Grocery bill saving crops

Chard, a salad green or great steamed, and beautiful to boot

Saturday, December 3, 2022

If you don’t have much time and want to plant what gets you the most payback, I think herbs are the best value.  There are also many veggies that give back handsomely.  For veggies, it is a 2 for 1 winner.  You save money and eating fresh off the vine tastes so much better with much higher nutritional value than the several day old produce you get in the supermarket.

Cilantro (value of $21 per square foot).  An herb that likes cool temperatures.  Growing cilantro (coriander)

Arugula-Roquette ($21 per square foot).  A perennial salad green.  Perennial veggies in the Midwest garden

Greens or salad mix (value of $17 per square foot).   Growing fabulous lettuce and greens

Chives ($16 per square foot).  A perennial herb.  Add chives to your garden

Dill ($16 per square foot).  A self-seeding herb.  Start a kitchen herb garden!

Lettuce ($16 per square foot).  Everything you need to know about growing lettuce

Cherry tomatoes ($15 per square foot).  Choosing which tomatoes to grow

Turnips ($10 per square foot).  All about turnips

Large tomatoes ($9 per square foot).  Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow great tomatoes

Winter squash ($8 per square foot).  The wonderful world of squash

All can be grown in pots if you are pressed for space, even the slicer type tomatoes.  Decorative container gardening for edibles

Potted lettuce with petunias

Big money savers are any kind of herbs used as seasonings.  A small bottle of organic chili powder, poultry seasoning, Italian seasoning can cost $5 for an ounce or two!  You can grow enough herbs and peppers for supplying your family all the seasonings you need for a year and have enough to give away at Christmas.  Most herbs are perennials too so you plant them once and they just keeping giving fresh herbs year after year.  Start a kitchen herb garden!   

One Jalapeño pepper plant can produce enough peppers in one season to keep you supplied in hot sauce for a few years.  A great money saver at $5+ per bottle.  Any kind of hot pepper can be used to make hot sauce and all hot peppers I have grown are vigorous producers.  Quick tip-make your own hot sauce 

A packet of seeds is anywhere from $1-$5.  You can grown many square feet of produce from one packet of seeds.  A packet of seeds can last for years if you are planting for just 2-4 family members.  I keep my seed packets in a freezer bag in the crisper.  I have seeds from more than 5 years ago that are still viable.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

A great way to save money is to preserve what you can't eat fresh.  Even if you don't have a huge freezer, you can preserve your garden bounty.  Harvest and preserve your herbs  Dehydrate or sun dry your extra veggies  If you do have some space in the freezer, freezing is an excellent choice.  Freezing the extras for winter 

For a list of crops that you can preserve without a freezer to use all year long:  21 no tech storage crops

Now make sure that you plant the things you love to eat or use in cooking regularly.  How to know what to grow  It won’t be worth a thing if it sits in the garden or pantry and is never used!