Mice
Proper Feeding of Mice
1. Feeding Basics - The very basics of proper mouse feeding.
2. More About Feeding - A bit closer look.
3. Nutrients - Their importance in proper feeding.
4. Practical Tips - Tips for better taking care of your mouse feeding.
5. Recipes - Staple diets, treats and other yummy mouse delicacies.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to be able to feed your mice properly. Mice are naturally "opportunistic omnivores" which means they can eat whatever they can get their little paws on and survive. Of course, merely surviving isn't thriving and not everything they can eat is in any way or form healthy for them! There are certain guidelines to follow!
The following articles deal with proper mouse feeding and give you not only the very bacis, but also more advanced information and some delicious recipes to pamper your mice with.
Basic diet
Proper feeding of mice is relatively simple. As a basic diet you can give hamster seed mixes or special mouse (usually rat and mouse) lab blocks (lab blocks are compressed whole diet kibbles like dry dog food is for dogs). If you are feeding with a seed mix, you should remove excess sunflower seeds and nuts in order to prevent your mouse gaining too much weight. Always try and choose the healthiest and most versatile mix available. Mice do not need green alfalfa pellets in their diet at all (they won't eat them) and colorful little cakes of corn are not needed nor healthy. You should also make sure that the mix is still fresh. Otherwise the mix may have lost its vitamins and the fatty seeds may have gone rancid. One option is to feed your mice muesli (human breakfast stuff).
You can check the freshness of the mix from information given in the packet, or by testing how well the seeds will sprout - fresh seeds sprout easily within a few days after being put in moist dirt, old ones do not. With lab blocks you should check their best before date (which the pet shop keepers have to know - if not take your business elsewhere). Also, find out where the blocks (as well as seed mixes) have been stored. They should be kept in low temperature and dry. If you find insects or maggots in the seeds or lab blocks, do complain to the shop and demand your money back! For some strange reason many pet shop keepers think that the common rules of good business (not selling inferior goods and giving refund if they do, for example) do not apply to them. This is possible because too many people let the pet shops to get away with selling spoiled food (and sick and / or pregnant animals!). You are their customer and without customers they don't have a business at all. Little pet shop rant here: do not buy anything from a shop where animals are not treated well. Walk away from pet shops selling puppies or kittens - these come from mills, not responsible breeders, no matter what the shop keepers tell you. It is highly arguable if responsible breeders of rodents would ever sell their babies to pet shops either - of course the quality of the pet shop matters here.
Cissy at her food bowl |
The lab blocks are a good alternative, as they contain everything the mouse needs. Furthermore, a picky mouse is not able to pick and choose only those parts of the diet it happens to like. There are usually two different kinds of blocks available, one for growing mice, another one for grown ups. The basic diet should be given twice a day, especially with larger groups of mice and there should always be some left by the time of feeding
Additional Food
Seed diet alone is not adequate to ensure a mouse of as good life as possible. Yes, the mouse will stay alive, but it will do better with a versatile diet. Additional food is better to be served in the evening, when the mice start their active period of the day. Always remove all kinds of left overs of fresh food the next day. If it goes bad, it will cause health problems for the mice, as well as it will attract flies.
Green stuff will provide your mouse with vitamins. You can give your mouse different vegetables and fruit - salad, cucumber, peas, apple, pear... In order to avoid diarrhea, start with very small portions.
For a source of animal protein, dog kibble (dry dog food) a couple of times a week will do. Low fat non spicy and unsalted, cooked meat or chicken or dried fish are also popular. Giving too much animal protein may cause skin problems (rash), so don't overdo it.
Nice change in a mouse's diet can be provided by giving porridges, boiled pasta and rice or mashed potato. Natural yogurt mixed in will make a very tasty meal and give your mice calcium. I haven't seen any mice turn up its nose in front of baby food either.
Curry eating millet |
For a source of calcium you can give your mouse a calcium stone or mix powdered calcium in soft food. Egg shells contain plenty of calcium. You can make a fun dish for your mice by filling up half an egg shell with porridge, mashed potato or some other similar food!
Gnawing is natural for a rodent and hard but tasty food is good for mice. You can dry bread for your mice. Cut the bread up in small pieces and let them dry. Make sure the bits do not get moldy! Dog biscuits are suitable as well.
You can use your imagination with mouse feeding. Just remember that it should get a diet which is suitable for mice and that the mouse has to get everything it needs from the diet. Do not give: salty, sugary, spicy or fried food. Sweets are not a part of a mouse diet, neither are potato chips and similar snacks. As a treat you can give small bits of yogurt drops. There are also all kinds of honey bells and seed bars available and you can attach them around the cage so that your mice will have to climb around in order to get to the treats.
