Blanching and freezing fresh foods?

[Momma And Company]

Hello! I'm new here, hoping to get crabs this summer. I've searched the forum but come up with some conflicting answers about blanching some fresh foods and then freezing them for later. Some seem to say that blanching and freezing is okay (obviously thawing out to room temp before feeding) but others say trying to stick with fresh is always best.

My trouble is I live alone, so trying to cook for just me is hard without having a ton of left overs. I do do freezer meals though for 2 weeks to 1 month at a time which is why I was wondering about the blanch/freeze method for veggies and fruits. On the days I prep my own meals with fresh, I could definitely give some to my future crabs but since they don't eat a lot at a time they'd be left with blanch/freeze mostly.

Also, what are your thoughts on size for foods, either fresh or prepped for freeze? I know if you want to see if your crabs are eating you can smooth out the sub around the food dish(s) and leave out some slices of things to see if there's claw marks, etc.

But otherwise I would assume that smaller is better, like a mince maybe or some pulses in a food processor?

I'd be planning on doing:

1.) Calcium dish - with a mix of at least 3 sources like egg shells, calcium powder, oyster shell, cuttle bone, etc.

--I can prepare these easy with grinding and bagging.

2.) Foraging basket - with oak, maple leaves, rose petals, snake skin, dried meal worms, etc.

3.) Main food dish (plastic paint palette maybe) - with 3 kinds of protein a day, 2 dried and 1 fresh (depending as it might mix up with more fresh etc) - along with 3-4 kinds of veggies and fruits with dried/fresh and a mix with some oats/seeds/nuts.

--thus where the blanch/freeze comes into play with fruits/veggies. Oats I always have on hand, seeds/nuts I can break up or grind and freeze so the oils don't spoil them at room temp.

--?? Is freeze fried or frozen better for things like krill, bloodworms, etc? When I kept fish, I tried to do frozen only but if I had to do freeze dried I'd soak in some tank water first. In the case of crabs, I'd soak in declor. freshwater.

Popcorn, peanut butter (pure), organic honey, etc. would be given as treats 2-3 times a week.

They'd also get moss, as I plan to have moss baskets in my tank.

--?? How to keep your crabs nicely hydrated? Obviously the water bowls and humidity but I was thinking more internally - is soaking dried food in water better if you can do it? I only ask because I have a cat, and cats are notorious for NOT drinking enough water - mine is really old and has chronic constipation so despite feeding only wet food now I also ADD water to his food, plus 100% pure pumpkin puree. Do crabs benefit more from moist food?

I'll be printing out all Care Sheets, including good/bad foods but if I'm missing anything from my general plan above please let me know. There's sooooo much to learn and I'm trying to memorize as much as I can, thus the print outs as backup and your help.

Thank you!

[curlysister]

Your plan sounds excellent. I feed a mixture of dried and fresh foods. In summer when my garden is going, they get more fresh than dried. In winter, they get more dried than fresh. Be warned that they eat very tiny amounts - for the first couple of years, the only way I knew they were eating is that they did not die! LOL.
I don't own a dehydrator, so I put things in a shallow cardboard box on the dash of my jeep to dry in summer when it's hot. I have dried all kinds of safe leaves and flowers that way! I then put them into a zip loc bag and store in the freezer for winter use.
If you are feeding dried foods, and for your calcium bowl, you don't need to change them out very often. Fresh food doesn't last as long due to the heat and humidity, so you will need to change it out every 24 to 48 hours.
You can absolutely blanch and freeze foods. I feed frozen corn, beans, and peas from my garden when we are having them in winter.
You don't need to worry about internal hydration like with cats. The crabs will get everything they need from the water dishes/ pools.

[wodesorel]

It's best to check which items would actually need to be blanched, and which do better being straight frozen. Veggies often retain more nutrients with a quick blanch, but fruits are often better cut up and put right into into freezer. More work is not always the better option!

[curlysister]

Good point Wode! My answer is a product of me failing to realize that if someone doesn't routinely do canning/ freezing/ storing for winter, they don't know those things. Sorry to OP!

[Momma And Company]

Your plan sounds excellent. I feed a mixture of dried and fresh foods. In summer when my garden is going, they get more fresh than dried. In winter, they get more dried than fresh. Be warned that they eat very tiny amounts - for the first couple of years, the only way I knew they were eating is that they did not die! LOL.
I don't own a dehydrator, so I put things in a shallow cardboard box on the dash of my jeep to dry in summer when it's hot. I have dried all kinds of safe leaves and flowers that way! I then put them into a zip loc bag and store in the freezer for winter use.
If you are feeding dried foods, and for your calcium bowl, you don't need to change them out very often. Fresh food doesn't last as long due to the heat and humidity, so you will need to change it out every 24 to 48 hours.
You can absolutely blanch and freeze foods. I feed frozen corn, beans, and peas from my garden when we are having them in winter.
You don't need to worry about internal hydration like with cats. The crabs will get everything they need from the water dishes/ pools.

Ooh thank you, good! Yes in winter it would be more frozen/dried. I do have a small dehydrator, mainly for making my god children trail snacks and things as their families are very active outdoors.

Yes! I've only ever tried to dry leaves and flowers via my car's dash or "pressing" them. But this has all been mainly to help my god children who have "natural presentations" and such to do for school, etc.

Knowing I can keep doing this for winter helps a lot, and to stick in the freezer.

Yes I figured with dried foods and calciums I'd just keep an eye on them all and change them when needed.

