How do you keep your veggies fresh? In particular, watercress seems to turn from dark green to yellow overnight.

Putting in ziplock bags don't help at all, in fact seems to speed the process.
Leaving in the sink after soaking and washing a little better but within a day and a half they get all yellow.

Also, once they become pale green, does that mean that they have lost all their nutritional value? Or just lost the chlorophyll and green color?

I put mine in a large tuperware container. First I lay down paper towels, then a layer of greens and more paper towels, I continue the process until the tupperware is full. I have found they have stayed so much longer since I began doing that.

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

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Everybody has a system that works for themselves and rarely works for others. I've tried other's systems without luck and I don't know of anyone else that uses my way.

What I do -- though I don't use watercress in my ig diet
For greens I chop them into pieces right from the bunch, often without even opening the bunch. As stems start to get too big for my liking I remove that leaf and continue chopping the whole head. Once chopped I mix all the different greens together and throw them back in the produce bag un-washed, squeeze the air out and into the fridge. I find the longer the bunch sits at room temp or the wetter you get them early on the sooner the greens go bad.

As I feed my ig I put a handful of mixed greens in a colander or large bowl and mix in the grated hard veggies and any chopped fruits. Toss this mix under running cold water to wash it all at once and put the dripping wet mass onto a plate. Once plated the rep-cal is added and into the cage.

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Wow, I pretty much do the same thing. I rip up all the leaves of the various yummies, mix them all together, stuff them in a big ziploc bag, push out all the air that I can and throw in the fridge. Then when breakfast time comes, I just pull out the bag, rinse off a handful or two, throw on a mixture of pre-chopped veggies, top with the fruit of the day, mist heavily and serve.

Long time ago I used to stand the stems of my greens up in a container of water and they lasted me about a week at least--longer if they were really fresh. Now I stand them up in water still but add a very tiny bit of vinegar and they last weeks--last batch lasted over 2 weeks and was not too fresh to begin with. They seem to perk up in fact. And I put the bag over them too. Also if I find them going bad I just cook them up for myself and buy fresh for them. My neighbor Patrick does his like Marks but stores them in a large Tupperware bowl. His lasts at least a week maybe more but with4 iguanas that eat well his gets eaten within a week, if not sooner.

Winter squash (Butternut for one) lasts all winter if not peeled so I just peel what I need and grate it as I go until I get to the seeds. My other vegetables and fruit don't get prepared until I need them each day. Patrick and Denise uses Tupperware for their veggies and they have no problem keeping them a week.

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I've found that just keeping everything wrapped up air tight and in the fridge is my best defense. But yet again, I've never used watercress. I generally use collared and mustard greens. Collards are more hearty and stay fresh longer than the mustard. Didn't you say you could get collard greens over there? I don't remember.

My best advice if your greens are going bad before she eats them would be to either A.) Develop an appetite for them and eat them as well, or B.) you can do what I did and buy 3 more omnivores so you have more lizards eating the food.

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I chop up a mixture of veg weekly to keep in an sealed plastic container in the fridge so that each day I can just scoop a few spoonfulls into the lizards' enclosures.. usually consists of spring greens and butternut squash, and sometimes carrot, watercress, cress and other veg. I find that this veg will generally last for up to a week, but any longer than that and it will start to smell and lose all nutritional value. Other foods won't keep like this - peppers only tend to keep fresh for a couple of days once chopped finely. Fruits are no good and have to be chopped separately each time I want to add them in to the diet.

Marsha, I'm intrigued by the paper towels - what do they seem to do? And how long will the veg stay fresh like that? It's something I might try.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

first I dont chop the greens with a knife it seesm to speed the rotting process so I just tear them into large pieces mix it all up in cold water run into a clean sink then transfer it to a big tupperware bowl draining excess water daily the squash mix goes seperatly into another bowl which gets ground up inna food processer. i gte a good week out of this with not much waste all, mostley cuz these guys are pIGS

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The paper towels seem to suck up some of the moisture that causes the greens to spoil. I just started doing this about a month ago and I am surprised how much longer they stay fresh and non slimmy, lol. Try it and let me know if it works for you

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

Our Iggy won’t eat collard or mustard greens, I have tried but he refuses. His previous owner fed him only spring mix and baby food. I have gotten him to eat a variety of other vegs though. The spring mix comes in a nice container and it last for about 2 weeks other are chopped daily. Things don’t last long around here, as when you bring out the spring mix everyone gets excited! The cocktails start sounding off, the guinea pig starts squeaking, the rabbit starts thumping. When you pass chompers aquarium he starts swimming back and forth waiting for his pieces too.. Oh well life at the zoo!