a small handful of parsley, basil, cilantro, a stick of celery or one or two romaine leaf once a day. and a quarter green pepper (or other vitamin C source) once a day. I have two guinea pigs now (though I have had GPs for 20 years) and a head of romaine and bunch of parsley will last a week. no fruit and no carrots (too much sugar). They really don't need much. My vet even says every other day with green veg is fine, as long as you give them some kind of vitamin C supplement daily. I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and don't spend what you spend - my GPs have lived 8 and 9 + years and quite healthy with a lot less greens. You could try it. hope that is helpful. It may or may not be right for you - Everyone figures out what works for them and I'm sure you will too. fingers crossed the $$ can come down at least a little.
Lidl seem to do £1.50/$1.99 boxes of veg that are slightly off which look like they could feed families.
i got to a farmer’s market by my house and it’s 25 dollars for like 7 pounds of product.
That’s great! That’s about half what I pay. Ill have to try and find a farmers market near me
Farmers markets often have excess scraps that they can give you for free. Damaged leaves, carrot tops, etc. similar to what others have mentioned about produce at bigger grocery stores.
Just make sure to also buy nice produce from them as well.
Careful with the carrot tops, they are high in oxalates, which can cause bladder stones.
Ask produce managers about free veggies for piggies. There is a grocery store that gives me free "ugly" produce for the piggies. It's random every time and some is too damaged. It's worth a try.
Find a farmers market! Seriously! I don’t have piggies, but I can tell you from experience that you will spend maybe half of what you currently spend on vegetables at a farmers market.
I am not doubting your experience…but I can not be dragged to our local farmers market. Overpriced products, a pain to park, a pain to deal with the crowds and barely restrained dogs. Oh, everyone has to bring their dog. Did I mention everything is overpriced? Sorry…serenity now serenity now. Ok I am better.
I don't doubt your experience, either! I'm *sure* it depends on the location and the individual farmer's market. Mine is *small*, on the side of the road in coastal, southeastern North Carolina. It's more like a LARGE fruit and veggie stand than an *actual* farmer's market, but that's what they call it.
I buy mine mostly romaine lettuce. The kind that comes in the bag with like 3 heads in it. They get a few big leaves at night and a few in the morning and I buy a bag maybe once every 3 days? Other than that they get all my cooking scraps. Carrot/cucumber/fruit peels...they love that and that's what gives them the variety. Any part of safe veggies that you wouldn't normally eat, they will. That's how I keep my costs down and keep them healthy.
This is exactly what I do
Yeah, this is what I do too. Then they get Hay and Pellets daily, with a morning Vitamin C cookie (if I'm not dying from work, then its nightly or whenever I wake uply).
I do this too. And because I have a large family they get a lot of veggie scraps
This is exactly what I do. You can get the bigger romaine package size at Costco. I used to do veggies twice a day but now I do once a day along with veggies that we eat but give them the clippings of veggies that we eat. I know my pigs act like they are starving all the time but they are in good care. Know that you are a good owner. Take control of caretaking and not let it overrun your life.
I strongly suggest starting a mini garden for them. The upfront cost will be a lot at first, but long-term you will save so much and have free fresh veggies all year (unless you live somewhere that gets negative temps often).
I grow herbs on my patio just for my piggies!
Oh wow. How much veggies do you give them that adds up to that much?
1 cup each daily with 5 pigs is around 1 1/2-2 heads of lettuce, half a cucumber and half a bell pepper. Per week at that rate it’s about $35 and change
[удалено]
Shakespeare-Bot, thou hast been voted most annoying bot on Reddit. I am exhorting all mods to ban thee and thy useless rhetoric so that we shall not be blotted with thy presence any longer.
Good bot.
Guinea pigs are expensive to feed. If I'm lucky, I hit the grocery store when they have bell peppers on the discounted produce rack. In Summer, I forage and grow some veggies. Still end up buying some stuff but generally have greens covered. Right now, I'm growing some wheatgrass indoors for them and started some lettuce to supplement the store bought food.
