Even if it doesn’t look like that right now, at least not for me: It’s winter. And even if there’s no snow, wild birds in our cities have fewer and fewer opportunities to find their food naturally. That’s where low waste birdseed cookies come in.

Feeding wild birds in winter

Especially in small city apartments without a balcony or terrace, there is often no room for a bird feeder. In order to do something good for the wild animals, many people, including myself, resort to the popular tit dumplings. The problem with this, are the plastic nets that often hang around or fly through nature until spring.

So this year I decided to at least go low waste and tried this sustainable DIY recipe for low waste birdseed cookies and found it to be good. The birdseed mix I found was a patio and balcony feeder. There are no bowls thrown down in it, so I could also give the Low Waste birdseed cookies to my grandma, whose neighbors are sensitive to dirt 😀

Instructions for low waste birdseed cookies

For this you’ll need:

• Vegetable fat
• A birdseed mix for wild birds (loose or in paper bags).
• Cookie cutters or sustainable mini muffin tins (e.g., made from compostable material)

Here’s how:

Carefully melt the vegetable fat in a saucepan. It should not boil!

Then mix in the seed blend.

Let the mix cool down a bit. In the meantime, you can place your cookie cutters or muffin tins on a baking sheet. There will be grease pouring out from under the cutters, so place some baking paper or a baking mat underneath.

Fill the forms with the mixture and refrigerate the whole thing.

When the mass has hardened a bit, you can top it up with liquid fat.

Tip: If you want to have holes for a ribbon, stick a wooden stick into the mixture directly after filling. After filling, you can simply pull it out.

You can either hang the finished cookies on trees or bushes (be sure to use a cord made of natural fibers that can be broken down). Or you can put the cookies in your birdhouse.

Have fun making them (and watching birds)!

Want to do more for wildlife? Then check out these blog articles and insights: