Have you seen the prices at the supermarket lately? Wow. Both Suze Orman and Clark Howard discussed the high price of food at grocery stores in the last week. Suze explained why the prices are going up (high cost of oil) and Clark gave tips for saving money at the market (stock up when non-perishable items are on sale). They both believe that the price increases aren’t going to let up for some time. While both of them make sense, neither of them had a solution. We need food to feed our families and ourselves. No matter how many tips you employ at the store, nothing beats free. Grow it.
Okay. Even growing your own food does cost something. But the tuna salad I had for lunch yesterday only cost me for the tuna. I have already eaten enough tomatoes and lettuce from my condo garden to break even on the cost of the plants and water. Sure, I bought the containers and the soil, but those I am able to use over and over. I will add some compost (bought at the home improvement store) when it’s time to replant, but the cost of compost per container works out to only a few cents. When you compare what the supermarket is charging for tomatoes on the vine, $1.49 per pound at my local Ralph’s store, growing your own makes not just sense, but dollars!
I’ve read several articles lately about the high cost of eating healthy. There were three new articles this morning about how to save money while eating right. They all fall into the category of damage control or depriving yourself. Why? Why not refuse to play the game? Opt out. I am no longer buying the vegetables I eat the most. I am not choosing between organic and the cheaper non-organic varieties to save money. I’m growing organically and paying very little for the privilege.
There are two ways to start plants. You can grow from seed or grow from transplants. Growing from seed costs almost nothing. I’m not exaggerating. For the cost of one small bag of anything from the produce department at your local supermarket, you can buy a packet of hundreds of seeds. They will last forever, if you save some of the seeds from what you harvest. You can find several varieties of each plant you wish to grow at almost any nursery or home improvement store. If you look online (I prefer Burpee http://www.burpee.com/), the selection is huge. I plant peas, beans, carrots and marigolds (to deter harmful bugs) from seed. I buy transplants for everything else. This costs me more (the Early Girl transplant that is now giving me free tomatoes every day cost me $7.98), but I’m into easy, and this is.
Now, if you want to be really cost effective, you can even get your water for free. Most people take a bath or shower every day. If it’s especially hot, some people take two! Take one minute off each shower, or drop the water level in the tub by one inch and you have offset your water usage in the garden. If you want to be especially frugal, on a cool day, skip your bath or shower. That will save way more water than your plants need in a week. Of course, this depends upon the size of your garden. My plants are in eight containers. I use ten gallons of water each week when the weather is hot, less when it is cooler. The larger your family, the larger the garden you will need. Therefore, to save enough water to offset what you need in order to grow your own food, enlist your whole family to make this small change in their showering habits.
I still buy some produce at the market. I don’t have the space to grow corn or potatoes, so I stock up when these are on sale. This keeps my freezer full. A well stocked freezer helps the frozen food stay frozen, which reduces energy use. This saves money too. I can’t grow fruit trees either. I like most fruit, so I just buy what is on sale that week. You can save money at the store, or you can reduce what you need to buy there. Control the quality and variety of the produce you eat while reducing or eliminating the cost. Grow it in your own backyard or, like I do, in containers in an easy condo garden. Read earlier entries in my blog to see how to set up your own garden, the easy way!
Until next time,
Elizabeth