Drink
Mice drink water, nothing else. Water should be available always and it should be changed daily. If you live in an area where you would rather drink bottled water, give the same for your mice. In a hot weather the water should be changed several times a day.
The water bottle should be rinsed daily and you should give it a thorough wash at least once a week using dish washing (not the machine washer stuff) liquid and a bottle brush. Rinse the bottle very, very carefully after the washing. You can add vitamin solutions as a course (for example for a week every month). While the vitamin course, it is very important to wash the bottle thoroughly every day.
Text: Satu Karhumaa.
Closer Look on Proper Feeding
Proper feeding is of great importance to the welfare of a mouse. A mouse that has been fed properly, has a better opportunity to grow up to be as big as it's genetic background (which is inherited from it's parents) allows. Proper feeding keeps a mouse healthy and resistant? to different kinds of disease.
Breeders, in particular, should become familiar with food and nutrients. The wrong kind of feeding can easily ruin results gained by selective breeding.
Basic Feeding
In the wild the mouse eats various vegetables. It isn't specialized in one sort of plants or seeds. Sometimes the mouse catches a warm or a small insect in order to fill its need for animal proteins. Also a pet mouse should get as versatile diet as possible. Mouse/rat lab blocks are very good because every bit tastes the same, so mice cannot pick the tastiest and usually the fattening seeds. The blocks also contain all the vitamins and trace elements a mouse needs.
A versartile seed mix is suitable for a mouse basic diet. When buying seed mixes, you should take into consideration some of the following: Mice do not like the usual so called rabbit pellets (which are usually just hay pellet), and they leave those uneaten. Therefore, it's better to choose a seed mix completely without these pellets. Some seed mixes have been constructed to please the eye of the owner more than the stomack of the mouse. Therefore, it pays to take a close look on the contents of the seed mix and make sure it does not contain mainly colored corn flakes.
You can also make your seed mixed yourself. If you live in the countryside, it is quite easy to buy seeds directly from farmers. In addition to this, some country side shops seel quite inexpensive seeds, flaked oats and brans. You can vary the contents of your own seed mix according to what is easily available at the time. If you use a self made seed mix, you should add dry dog or cat food in the mix.
The more a breeder has animals, the more her animals consume food. When you have more than 20 mice, it is no longer practical to feed them with small bags of food available at pet shops. It's better to buy in bulk or make your own seed mix.
Mice should be fed once or twice a day. Larger groups of mice or does with litters are better fed twice a day. Each feeding time, give enough food that there is some left at the next time.
Additional Foods
The importance of additional food grows greatly if you feed your mice solely on seed mixes as the basic diet. In this occasion you should give additional food daily, in order for your mouse to get all the vitamins and trace elements it needs. You should vary the additional foods you give, as well. One of the most important additional foods is high quality dry hay. It contains lots of various minerals and fiber, which is beneficial for the well being of the intestines and the digestion. In addition to this, hay offers plenty of activities to the mice; they love to arrange it and build nests out of it. Other additional foods are different kinds of vegetables and fruit. Whit these, it pays to pay attention to the seasons of the year, nature and what is cheap at the moment. For example, it is needless to buy cucumber or tomatoes for mice when they are at their most expensive.
Using nature's own reserves, you can build up a versatile and cheap diet for your mice. In the early summer, you can pick up dandelions, coltsfoot and grass. In the late summer serve vegetables and berries. The autumn is the golden era of apples and roots and in the winter you can give branches of trees or twigs, and grow sprouts on the windowsill. In the springtime you can give your mice as additional food swollen buds of trees, branches and the first green plants growing through the snow, like coltsfoot. You can also dry many vegetables and plants during the summer to use in the winter: willow herb, blueberries, carrots, rutabaga/swede etc. What ever you collect from the nature, always be sure that the area you collect from is free of pollution, pesticides or other poisons. Also, make sure that the plants you gather aren't poisonous or contain harmful substances. Do not pick up anything you do not know for sure to be nonpoisonous!
Every now and then you can buy processed sour cream (or, if this is unavailable, use live culture yoghurt without flavourings or artificial sweeteners) and mix for example brans or oat flakes in it. Especially babies and pregnant females need added calcium, which is obtained from dairy products. You can give your pregnant and nursing females processed sour cream or milk or natural yoghurt daily.