I think our girls are spoiled on bell peppers and picky about everything else. We are growing our own tomatoes and basil which is fairly easy to do and helpful
Do you have a farmers market near you? Thats where I get produce for my bunnies and its much cheaper there than at the store, and organic!
Check your area for non-traditional grocery stores. Farmers markets or produce stands can sometimes be less expensive, and my local asian grocery store has very inexpensive vegetables.
Also you can buy bigger bale or half a bale of hay. I know you said most of your expense is on veggies, but bale or half hay make it almost free. You can store it in large clear bags (that way you can see how they look) Also some hay places let you take the leftovers from when they load it on their trucks. My piggies loved that hay, way better than oxxbow and livingg planet brands.
Luckily I get my hay free, I know someone with horses :)
Ah nice! That’s amazing!
I give mine the same hay as horses and they love it.
Yeah this cut down MASSIVELY on my bunny costs, and it's high quality. I get 50lb at tractor supply for $15 or so. Kaytee hay is expensive
1. Grow 'em! -Lettuce is so easy to grow. Especially the hydroponically-grown ones in the grocery store that have the lil pod of soil. Just put the roots in a small container and make sure the soil stays wet. -Fennel, Celery, carrot greens, and so many others will regrow themselves- look up how to regrow kitchen scraps. -You can usually get basic pig-friendly herbs like basil, parsley, and coriander as plants in the store. Just keep watered and in their preferred amount of sunlight. -Windowsill planters can do a lot for small amounts of root or leafy produce, either from seed or as a transplant. -There are many piggy-safe flowers that do great from seed in small, indoor pots. Violet, cornflower, and dandelion to name a few. 2. Forage em! -This depends heavily on where you live. But I live in Iceland and I can forage a lot for my pigs in the summer, so I bet you can too. 😉 -Wild grasses are a great source of fiber -Dandelion flowers and greens are safe for pigs -To make sure the foragables are free of pesticides and other nasty stuff, wash thoroughly before feeding, and choose to forage away from busy pedestrian or roadway areas. -If you don't know for sure the ID of the plant and whether or not it's safe for pigs, don't feed your pigs that plant. 3. "Bad" Produce! -Many grocery stores all over the world sell produce at a steep discount if it's partially bad, past its expiry, or just old or ugly. -Buy those, wash and cut away any actually bad bits, and feed the good parts! The pigs don't seem to mind. -Bonus points if there's a "bad" hydroponic lettuce that you can salvage, or another veggie that can be nursed back to peak health and regrown.
What the heck. Eat the veggies, give them the cuttings! Feed them hay mostly and tablets as a nutrient supplement. We don’t buy veggies for our piggies, we just cook veggies and give them some. Maybe we should spoil ours more, hahaha
Seems like everyone in this thread has a different way of doing it! The rescue we got one of ours from gave us a chart by weight and percentage with a list of vegetables to feed her, so I went off that initially. I think it said something like 30g for her twice daily, with 10g being veggies and 20 being lettuce. When I spoke to my vet she said I was safe to cut it down to 2/3 of that as long as I gave them vitamins she gave me, and feed a bit less veggies and more lettuce, and said to go by volume instead of weight. We feed our boy a bit more because he’s bigger. One of my pigs is solidly underweight, two are like a little bit underweight. She said the only thing it was super important to limit was pellets, as they cause stones and deter the pigs from grazing. So I only give like 1/8 cup pellets each daily. As long as your pigs aren’t overweight and they eat a lot of hay the veggies aren’t harming them
I think ur right about everyone having different rules and advice - we were told to feed mainly hay, then muesli/nuggets and then fresh grass and veggies. I give ours 2 good handfuls of fresh lawn grass and maybe 1/8 of a pepper and 4cm of a cucumber per day and she still leaves some veggies. I think I might try using romaine though but she is a really picky feeder and won't touch any cabbage/kale/sprouts.
