Freezing greens?

[Ralis]

At the moment Gorbash only eats collard greens in the way of fruit/veg. I've not tried a huge variety since I'm glad he's at least eating something that's a staple green but he ignored my attempt to get him to eat butternut squash which I've read most beardies go for. It just goes show how they're all different. I'd like to try him on turnip/mustard greens since they're similar and mix them in with the collards. My problem is they come in huge bags/bunches and since he's not eating that much at the moment and a lot would end up going to waste.

How well do they freeze? I'm considering making small feed bags and freezing them, then defrosting as and when I need them so nothing is being wasted. The butternut squash at least I'm planning on stewing down to use as feed for the reptiworms so that shouldn't be wasted and I could do the same with some of the greens, but between the worms and Gorbash, they're only going to eat so much and no one else in the house will eat the greens!

 

[Taterbug]

I've never had luck with freezing fresh leafy things, they come out brown and wilty when I thaw them out.

One word of caution with freezing; don't rely on frozen food exclusively. Thawing destroys Thiamine/B12 and extended use of only frozen greens can lead to a deficiency.

If he likes the other greens, you can just get one bag at a time so it doesn't go to waste. No one here eats the veggies either, the lizard probably has the healthiest diet in the house. All my extras go into the bottomless pit that is my roach colony.

 

[Ralis]

I suspected they may not come out too great. I also didn't know about the thiamine loss so thanks for that! I guess I'll go with just rotating them like you suggested. At the moment a bag of greens last about 2 weeks before it starts going bad and he'll eat maybe half of it over that time. If I'm able to feed most of the rest to the worms once I have them set up it wont be too bad.

 

[Taterbug]

If you are in the southern US you can culture your own black soldier fly larvae (reptiworms) by making a composer. They eat up just about everything.... I wanted to do this, but we are too far north, outside their native range.