Neilikka & Meirami having dog kibble treats |
You often see mentioned that you can give porridge, macaroni casserole, boiled vegetables and such to you mice. This is true. However, you should remember that it does not pay to start preparing these food solely for your mice. Some vitamins are destroyed when heated, which leads to the lessening of the nutritional value of food. However, if there are leftovers from your own cooking (porridge, potatoes or their peels - cooked!) you can give them to your mice.
How Well Do Food and Feed Keep
Dry lab blocks and seed mixes don't go bad very easily. However, the vitamins in the foods do not keep long periods and when stored improperly these vitamins get evaporated quicker. Often the natural vitamins present in the feed do not keep as long as synthetic vitamins added to the feed. Fat present in the feed can also turn rancid if stored improperly. In order to keep the nutritional values as well as possible, the food in a dry and cool place, protected from sunlight.
Vitamin & trace element pills, -pulvers and -solutions should always be stored in their own packages. Best place to store small bottles is the fridge. When buying vitamins, always check the best before date. This date does not mean that the product cannot be used after that, only the date until which the producer guarantees that the product contains the amount of vitamins mentioned on the label.
Fresh foods should be stored in the fridge. If you keep them in a cellar, do make sure that wild mice or rats cannot get their paws on the food and pee and poop on them.
Nutrients
Nutrients are the part of an animal's food that can be dissolved in the intestines into a form that the body can utilise. Examples of these are sugar, fat, protein, and cellulose. Both animals and humans use nutrients to: build up tissues such muscle, for hair growth, and to maintain their body. In addition to this, nutrients are needed for energy production. Energy is used for moving, blood circulation, growth, production of warmth, and so on. The system produces energy from carbohydrates and proteins through many different reactions and finally through oxidising them.
Nutrients can be divided into organic and inorganic substances. Organic nutrients are carbohydrates, fat, proteins and vitamins. Inorganic nutrients are, in turn, trace elements, oxygen and water.
Proteins are needed for example for building up muscle tissue, milk production, and hair growth and production material of hormones and blood haemoglobin. Extra protein is turned into energy. For example dairy products, meat, fish, leguminous plants, vegetables and eggs contain proteins.
Tilli devouring additional protein |
Fats have an important part to play as well. They produce energy, give reserve nutritive substances, protect from the cold and bind fat dissolving vitamins, so that they would be usable for the system. Fats are available from both animal and vegetable products, i.e. dairy products, meat and fish, nuts, sunflower seeds and turnip rape & other oils.
Carbohydrates are the most important source of nutrients in the world. The serve as a considerable source of energy, because they burn better than fats. They keep up the sugar balance of blood. Extra carbohydrates are stored in the body as a layer of fat. Carbohydrates are found in for example bread, crops, potato, fruit and dairy products.
Vitamins have an important part in the metabolism. They are a necessity for regular growth, development and well being of mice and humans as well. Even a short term cause severe damages for the development of the bodily systems.
Vitamins are divided into two groups: water and fat dissolving. Water dissolving vitamins are vitamins in the C and B groups. For them it is typical that they are not stored into the body, so a deficiency condition may be developed in the matter of few days. Fat dissolving vitamins are vitamins in the group A, D, E & K. These vitamins are stored in the fat tissue of the body, so deficiency conditions do not develop as quickly as with water dissolving vitamins.
Some rodents are able to produce some of the vitamins themselves in their intestines. By eating its own droppings, the mouse gets Vitamin B and K.
Trace elements are needed in only a tiny amount. Nevertheless, they are integral for the well being of the body. They are used in various chemical reactions in the body.
Practical Tips
When you feed your mice, you should always do it in the same order. This way the possibility of forgetting to feed a tankful of mice. If a mouse or a group of mice needs special diet or feeding arrangements, you should put a note about it on the tank so you have it easier to remember this. Tanks with sick mice in it, should always be fed last. This way you can prevent spreading of diseases.
It's Hyacint's food bowl, nobody else's! |
You should monitor closely, how newly weaned babies can use their water bottle. It can happen, that they either do not know how to drink from a bottle yet, or they can't reach it, which leads to the babies not getting enough the liquid they need. You can give them a piece of fresh, moist fruit or vegetable. For example apple, cucumber, lettuce and tomato are good. If you keep the food bowl on a separate level, always check that the babies can reach the level and get to eat. This is especially important for newly weaned babies, because the mother produces less milk and the babies are starting to eat more solid food.