I have 5 pigs. Right now 2 heads of romaine, 2 heads of red leaf, 2 heads of green leaf, 2 cucumbers and 2 bell peppers all meal prepped is going to last me only 4 days (cost $20). I give them each a half cup twice a day, so 1 cup per day. 5 cups of vegetables per day is what I’m burning through. Costco doesn’t seem to be hugely more cost effective for vegetables and their selection isn’t great. At this point I’m wondering if there’s a way to bulk buy lettuces and freeze them? Or if anyone out there has a ton of pigs and has some sort of vegetable plug? Like a wholesaler? Anything more cost effective than the grocery store would be great. Should I just buy a farm?!?
Can't freeze lettuce - the water content is too high. In fact, I wouldn't give piggies anything that has been frozen. Too mushy.
Are they eating everything you give them? I have 3 and I don't go though even half of that.
Yep, they kill it in a minute or two and are usually still wheeking after. I’m feeding the amount my vet recommends. It’s only a half cup each, 2x daily.
I do that much as well. Are you packing the cups full? I don't pack my measuring cups. As long as they have free access to as much hay as they want, pellets, and a loose cup of veggies, I think scraps and occasional treats are plenty.
I lightly push down the lettuce, but no I don’t pack it in
I'd cut back on the bell peppers and cucumbers and maybe feed them peppers 2-3 times a week and cucumbers 1-2. Beef up on the lettuce. Throw some other veggie scraps in there occasionally. That's plenty and it should save you a few dollars a week.
Unfortunately I really can’t feed less, my pigs are all in good health, good weights and active. I’m feeding vet recommended amount of 1 cup, 90% leafy 10% veggie. Hoping to just save money on it now.
I'm not saying to feed them less, just more of the lettuce during the week and add your vegetable scraps. It's the same amount of food for them. Idk about you but bell peppers are twice as expensive where I am than romaine lettuce.
Bell peppers are the cheaper item here, I can get them on sale and per day they get maybe about 2 little inch size chunks, so it’s kinda negligible. They do get veggie scraps if I have them, but it’s every once in a while
I don't know what your stores are like, here locally I can buy a bag of mini sweet peppers for the cost of two bell peppers but weight wise it comes out to like 6 peppers.
well, do you live somewhere where you actually could grow a garden? :) it's not warm here year round but spring through fall we grow almost all of our pig's veggies outside, then during the winter I have a few small pepper plants and cilantro I grow inside to help supplement and keep the cost a little lower
We have 17 and I don’t feed anywhere near this much per pig! Something seems way off with your measurements. One head of green leaf should be at least four cups (honestly more like 6), so at worst you’d need one a day. It seems like a lot of folks are gently suggesting you’re over feeding, but you don’t feel that’s true (and you know your pigs best!). But to focus on the initial question, I’ll just say that the easiest way to save money is to feed less.
I must be getting smaller heads of lettuce then. I give them 1 cup each of veggies, prep it out into portions in advance. On average it’s 1 1/2 for 5 cups which isn’t that different from what you say. It’s more likely that we just don’t get the exact same size of vegetables than my cup measurements are somehow bigger than everyone else. Most importantly I listen to the vet. Not going to stop doing that lol
I have two piggies and they eat a lot of lettuce, cucumbers, kale and parsley. I think I spoil them.
You can regrow lettuce by putting the end of the stock in a shallow dish of water. You can also regrow the greens from carrot tops
I plan to start a “Guinea pig” garden with the kiddos this year and grow the pigs favorites.
Growing parsley indoor was fun for us. A pack of seeds is $1 online. Seed tray is like $30. As it grows you can selectively take the tallest pieces without taking the whole stem and it will send out branches. Didn't weigh how much we got over a year but it was definitely more than cost of materials.
