Washing vegetables
Hi,
I was wondering how well everyone here washes the vegetables for their piggies. Since guinea pigs are probably less affected by pesticides than people are, would it be ok if I didn't wash the veggies for my guinea pigs as well as I would wash a salad for humans? For example, cilantro takes a very long time to wash if I try to rinse every little leaf on it. Should I just rinse the whole stem quickly? Do you wash your piggies' veggies very carefully?
I wash all my piggies veggies as I wash my own. They are sensitive and pesticides are just as dangerous.
I wash my piggies veggies very carefully. I would think pesticide would affect them more since they are smaller than us.
Pesticides can and will affect them more than they do us humans. It's important to wash veggies. Do you need to scrub every little leaf, no but you should wash the veggies weil just as you would for your own consumption.
Oh crap...
I never thought about washing their veggies, I'll have to start doing that. I never really thought about it I guess since I don't usually wash them before I eat them.(Though I don't eat a lot of vegetables)
I'll have to make sure I do that from now on.
I have a rule, Don't feed them anything you wouldn't eat (unless you just don't like the taste of the veggie of course). If its maybe a little brown, think about it, would you eat that? Just make sure each veggie is clean, has no dirt on it, not brown, is not molding or smells bad or any of that. You get my point.
I think I wash the piggies vegetables much more than mines. I'm also more picky on theirs. I can go myself with a not so crunchy lettuce... never the pigs!
Maybe I'm a bit crazy though hahahaha
But yes, you have to wash them. Be careful about the dirt, not so green leaves or other stuff.
LightningPig1 (11-06-10)
Originally Posted by Shurrim
I know! I do that too.... I'll be making a salad for my family and I always notice, I never wash the lettuce as well as the lettuce I wash for the piggies! Yes I agree it it more about the dirt than anything else. If you really want natural veggies, although this is going overboard, you could have your own garden! Pesticide free, that natural organic taste..... so good!
krystalmoore86 (05-23-11)
As a continuation of this thread I made a while ago, I have another similar question, so I thought it would be better not to start another thread.
Exactly how many minutes does it take you all to wash your veggies? My parents say that I am very paranoid. I do take quite a while to wash veggies for my guinea pigs. For example, it takes me 10 minutes to wash a quarter of a bell pepper. As a result, my piggies are not getting very many veggies because my mom definitely would not let me spend 40 minutes every night on my guinea pigs (10 minutes for washing and 30 minutes for feeding and spot cleaning). I am really concerned about my guinea pigs' health, so perhaps the best way to find time to wash veggies for them is to wash them less carefully.
Bell peppers supposedly have more pesticides on them, so I have a detailed method of washing them. When you all wash bell peppers, do you just rinse them for a couple of seconds?
When I asked this the first time in this thread, most people told me to wash veggies as well as I would wash them for myself. However, I spend such a long time when I wash lettuce for my family that my parents don't really let me wash vegetables anymore, to save water. So how many seconds would it take to?
10 minutes to wash a pepper is way too long. If your pigs are not getting enough to eat, you need to speed it up ! I'd think five minutes to wash all their vegetables is enough. Try this. Rinse all, then soak in some cold water for 2 minutes, swishing around, then drain water and rinse them very well. Pat dry and feed.
I'm a little confused as to why you'd think they'd be less affected by pesticides than us. They weigh, on average, 2 1/2 lbs - why on earth would they be less affected by pesticides on veggies than, say, a 100+ lb human?
And yes, 10 minutes is too long, for animal and human alike. There's no set time, but you need to be sure you're washing all the dirt and anything else off of the veggies that you wouldn't want to consume.
However, if your parents are not wanting you to spend time on your pets, and you are wasting water washing the veggies, you might consider buying organic vegetables for your pets, then perhaps you won't worry so much about pesticides. Or, if it's really causing that much of a problem (40 minutes is NOT too long to spend with/on your pets daily) and it is getting to a point where the lack of time you are allowed to spend is causing you to worry about their health, you might consider getting your veggies ready and pre-mixed/bagged so you can just grab them and feed them as you need them.
If you buy veggies and or salad mix in pre packaged containers is it safe to just rince quickly or should you wash those throughly?
I will run a sink full of cold water and put all the vegetables in the sink and let them just sit in the there for a while. All the dirt then settles to the bottom of the sink and you just lift all the vegatables out and rinse them off.
Thanks for the tips everyone!
I know I said that guinea pigs would be less affected by pesticides in my first post of this thread, but now I understand that guinea pigs would definitely be more affected by pesticides than humans would be.
Yes, I finally convinced my parents to let me use my allowance to buy organic vegetables today. I am hoping this will work better for me and my guinea pigs.
If the package specifically says something like "pre-washed" or "ready to eat," I think you don't need to wash them again.
You all said to "rinse well" or "rinse off," but could you please give me an estimate of how many seconds/minutes you are holding each veggie under the water?
Pre-washed stuff may have been washed, but it still contains preservatives to keep it fresh and would need washing. I usually run it under warm water for about 30 seconds (think how long should you wash hands after, well you know.) The idea of floating it in a clean sink is good as well. Think how long would it take you to wash a dirty dish? Usually just a few seconds and the food on the dish washes off.
Ten minutes is a very long time. A ten minute shower with a low flow shower head would waste 25 gallons of water. If you are running the faucet full stream, you could easily waste 2-3 times that much water washing veggies.
What you are doing is washing off any dirt or germs from the people who have handled the food and the any pesticides and preservatives that were put on the food to keep it bug free and fresh. It shouldn't take you 10 minutes per veggie to do that, when you consider you can bathe your entire body in ten minutes.
Organic veggies may not have the pesticides on them, but they still need to be washed to remove dirt (all veggies are grown in dirt) and any germs from being handled. Then feed them to your piggies good and wet. They will appreciate the extra fluids.
And save that extra water for the rest of the family.
Katrina864 (05-25-11), krystalmoore86 (05-23-11)
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