Mice do not necessarily need a food bowl at all. Many mice use the feeding bowl as a toilet, which causes the food in the bowl to go bad. You can try and prevent this by lifting the food bowl to a higher level.
Some strains of mice, especially those that are or have in the background Red or Fawn, have obesity in them. The same situation is with some strains of Black Eyed Cream and Pink Eyed White. Obesity is as unhealthy for mice as it is for humans. Furthermore it also lowers the fertility of females.
You should not try to get a fat mouse to loose weight by cutting its food portion to a minimum. Too little food also means too little nutrients, which may lead into malnutrition instead. You should give your obese mouse a lighter diet by switching from growth lab blocks to maintenance blocks, or by picking out most sunflower seeds and nuts from a seed mix. However, nuts and sunflower seeds contain lots of vitamins, so you should give them to your mice in small amounts. You can also cut down the amount of seed mix given, replacing it with vegetables.
Finally, few words of warning about additives. Some additives and colourings have been found out to cause cancer. Due to our pet mice (especially females) having tumours from time to time, you should consider this fact when feeding the mice(and why not when choosing the food you eat yourself). Avoid brightly coloured pellets and others in the mouse's diet. Mice couldn't care less what colour they it is. Colourful "pellets" are usually there only to please the owner's eye: subconsciously we believe that the food is versatile when there are lots of parts in different colours. Do not feed your mice meat, which has been grown using hormones or fruit/vegetables/crops grown using lots of pesticides. These are harmful to you and even more so to your mice!!
Always peel fruits (apples, pears and such) and wash vegetables before giving them to your mice. Do not give candies and other things like that at all. Food with lots of fibers (vegetables, grains) have been found out to lessen the possibility of getting cancer, so give plenty of them as additional food.
# Reminder - When you collect fresh food from the nature: do not forget to worm your mice!!! You should worm your mice twice a year, if you have lots of mice, they travel back and forth to be mated or on other trips, you get new mice from other breeders and sell mice to new homes. Check suitable medicines and portions from your vet. Make sure that each and every mice does eat its portion of the medicine. Remember to use different medicine every other time you worm them, and change beddings during worming. This way you can prevent unpleasant surprises and your mice can use all the energy they get from their diet and grow according to it and their genetic background.
Text: Minna Koivu.
Recipes for Mice!
The shortest way to a mouse's heart goes through it tummy. Here are some recipes for staple diet and treats as well.
Stable Diets
Self-Made Seed Mix
Recipe by Anniina Tuura
When a breeder has a lot of animals, it is better to make your own seed mixes with high-quality ingredients. I buy almost all of my feed stuff in bags of 10-40kg from farms or feed shops (farmers' shops). Benefits of self-made seed mixes include cheaper prize, known composition and easy versatility. The following recipe has been tested and found to be good and tasty!
Almost a bucketful of ready mix:
2 l oats
2 l barley
2 l Racing Progress (full staple pellet for horses)
1 l Pasture Mix (muesli-type feed for horses)
5 dl shredded corn
3 dl sunflower seeds
2 dl crushed nuts
2 dl dog kibble
Bread for Mice!
Recipe by Katri Pohjanvaara
The stable diet of my mice is bread I bake. It keeps cleaner in a food bowl than seed mix does, doesn't get 'lost' in the beddings, is good for mouse's teeth and what's most important ? you can decide the ingredients yourself. You can bake more bread more rich in proteins and fat for youngsters, pregnant and nursing does and light bread with no possibility of choosing just the sunflower seeds and nuts for those with weight-gaining tendencies.
Mouse bread is easy to bake and you can get the ingredients from any larger grocery. Here's how to do it:
1. Take a 3 l bowl and measure in 2 litres of various seeds and groats - whole or shredded barley, oats, buckwheat, crushed rye or wheat, millet. Crushed peas and soy have loads of vegetable-based proteins. Peeled sunflower seeds and rolled flax include healthy oils. I also add garlic powder.
2. Let the grains soak in warm water (just get them covered) for an hour or two, then add more warm water a bag of dry yeast and enough wheat flour to make the dough not runny, but still easy to mix with a wooden spoon.
3. If you want the bread to be more rich in protein, add dog kibble or eggs at this stage. Mix the dough enough to toughen it a bit. Let the dough rise while the oven heats up (200o). Bake on baking sheet, spread thinly (3 liter dough makes about three breads) about half an hour, mid-level in the oven. Keep the dough runny enough for easy spreading.