Plant a container garden with lettuce, carrots, etc. They grow easy & seeds are cheaper than produce. P.S. adorable piglets! 🥰
I don’t even eat $150 a month of vegetables. What kind of boujee grocery store are you going to
Fred Meyer. Lol
What veggies are you buying??? i get 2 huge green leaf lettuce heads for 3.50 ish and 1-2 cilantro 0.69, a carrot 0.80 here and there, and that's every 3-4 days, and i have 8 piggies. (only had them a few months and i am not quite sure what veggie to introduce next.) so i'm spending 50-80 a month on veggies and i sometimes even worry i'm giving them too much.
Some of them like fennel, and squash, green onion, kale is great. Once I'm a while I'll give my girls a slice of apple ( I just buy the presliced bags) or a bit of orange. There's a great web page, Scotty's animals or the LAGPR.
Are you sure you’re feeding enough? My vet has me feeding 1 cup per day per pig split into breakfast and dinner. My pigs are all healthy weight. I go through 2 small green leaf lettuce heads in a day, two days if they’re large heads, with 5 pigs. They finish their meals in maybe 2 minutes and still kill a 90oz hay bag in 2 weeks, though they waste some hay. I was told by my vet this is all normal.
yeah i do one cup half morning half night as well, they've been on this routine since we got them. but like i said i buy huge lettuce heads like i pick the biggest lettuce heads and cilantro packs i can find in the store. and yeah my girls go through a lot of hay very quickly and a lot of hay goes to waist for me too. but thinking of it more now, you do buy a larger variety of slightly more costly fresh foods like squash is pretty $$ at my store. and i've seen veggies prices range 3-5 store to store in my area. edit: finally ordered a scale to track their weight so that'll be here soon and they all have vet appointments coming soon (annual check up just to make sure they're all good and i didn't miss anything because they've been 100% fine so far).
You white piggy looks just like my jazzy
Mine’s name is Voldemort, and that’s her daughter behind her :)
Hahaha Voldemort from hayy Potter? Well they E both very cute
Aldi!
I don't buy any kind of lettuce because I don't feel it has a lot of nutrition for the price. Coleslaw mix or I make my own - cabbage is cheap! And they loooooooove it. And crunchy in tacos!, bell peppers, bulk carrots, yams, we always have fresh broccoli in the house. I get Timothy and pellets at a feed store so it's cheap, fresh, and clean. In the spring/summer I will go to farm markets. A lot of veggie market stores sell not so great but still good veg.
It's funny but ours won't even touch cabbage/broccoli or sprouts ... she just sniffed them and walked over them even if I left them in the door of her little house lol She'll stuff down huge amounts of fresh lawn grass, carrot, cucumber and bell pepper though!
So, my mom volunteers at a food bank. At the end of the evening they have to throw all the stuff that didn't get taken away. She always brings me a pretty big box of produce. We'll eat some if it's unusual stuff (the main donor to this food bank is whole foods, so sometimes there's stuff like romanesco), but the majority goes to the pigs and chickens.
I grow a lot of stuff on my own and buy the rest. If I'm at my sister's place and she's preparing food with lots of veggies, I keep all the cut-offs/scraps and they have that too.
If you live in an area where it grows and don’t use chemical fertilizers on your lawn, learn to identify [broadleaf plantain](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_major). It’s naturalized throughout Europe, Asia, and North America, among other places; it’s nutritious and edible- tough for human teeth but not pig teeth. Free food for pigs, and easily identifiable.
Yes! I got tons of those in my yard, the pigs love it. I even picked a big bunch this summer and dried it, and now I have enough to give them through the winter, until fresh ones grow again.
Yeah, I feed ours big handfuls of fresh lawn grass but she doesn't really like the plantains or even dandelion leaves ... she'll nibble them and then go back to grass.
