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| My garden in fall of 2024. |
One thing I hear a lot is that it's more expensive to grow your own food than it is to buy it. That's why, last year, I began tallying all the fruit and vegetables I grew, comparing them to grocery store prices. Is saving money the main reason I homestead? No. Being more self-sufficient and having access to high quality food are my main reasons, but saving money is important, too.
Now that my winter garden has mostly gone to seed, all the figures are in. And guess what? I absolutely saved thousands of dollars over buying my food at my local Wal-Mart. (Why did I compare to Wal-Mart? Number one because it's the main grocery store in our rural area. But also, it usually has the lowest prices in our area, so it's a great base to work from. If you normally shop at a higher-end store, just know you'll save even more by growing your own - and the quality will likely be higher, too.)
It is true that getting your garden started can cost some money (although it's a mistake to think you have to spend a lot; no till methods, in particular, can be very inexpensive), money simply isn't an excuse not to grow your own :)
Some will say that once I factor in my time, I've lost money. I still disagree. I tried to track my time in the garden this year, but kept forgetting to do it. Sorry! However, I really don't spend much time in the garden. My most active time is in the early spring, as I pull out the winter garden and prep for spring planting. This takes a few weekends worth of work, but I only spend, at most 3 or 4 hours in the garden each day, tops. After that, my garden needs me very little, because I employ no-till methods that result in few weeds. After planting, it's really all gravy, as I harvest food for my family! But also, I consider any time spent in the garden as time I don't have to spend earning money - and that's a big bonus, too. Finally, I find that few people who want to factor in time spent in the garden consider how much time they spend grocery shopping, or the cost of fuel and vehicle wear and tear to shop, either.
Early 2025 produce totals:
Remember, this post lists only produce we ate fresh from the garden. It does not include the vegetables we're currently eating that I preserved in 2024, nor does it include the produce I gave away. Yields would be much higher for kale, collards, and cabbage if I included everything we could have eaten, but instead chose to give away, feed the livestock, or compost.
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| A harvest of Brussels sprouts - an important winter crop for my family. |
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| Grabbing a little celery. |
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| A small harvest of winter radishes, which I use as a potato substitute. |
$147.76 if purchased conventional; $190.24 if I purchased the organic options available.
Saved in total:
$2,832.19 if buying conventional and $3,800.79 if buying organic.
Gardening Expenses:
Walla Walla onion starts: $4
Cherry tomato start: $5.49 (a single plant and a hedge because the new-to-me-variety of cherry tomatoes I started from seed were looking less than robust)
Potting Soil: $47.96 (primarily for potting up peppers in the greenhouse; some will get used for flowers, too, but I won't try to parse that out.)
Organic snail bait $17.96 (I had to use more of this than is typical because we had such a cool, damp spring)
Total gardening expenses: $75.41
Total savings minus expenses for my 2024-planted garden:
$2,756.78 if buying conventional
$3,725.38 if buying organic when available
For month-by-month details on my harvests and savings, go here:
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