4. When the bread is done, let it cool down a bit and use a knife to carve lines for breaking it. When the bread has completely cooled down, break it into pieces and dry the pieces somewhere airy.
5. Keep the bread in a basket or a paper bag, not plastic.
Baking for Mice
Recipes by Satu Karhumaa
Self made bread is a good addition to a mouse's diet and you can modify the bread to suit your mice well. Furthermore, when you're baking the bread yourself, you can be absolutely certain about what's in it.
I use bread machine to bake bread for my mice. My machine is of standard size and the following recipes are designed for that particular machine. Check the specifications of the machine you use. It's easy to make up your own recipes after baking for your mice a few times. Besides, mice don't care if your bakings didn't quite turn out to be what you wanted, for example the bread didn't rise proplerly.
When the bread is ready, let it cool down a bit and then cut it into pieces ? or rather crumble it as small as possible, small enough to fit a mouse's hands. Spread the pieces to dry as airy as possible to prevent them getting mouldy. When completely dry, mix the bread into seed mix or serve as treats.
Sweet Raisin Bread
* Cool water 1,5dl
* Wheat flour 3dl
* Whole grain flour 1dl
* Honey appr. 2 tbs
* Raisins 1,5dl
* Milk powder 2 tbs
* Oil or butter 0,5dl
* Dry yeast
(Use the 'sweet bread' program.)
Iron Bread
* Cool water 2,5dl
* Wheat flour 4dl
* Whole grain flour 1dl
* Spinach / nettles 1dl
* Oil or butter 2tbs
* Pinch of salt
* Sugar appr. 1 tp
* Dry yeast appr. 1,5 tp
Green bread
* Cool water 2,5dl
* Wheat flour 3dl
* Whole grain flour 1dl
* Barley flour 1dl
* Pea powder 1dl
* Oil or butter 2tbs
* Pinch of salt
* Sugar appr. 1 tp
* Dry yeast appr. 1,5 tp
Yellow bread
* Cool water 2,5dl
* Wheat flour 3dl
* Whole grain flour 1dl
* Barley flour 1dl
* Soy powder 1dl
* Oil or butter 2tbs
* Pinch of salt
* Sugar appr. 1 tp
* Dry yeast appr. 1,5 tp
Treats
Yummy Bisquits
Recipe by Leena Koiranen
You will need:
~ 1 dl water
~ 1 dl wheat flour
~ 1 dl rice crispies
~ ? dl rolled oats
~ ? dl millet
~ ? dl lab blocks + a bit of water
~ ? dl grated carrots
~ a couple of drops of honey
Soak the lab blocks in a small amount of water to make ?porridge?. Mix the 1dl of water with what flour, rice crispies, rolled oats and millet. If the mixture feels too dry, add a little water. Mix in the soaked lab blocks, carrots and honey. Mold into small cookies and bake in 200o for about an hour. Bon appetit!
Orange muffins
For four BIG muffins you need:
* 1 egg
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 1/2dl orange juice (whole)
* 1/2dl oat "flakes"
* 1/2dl wheat bran
* - added spice: 1 teaspoon of crushed nuts and bird "power seed mix"
(available at pet stores)
Beat the egg and honey together thoroughly. Add orange juice carefully. Add carefully with a spoon oats and wheat and, if you want to, the added spices. Divide into 4 cups.? Bake in 225C for c. 15 minutes.
Do not over-feed your pets! Hee-hee!
Treat
phase 1
Put 1?-dl water in a kettle, add at most ? dl rice, macaroni and
cut spaghetti. Cook half done. After that, add ? dl oat flakes.
Cook until porridge like. Add/remove water if necessary. (Note:
the mix has to be 'solid'.)
phase 2
Add 1-teaspoon olive- or other cooking oil. Small (!) dash of salt.
Mix and let the porridge cool down.
phase 3
You can choose a vegetable- or meat based filling.
a) Grated carrot and apple, bread crumbs and millet seeds.
b) Grated carrot, minced meat fried on a pan with as little oil as
possible and grated cheese.
c) Or use one of the above mentioned delicacies alone...
d) Or make up a whole new treat.
Mix the filling you chose with the cooled down porridge. Serve on a heavy earthenware bowl to your mice. If you want to, you can keep the porridge for a couple of days in an airtight container in the fridge. Also other animals like this treat, like rats and hamsters.
Treat for rainy days
* 2 average-sized potatoes (boiled)
* 1 egg yolk
* 1 tablespoon bread crumbs or rye flour
* rye flour for baking
Mash the potatoes with, say, a fork in a bowl. Mix in the yolk and the breadcrumbs. Knead the dough. If it is too soft and sticky, add flour.