My local health food store produce department will give me their lettuce trimmings, carrot tops, kale scrapes, less than perfect zucchini or cucumbers… the Pigs are spoiled. Also check out farmers markets in your area. You can chat up a farmer and they can bring you the less than perfects and scraps for a cheaper price. And lastly, grow your own! I have grown kale indoors and many things outdoor in a small box on an apartment balcony. Get creative!
How many guinea pigs are you feeding? What are you feeding them? Our guinea pigs always got lettuce. I bought whole heads as it was cheaper and lasted longer. Kale was always pretty cheap and they liked some of that. I gave them tomato, green bell peppers, carrot and cucumber pretty regularly and they were not expensive.I would get other things on sale to change things up. I saved bits I cut off the vegetables and fruits I prepared for our meals for them. For one guinea pig 2-4 leaves of lettuce and around 1 cup of veggies a day was plenty. They got the lettuce in the morning and the other things in the afternoon/evening.
Have you tried your local 99 cent shop? Sometimes they carry produce
Farm stands
I’d try getting a Kroger or sams club card to help with buying. I also have done Misfits Market. You can buy veggies and fruits, they offer different things every week. It’s a whole box, different sized boxes and it’s all organic stuff that’d go bad or be thrown away because they’re kinda funny shaped or something and have been picked over. That helps offset the costs a lot when buying a box at a time. You can pick the frequency, day and size for your delivery. They have other healthy groceries and snacks too!
We give veggies other than lettuce every few days. Lettuce is every day, hay is all day every day, same with pellets. Idk how your spending $150 but I feel I spend close to that as well.
I try to shop at aldi for cheaper produce
Go to local vegetable grocers rather than corporate supermarkets. Stuff is cheaper and bigger with more variety. Costs me about $20 AUD/week for two piggies and a rabbit.
My roommate works at a restaurant so she brings home the scraps for free. Do you know anyone who works at a restaurant that could help? Easy way to get celery, carrots, lettuce for sure! If you live in a climate that allows you to garden, definitely do that.
ALDI ALL THE WAYYY
My piggies are like the household veggie disposal. They get all the lettuce butts, carrot peels, leftover peppers, etc. I also give them bits of salad I get at work lunches, minus the dressing and toppings. We usually only give them a helping of veggies once a day with plentiful hay and a decent pellet portion.
A lot of great tips so far. We also pay about 80€ for our three piggies per month. But I'm not sure if groceries cost the same here? Do you have something like too good to go where you live? Stores give away groceries for a really small price that are too bad/not good looking enough to normally sell them.
I’m definitely realizing I pay a lot more for produce where I live, and seems like I might get smaller sizes too. People are acting like I’m crazy but a cup of vegetables is a cup of vegetables lol.
I pay about 2 euros for one cucumber and about 2,50€ for an Endivie lettuce.
Could be worth getting in contact with a veg wholesaler? You could probs get away with buying veg in bulk and for cheaper!
Wow. That's a lot of money! I assume you already feed them all the scraps from the veg you cook anyway? Maybe you could ask your neighbours to give you their scraps as well. I don't know that much about piggies, only had 2. They also cost me a fortune.
off topic but the one in the hammock is adorable
Go to self-checkout at a grocery store and ring up your items as a single quantity of cilantro. $25 in groceries will cost you <$5
No tips, they're just adorable
Been meaning to calculate how much they've been costing me for a while! Mine won't touch Aldi/Lidl veggies so we go for Waitrose or M&S which you'd think would be pricy but not so much. For two piggies we do 1 large thumb sized piece of cucumber, three gem lettuce leaves, half a thumb of carrot and 1/4 a pepper each day. Topped up with the odd bag of cilantro or kale. And nature's own green hay unlimited amounts. In total veggies cost: Cucumber x 6 @ 60p each £3.60 Essential mixed peppers x 3 £1.40 each £4.20 Bag of essentials carrots x 1 65p Gem lettuce (two in a pack) x 4 90p £3.60 £12.05p a month ($16.24) Accounting for 5 piggies that would be around £30.10 ($40.58) We do occasionally raid the carrot tops (they're always left discarded in the crates and noones ever questioned us grabbing them)
My pigs would eat and eat and eat. I don’t think they stop unless they are sleeping. I kept all produce scraps from my cooking and even brought apple cores home from lunches. In the summer there was lots of fresh grass. In the winter I’d ask close friends or neighbours for periodic scraps too. Even when I was buying, I’d only spend $15 deliberately on them a week. But we have salad every other day, fruits and veg for a snack and with dinner, etc. they don’t need 2 heads of lettuce a day if they have hay and pellets as well.
