Veg issues

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WobblyPiggy

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi,

I'm just wondering if anyone is having the same issues as us lately with regards to veg. We normally get veg from a variety of shops...dates are checked and the veg itself id checked to make sure it is OK for the piggies to eat. Its then washed and stored until its used and we buy more every 2-3 days. But lately even with checking veg seems to be going off sometimes even after a couple hours...if we've even found any that isn't mouldy in shops. Especially cucumbers...weve been struggling to find any good ones they're all very soft and easy to squish and some have a very strong almost perfume smell...we live in the North east of the UK...I know its winter so things may be a bit harder to come by but it has never been this bad before...any veg were unsure of were not giving to the piggies as I dont want to risk them being unwell...is there anything we can potentially do to help particularly the cucumber last a bit longer or anything we can replace it with? Were going to try find some baby cucumbers to see if we have better luck with them...I'm getting worried about not being able to find good veg for them as all the shops seem to be the same so far...
 
Same here. Even checking stuff in the shop doesn’t always help.
My persona opinion is that i’s a mix of factors - the season and supply / delivery / storage issues all contribute to poorer quality.
 
Thats what we're thinking...I mean we try our best to check ourselves...but at a few points there have been clearly black spinach leaking all over...so even when we noticed a pack that looked OK we weren't comfortable getting it since some of the black liquid from the other bag had leaked onto it...I'm just worried about unintentionally making one of the piggies unwell...
 
Same here. I suspect that delivery issues and storage issues with the Christmas season have led to lower quality veg available for a while.
 
The ‘fresh’ coriander I bought yesterday is a case in point.
When I opened it for the piggies today they munched a bit but then completely ignored it.
My lot rejecting coriander is unheard of!
 
Oh no...I'm hoping it will pick up soon...its difficult not being able to get them their favorite or even just get them nice good quality veg...
 
I've been finding the hunt for quality veg difficult recently too. I've given up with my regular veggie buying trips to Aldi as most of it went off in a day and I don't usually shop more than twice a week. I had a delivery from Sainsbury's today and all looks lovely and fresh, fingers crossed it keeps well. I may have to make my fortnightly Sainsbury's delivery wheekly!
 
Aldi is where we normally go as well...weve had to try other places...I find it difficult to shop due to mobility issues and a lot of the time we can't get shopping delivered as all the slots are taken...but we keep trying to look for new places to try get veg...id of loved to go to a green grocer but there isn't one close to where we are...
 
I've been having a similar problem in the US. I switched grocers and that helped a little. The new place seems to have better quality most of the time, but they're also more expensive. I think the pandemic is effecting some of the produce supply.
 
We've had intermittent problems with the celery, chicory, some of the herbs and bagged salad. This has been from Morrison's, Asda and the local farm shop with the farm shop being the worst for produce going off quickly. I've bought some seeds and we are going to try growing some salad in 2022 for the ladies to munch as we don't think we've seen the end of the supply issues.
 
This is part of the issue as well...everything has gone up in price...some more than others...I wish I could grow my own but I dont have anything set up in the garden to do it as of yet...plus I'm terrible at growing plants...
 
No such thing as terrible at growing plants - I've chucked some compost into a couple of cardboard trays (they came with the last batch of plants which I still haven't planted), sprinkled some seeds on top and popped them on the kitchen windowsill so fingers crossed the ladies will be enjoying some romaine lettuce, dill and chervil in the near future! My excuse for them not being in the greenhouse is that something is eating the chard I bought from the garden centre and digging up my potatoes so the seeds are safer in the house :D
 
Oh dear...I think I'd probably have to grow stuff in the house too I know atleast one cat comes into our garden...we managed to find some half decent veg tonight but still no decent cucumber...
 
Piggy veg has been terrible here too. The lettuce has been all dried out or has been kept on ice and has frozen. The only lettuce I have found to be any good are the expensive romaine hearts in the plastic bags. I miss my garden and look forward to better weather to grow lots of delicious veggies! I finally started to do better about growing lettuce this year. It needs lots of sun and cooler temperatures in order to not bolt.

All this talk and reminiscing about veggie gardens is making me hungry.... :drool:
 
Ive struggled with veggies and going to start growing veggies early because it's so bad. Coriander is already coming back in the garden so hopefully any cold weather doesn't kill it off.
 
Happy new year all 💃 We had frozen cucumber at points last year. The fennel growing by the roses is starting to grow again probably because of the really mild temperatures and the lettuce is still hanging on. It was surreal yesterday shopping for veg as the ladies have had their diet tweaked so no bagged salad or fruit. Doris has bladder sludge so she's driving the changes plus without the super salad munching Marley we have no need for a heaving fridge anymore. I'm really hoping to get to grips with growing romanesco cauliflower as I haven't managed it yet and I'll be using the last of the blanched stock today.
 
Oh dear...I hope your piggy is fine now...it is stressful trying to find the veg...its mainly cucumber for us so far...since ours are elderly they sleep alot...so we like to put cucumber in for them as a quick water source to nibble on but its getting more difficult to find good ones for them...
 
Doris is well in herself and if she hadn't smelt fishy we wouldn't have known anything was wrong. She's been on Cystaid and Loxicom for a couple of days so too early to say for definite however she is more comfortable being handled now. The cucumber we picked up yesterday was fine but I understand the stress of trying to find decent salad especially in winter when there's nothing really growing in the garden and you have elderly or ill piglets.
 
Not sure what is going on, but probably Covid related, but never before today has my online shopping order had carrots and lettuce rationed! Going to have to start up at another supermarket as well just to keep the guineas in fresh food!
 
Thats why we havent done online shopping in a while...we tried at the beginning of last year and put in the notes that the veg was an essential as we had small animals that relied on having fresh veg...they replaced part of it with bleach...so not even something that they could even remotely be near...thankfully we found bits and pieces yesterday for them...I'm glad Doris is a bit more comfortable again...theres nothing worse than not being able to comfort your piggies when they're unwell...hopefully she will continue to be on the mend and back to her normal self then she can get ready to enjoy the grass when the warmer weather starts...
 
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