Once I learned I could grow vegetables, and they were so much better than the store, and then I had more sun and could have more beds, I became set to ease the grocery bill. The astronomical increase in food costs the last 5 years has accelerated that to an obsession. Unfortunately, with the processed foods we need costing 100% + more than they were a few years ago, our weekly grocery bill has not gone down. But, I was reviewing what has left the grocery list in the last few years, and it is impactful. Here is my assessment, and I would love to read about what other people have managed to cross off the list if you too are working to alleviate the dependence on the grocery store.
Never purchase anymore:
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Peppers
Herbs
Summer squash
Peas
Winter squash
Eliminated from the spring to fall grocery list:
Dark leafy greens
Carrots
Beets
Strawberries
Purchase a little less:
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes (we consume a huge amount of these, and I would need a lot more land to meet our annual needs)
Watermelon
Things I can realistically eliminate in the next 1-2 years:
Lemons (use a lot)
Limes
We need a lot of rice, oats, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, chocolate and processed flours (almond, cassava and a rice mixture) that I will never be able to change. We are vegan and thus heavy on those. Most of our fruit comes from the store, and organic produce in my area is very expensive. I was able to make a meaningful dent in the summer watermelon bills this year and last year. Having fruiting berries this year and last has made a difference. Avocados are a huge weekly cost that I’ll never be able to drop, along with avocado oil. I think that pretty much covers it. No, I haven’t recouped the cost of my vegetable gardens, but if you exclude my excavation project last fall to plant more fruit trees, I’m probably close. That excavation cost us the excavator, dumpster and a huge amount of soil, so I’m not paying for that in produce anytime soon.
Try Sorghum. The plant has a lot of uses. Particularly White{low tanin} varieties. It’s grains can be eaten fresh and the stalks processed into juice or syrup too. Grains can be picked dry and popped. Ground into meal and flour. It has no gluten. We like it for flat breads with some leavening agents. It does well for cookies and crackers.
The juice can be frozen and used as a light sweetener and binding agent.{We lightly pasteurize it} Or of course syrup for concentrated sweetening. Some folks sprout it, dry it and get more flour/meal yield. This step also allows more usable protein.
I had surprisingly high yields onlentils and chickpeas tbh. Probably not enough to fully replace buying but im making it into tempeh after buying a book and some starter spores. They were both small plants and I planted 4 inches apart without issie. Chickpeas were less annoying to process than lentils
For me I have not needed to buy any fresh veggies in the summer. I will have to once my Brussels sprouts and frozen peas taper out… Maybe in January.
I should be done buying fruit besides citrus if I can get everything producing decent.
I’m very interested in sorghum and have been following what people say here. The issue for me is the height. There’s a field I bike past that had some under 4 feet, and I grabbed a few seeds. I just don’t know enough to know what type it is and what it might be good for.
@snarfing lentil tempeh sounds great! Let me know how it works out. It would be cool to grow lentils, but it would never be worth my time to process. That’s OK because along with beans and grains, these are relatively low cost items on our list not worth much of my garden real estate. That said, I’m trying a bunch of new beans next year, because I think they’re fun and can be added to every trellis without detracting from whats there.
A good short grade food grade sorghum variety is Korjaj. Under 6 foot is quite common. It also makes a nice tightly packed panicle that is easy to handle and process.
You might find discounts by going to wherever Mexicans shop. Walmart where I live purposely sells Mexican staples like limes, onions, roma tomatoes, and avocados for a lot less than other stores. Avocados are almost always under $1 each. $0.74 is I think what we did today.
It’s pretty common for us to be the only white people next to a lot of Mexicans filling bags of avocados.