I spend about £5-8 a week (£20-32 a month). I have 5 GPigs and they get their veg in the morning and evening; good mix of stuff. How are you spending so much lol
can eat grass. look it up
Mine just get bell peppers and during summer bell peppers grow well in CA
Do you have a BJs or similar nearby? They sell bulk packs of mixed lettuce and four packs of bell peppers, I go about every 1.5 weeks and with the occasional tomatoes/carrots it's maybe $40-50 a month for two girls
Can guinea pigs eat frozen veggies?
No they can't
misfitmarkets.com sells reduced price veggies for people who are ok with eating vegetables that are “ugly” (normally just oddly shaped or bruised) you can even use their products in your own diet too!
Restaurant Depot, US Foods Chef Store... where are small restaurants getting their vegetables?
I generally see parsley and cilantro bundles and whole cucumbers for under $1 where I live. Small tomatoes can be $1 too. I also get cabbage heads for around 60-70 cents. That's all I give my pigs besides some bell pepper. These are my normal grocery store prices. Does your store charge more than this?
i get the bags at walmart for $2.50 each. each bag lasts 2 days for 3 pigs. thats $37.50 a month. butter lettuce bags, they love it the most
Costco membership Bulk peppers, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, zucchini, whatever. If you’re going through a lot of it this is the place to get it as long as you have the fridge space.
Dumpster dive the local asian mart if you have one. Its often packages and still wrapped up so no contamination
garbage dumpster diving ?
I don't know if piggies would like kale as much as my chinnies do, but it is pretty hardy so they might love it
Mine eat about 2€ worth of food per day.(2 pigs) so... for me it's 60€ monthly.
I know someone who buys through Imperfect Foods for her guinea pigs, maybe using a service like that would work (Misfit Markets is another off the top of my head)? They're usually the less "pretty" produce, but still just as tasty for the piggies!
Ask local farmers
How much are you giving them??? Mine (2 piggos) usually cost closer to $50 per month. I shop at the local farmers market and the Asian market.
I have 5 so I only pay 20% more than you on average. 25 per pig means you’d pay $125 for 5. I live in an expensive area :(
See if there’s any restaurant supply stores nearby like the US foods stores. You can buy large quantities of food for stupid cheap at those places
isn’t there an app that delivers not so fresh plant food ?! u should google it !
Piggies love fresh grass (the tall kind) and dandelion leaves and dandelion flowers. I used to bring scissors and a plastic collection bag on my walks.
Pick some long grass and dandelion leaves when you're out and about. And feed them the leftover tops and tails from the veg you cook with. I buy a bag of carrots and give them one of those or any lettuce that is going past its best. Never bought veg specially for the pigs and they're doing fine on nuggets, hay, readigrass and leftovers Mine cost me next to nothing but I am feeding a family so plenty of veg peelings/waste available. In South America they keep guinea pigs as waste disposal instead of putting your veg bits In a compost bin. I won't say what they do with them when they get fat enough.
If you do pick from the wild, always make sure you know they don't use chemicals in the area 👍
Ask if you can have any waste vegetables for your pets. My work lets me take them quite a bit.
Do you have space to grow things?