I was wondering about trying a plastic paint palette for a multi-food dish? Giving maybe, 1 teaspoon into each "cup". Is that okay? For example, the calcium dish would have at least 3 kinds, The forage basket would be separate too. But the "paint palette" maybe a teaspoon of say: fresh chicken, ground crickets, krill - then maybe: ground carrots, ground green beans, ground apple, ground peaches - etc? Is a teaspoon good for 4-6 crabs?

Okay that's great about blanch/freeze, and about their internal hydration. When I got my cats, I'd never had any of them before - they were, all 3, a rescue 911 from a friend so I was constantly learning as I was going - googling, using intuition, etc. It was stressful. Sadly I lost 2 babies to cancer, at 9 and 14 years old. I still have my 17 year old male though.

Thank you so much!

[Momma And Company]

It's best to check which items would actually need to be blanched, and which do better being straight frozen. Veggies often retain more nutrients with a quick blanch, but fruits are often better cut up and put right into into freezer. More work is not always the better option!

Oh I'm sorry, this is my bad! Yeah I know which needs which - for the sake of expediency in my post, I didn't get into detail. Thank you!

[Momma And Company]

Good point Wode! My answer is a product of me failing to realize that if someone doesn't routinely do canning/ freezing/ storing for winter, they don't know those things. Sorry to OP!

Noo, no reason to be sorry! This is my fault, I didn't stress that I do can and such.

[curlysister]

People do use those little paint trays for food! You might need less than you think, but you can start with a tsp and adjust down as needed.

[Momma And Company]

People do use those little paint trays for food! You might need less than you think, but you can start with a tsp and adjust down as needed.

Yeah since the trays are so cheap I figure I could try some out and if not that's okay but gotta start somewhere! LOL.

I just ran into a problem though and I don't know if you could help @curlysister ? Is that how you tag? I'm not sure. I just researched my area and found out that the last 2 years they've started spraying for mosquitos/etc and I didn't know. They're planning to do it this year too. They never did before but they're siting tons of rain, flooded lakes/ponds/rivers and low lying area not draining.

So I don't think I can use my oak and maple leaves now, or even my rose petals which I never use anything on. Do you know or does anyone, about a good place to buy SAFE leaves and such? I haven't made it that far into the threads/site yet so just wanted to ask.

The map I found doesn't show them spraying/dumping near me per say but the 2nd map showed the potential "disbursement" of it and the "cloud" does cover me to some extent. This sucks because I have 1 big oak, 2 big maples, some cottonwood and pine/spruce at the back of my property.

Thank you for any help you can give, I appreciate it!

[curlysister]

I live rurally. Our property is 7.5 acres, surrounded by hundreds of acres of farm land. There is spraying in the fields that butt up against our property, as well as in the ditches on our gravel road. We don't use any chemicals in our little piece of land, but I do use the leaves, fruits, veggies, and flowers. I am usually aware when spraying is or has been going on close by. I make sure that I pick new growth only, usually after a rain, and after at least two weeks has passed since the spraying - thinking that the new growth would have started after the spraying (for sure with freshly bloomed flowers). I give everything a rinse in tap water (which is well water here), prior to feeding or drying it. My system isn't perfect, but it's as safe as I can be while using my own stuff. I have always fed fresh from the yard/ garden during the summer, given frozen veggies when we are eating them, and have been drying increasing numbers of things over the past few years. So far so good!

[wodesorel]

Do you know what they are using? There are many different chemicals, but most are pretty specific to mosquitos or only work in water on the larvae. They also tend to break down fairly quickly.

[Momma And Company]

I live rurally. Our property is 7.5 acres, surrounded by hundreds of acres of farm land. There is spraying in the fields that butt up against our property, as well as in the ditches on our gravel road. We don't use any chemicals in our little piece of land, but I do use the leaves, fruits, veggies, and flowers. I am usually aware when spraying is or has been going on close by. I make sure that I pick new growth only, usually after a rain, and after at least two weeks has passed since the spraying - thinking that the new growth would have started after the spraying (for sure with freshly bloomed flowers). I give everything a rinse in tap water (which is well water here), prior to feeding or drying it. My system isn't perfect, but it's as safe as I can be while using my own stuff. I have always fed fresh from the yard/ garden during the summer, given frozen veggies when we are eating them, and have been drying increasing numbers of things over the past few years. So far so good!

Hm, okay I might need to research a little more on my area. Every few years or so, I take a soil sample in to be tested for my veggie garden just to make sure I'm putting enough back in to keep it enriched/healthy or if I'd need to think about moving it. I do remember last time I was there they'd added another section on the paper of tests you could request that included chemicals and things. I didn't think anything of it at the time so didn't opt in but I might start now just to see. The garden is close to my house (including my roses) but the trees are at the back half, much further away so until I started looking into getting crabbies I never thought about them much beyond watching for beetles, etc. so the trees stay okay.

I might look to see if I could have some new leaves tested when they come out this year, it might give me an idea of where I am. I dunno if they can do that.. but if they can and it checks out, I'll just harvest as much as I can before the next spray.

Thanks so much for your reply, I really appreciate it!!

[Momma And Company]

Do you know what they are using? There are many different chemicals, but most are pretty specific to mosquitos or only work in water on the larvae. They also tend to break down fairly quickly.

According to the website it was a mixture of 3 main chemicals, mainly aimed at mosquitos but they said "3 main" - for a further breakdown of everything they suggested people mail or call in a request, so I called in mine yesterday and should have a postal mail report sometime this week including details of this years upcoming spraying, etc. so fingers crossed.

Every year I'm mailed a water report which is similar which you don't have to request (I have city water), they automatically send it. Wish they'd start to do that about spraying, LOL.