Cheap bird table food.

[astarsdad]

I spend a lot of money each week keeping my garden birds with seeds, fat balls etc. It would be nice if people could share their cost saving ways of feeding birds.
I have found that potato chips are a productive way of feeding and attracting birds very cheaply. When the frying oil is past its best for our own use, I pour it into a cleaned plastic milk bottle. Using cheap potatos, I fry them in the old oil very slowly (20-30 mins) so that they are very soft, allowing them to go brown but never crisp. I put a little salt on them and let them cool down. I then put them into food bags, using a full mug as a measuring amount. I refrigerate some and freeze some. When I need to use them, I defrost them or microwave them to reactivate the oils. Let them cool down and using a pair of scissors I dice them into very small pieces.
I put them on the garden table and feeding tray before 12 noon and usually they have been eaten by 2pm, which suits me as I am wary of attracting rats. Most birds will eat them, especially starlings and house sparrows.

[bobbarber]

Originally Posted by astarsdad

I spend a lot of money each week keeping my garden birds with seeds, fat balls etc. It would be nice if people could share their cost saving ways of feeding birds.
I have found that potato chips are a productive way of feeding and attracting birds very cheaply. When the frying oil is past its best for our own use, I pour it into a cleaned plastic milk bottle. Using cheap potatos, I fry them in the old oil very slowly (20-30 mins) so that they are very soft, allowing them to go brown but never crisp. I put a little salt on them and let them cool down. I then put them into food bags, using a full mug as a measuring amount. I refrigerate some and freeze some. When I need to use them, I defrost them or microwave them to reactivate the oils. Let them cool down and using a pair of scissors I dice them into very small pieces.
I put them on the garden table and feeding tray before 12 noon and usually they have been eaten by 2pm, which suits me as I am wary of attracting rats. Most birds will eat them, especially starlings and house sparrows.

Hello astarsdad and welcome to WAB. I do something very similar to you with old cooking oil but I omit the salt as it`s not good for birds. If you are lucky enough to have a local greengrocer you could ask them to let you have any bruised or damaged fruit,the Thrushes love the apples. Porridge oats are quite cheap, I make little cakes out of it and mix in some seeds and crushed peanuts. How about saving any cooked meat bones and tying them up with string and suspending them from a tree branch, the Tit family love them. If you have a garden let some of the weeds like Plantains set seed and collect them in the Autumn, hope this helps...Bob