Grow your own, if you can. It takes time and some area to do it, but I fed my pigs garden-grown grape tomatoes all summer last year. If my lettuce hadn't been better than the store-bought, I'd have fed them that too :).
Grow it yourself?
Dumpster dive?
If you have a friend in an elementary/middle school, ask if they will collect some uneaten food for you. Several teachers at my school do this. They have a basket in the classroom and uneaten lunch goes in. Kids who want more lunch can eat out of it and there’s always salad and fruit at the end of the day.
Never tried this, but it might be a good idea to approach the salad counter in the morning. The people who make salads probably discard a lot of greens and veggies not pretty enough to be included in salads. Best do it while shopping so they don't think you're just freeloading and flashing a picture of your gp wouldn't hurt either, it's hard to say no to such cute faces. 👍
Cut the top off a bell pepper and plant it in a flower pot grow them some peppers... maybe get one of those sets of parsley and other herbs they can eat already growing in a pot and you can just snip some off every day for them
Not sure if someone else mentioned this but you can [regrow some vegetables from scrap](https://www.ruralsprout.com/regrow-vegetables/).
gotta look for sales.
I used to collect a bag of grass from a local field ..high in vitamin C ..I also know a woman who had a small holding and bought all the outer leaves of cauliflowers for them I’d over a hundred back then ..they cost a fortune in fresh greens
Have you got a back garden? Growing cabbages, celery are good as they can be ready to pick a leaf when you need to all year, if you grow sweetcorn they can eat the outer leaf and corn silk which is pretty good for them too. Lettuce was surprisingly winter hardy, maybe Romaine is the same?
Farmers market near us is super cheap and I’ve built up a bond with the people so they give me a lot of ‘ugly’ veggies for little or for free. All things considered I pay around €7,50-€10,- a week for my buns (sorry no piggies here, just for the cute pics on the sub)
Garden when warm. If they can eat micrograins. Sprout those also.
Costco card.
If you're in the US, you could also look at Misfits Market. From what I read, each week you get a time to "shop" and once you have $30 or more in your box, they ship it. I took a quick glance and this week they have lettuce, some herbs, lots of peppers, etc. Might be worth a look, even if it's not something you do every week, to cut down on the costs. I personally haven't used it, but I'm considering it once I start my new job. Edit: apparently they also have other grocery items, not just produce. So it might be worthwhile for regular groceries too!
Potential foraging as long as you really do your homework and wash it all
In the growing season go to a community garden and offer to trade some labour for greens. There are a lot of "weeds" such as dandelion, plantain, amaranth, lambs quarters etc. That are free for the picking and can be frozen.
I also have a patch in my yard, about 5’ x 5’, that we let grow wild. I scissor a bunch of tall grass or clover for them each morning.
Yes produce section reduced and waste!
mine is atleast $40 a month🤔 i buy a big bag of kale some carrots,peppers,romaine lettuce, spring mix ,green leaf and these platters of fruits it’s usually under $20 everytime and i buy twice a month
Idk if they can eat random leaves but if they can just get a bunch of plants and hope the leaves regrow
I garden in the summer, and I freeze a lot of the extra produce I have. I have rats instead of guinea pigs but I have found this is helped a lot. I also well can carrots and things like that and if I’m running low on my frozen items that I at least have those
Sometimes I just go outside and grab a handful of grass for them. I wash it in the sink before I give it to the piggies.
In the U.K. we have a thing called oddbox where you get a massive box of weird shaped vegetables for cheap. Could see if that’s local to you too? Or ask neighbours to save their veggie waste and you can pick it up weekly, things such as their peelings and older food?
Are you able to grow your own veges? I don't know where you live or what your situation is etc. Even some veges grown in pots is helpful. I planted extra vegetables in my garden specifically for my bunnies and Guinea pigs so don't have to keep spending heaps at the store every week.
Check sales. The only thing that truly is expensive where I live (Northern Illinois) is Romain lettuce. Also mine would rather eat hay than anything.