Roll the dough into a 2mm thick 'plate'. Cut out cookies with a glass or a gingerbread mould. Bake in the middle level of the oven in 100 C for about an hour.
When you feel that the "cookies" are ready, lower the temperature to 50 C and let the cookies dry for an hour or two.
Treat for colder days
* 1 dl hot water
*1 tablespoon honey
Mix the ingredients together and serve to your mice still warm (not hot!) from a cup or from a small water bottle.
Hip Soup
* 2 dl fresh hips (= "rose berries")
* 1/2 dl water
* 1/2 teaspoon potato flour
Rinse the hips carefully. Heat the water to boil and add the hips. Cook under a lid on mild temperature until the berries are soft. Pour the soup to a bowl. Use a blender to smoothen the soup. Pour the smoothened soup back to the kettle and add potato flours. Bring back to boil, mixing the soup at all times. You can add water, if the soup becomes too thick.
* Your mice will love hip soup mixed with semolina/farina porridge.
Apple Soup
* 2 dl apples
* 1/2 dl water
Peel the apples, remove the seeds and other hard parts, and chop the apples in pieces. Put the apples in a kettle with the water. Cook on mild temperature, mixing regularly, until the apples are soft and done. Smoothen the sauce with blender.
* Both hip soup and apple sauce should be frozen if you do not use it within a couple of days. Self-made soups without any conservatives (do not use them!) will otherwise go bad in a short time.
Christmas veggie casserole? (by Katri Savolainen)
* 1/2 dl frozen peas
* 1 small piece of cabbage or cauliflower
* 1 small potato
* 1 small carrot
* 1 dl water
Stew the vegetables until they're done. After that, mince them with a blender. Serve to your mice in hand temperature - not too hot in order to avoid your mice burning their little mouths.
Hint: Mix a little lean, well done meat or unsalted, lean ham to the casserole. Your mice will surely love it!!!
Honey rice porridge for meecies (by "Christmas Land Kid")
* Rice porridge
* Pieces of raisins and almonds and other goodies
* Honey
Take a piece of rice porridge to a small bowl. Spread raisin and almond pieces on the porridge, coat with thin layer of honey.
Christmas cookies (by H. Heikkinen)
You can prepare the cookies in the microwave oven, or in the oven when you bake christmas cookies at home (for humans)
* minced almonds
* plum sauce
* grated cheese
* 6 tablespoons wheat flour
* c. 2 tablespoons water
* If you want to, you can add few drops of cooking oil.
Mix wheat flours and water and the cooking oil, if you use it. Divide the dough in three parts. Mix the minced almonds in the first part, the plum sauce to the second (you may have to add more flour) and grated cheese to the third part. Knead the dough, each part separate and mould into round cookies (breads). Bake in oven or in the microwave oven - it's hard to tell proper times. This way, you will get three christmas cookies. This portion is suitable for, say, 3-4 mice.
Goody-bomb for mice
Buy a bag of mixed nuts, raisins and almonds. Shell the nuts and crush the? hearts. Mince the raisins in small pieces, as well as the almonds. Mix all together and serve. YUM!
Even though you should not be on any stupid diet during christmas, be careful not to give your mice too much of the goody-mix.
Dewdrop bread for mice (by Saara Salmi)
* Small piece of chicken
* water
* low-salt whole grain bread
Cut the bread in small cubes a couple of days beforehand, in order to allow it to dry hard. Cook the piece of chicken in not too much water. When the chicken is well done take it out of the broth, soak the broth into the pieces of bread. Cut the chicken in small pieces and serve along with the bread still warm.
Rice-fish -salad
* 1dl rice
* 2-tablespoons fish (canned tuna in water)
* 1 tablespoon small pieces of rutabaga/swede
* Chopped parsley just for the taste of it
Mix all other ingredient into boiled rice. You can replace the rutabaga/swede with some other vegetable or roots. Let cool down in the fridge for a while before serving.
Macaroni-minced meat-vegetable -casserole
* 2dl boiled macaroni
* 4 tablespoons minced meat
* 4 tablespoons carrot cubes
* 3 tablespoons peas
* milk and egg
Boil macaroni and fry the minced meat in frying pan without any fat (you can also bake it in the oven). Mix the macaroni and meat in a pan. Add boiled carrot cubes + the peas, finally a little of milk and the egg. Bake in an oven in 200 C for approximately 10-15 minutes.