Is growing your own food like printing money?

HappySad

I saw online someone say that “growing your own food is like printing money”. Is that true? My husband says that not correct due to cost involved to in growing them.  “It’s cheaper to buy your food than grown it”. 

Do you have any advice or useful links regarding what type of food to grow.  Basically resources regarding growing to reduce my food bill.  

many thanks :0) 

John_

Where to start?...

Time, effort, cost of materials, loss of use of land or income from land, spoilage, failed crops, there are all issues that you need to deal with. I think Sainsbury’s charge about 60p for 1kg if carrots, I can’t see me doing it myself for that amount.

In my opinion the reason for growing your own is the pleasure and reward, the satisfaction of sitting down to a meal,that you’ve grown as well as cooked.

You can also choose cultivars that the supermarkets rarely have, tomatoes produced for flavour rather than appearance, for example.

Davesnave

Not food specifically, but when I was much younger, I realised that propagating perennial plants was a way to create something and then sell it while still retaining the original.

I believe Bill Gates did something similar with something called an 'operating system.' He did rather better than me, but I'm still doing OK.

Mojisola

HappySad said:

I saw online someone say that “growing your own food is like printing money”. Is that true? My husband says that not correct due to cost involved to in growing them.  “It’s cheaper to buy your food than grown it”.

Do you have any advice or useful links regarding what type of food to grow.  Basically resources regarding growing to reduce my food bill.  

It might sound obvious but grow things that you like to eat.  It's not likely that you can match the price of basic veggies but you can enjoy stuff like strawberries and all the other berries that you might not want to pay for in the shops.

Ask around anyone you know who gardens - we have passed on strawberry runners and raspberry canes to neighbours for free.

Veg from seeds costs very little and, if you don't price in your time, won't cost much - think fresh salads, runner beans, etc.

There's lots of good advice available on the web like this - www.youtube.com/channel/UCeaKRrrpWiQFJJmiuon2WoQ

twopenny

No is the answer. Unless you're thinking of digging up a very large garden and turning it over to a specific crop in high demand. Even then it's a lot of work and worry.

I once had to price mine, sprouting broccoli and strawberries mainly, because the firebrigade couldn't turn off the main and flooded my garden. A whole seasons crop of both, organic, came to about £25. I was surprised.

But you can grow your own and eat much better. I also like that at dinner time I can go to the garden and pick greens that are fresh, delicious and contain more vitamins than the stuff you buy. I saw that there were only 30% of the good things left in crops grown by hydrophonics, stored and sold in supermarkets.

Our local farm shop buys surplus like the full size tree of Bramley apples that I had. Problem is they didn't want windfalls but the ones from the tree that I could store for 6mts. So that didn't make sense.

TheBanker

I grew some carrots and potatoes last year and am doing the same this year. I ended up with more than I needed and gave some away. I think I could have bought the amount of veg I used from a shop for about the same amount of money that I spent.
But for me it wasn't about saving money, I enjoyed growing the veg and even little things like watering them in the evening and watching them grow helped me to relax after work. And, I may be biased but I thought they tasted better than the ones you get from the supermarket. 
I'm not sure it's a way to make money though - I don't think there's really a way of converting the surplus into cash given the small quantities you can grow in a garden.
Of course, if we do have food shortages later this year, or if we see a repeat of the scenes in supermarkets earlier this year, having some home grown veg might help supplies last a little longer. 

Silvertabby

Don't have enough space to make growing basic veg worthwhile, but I do grow tomatoes and chillies in the greenhouse.  We eat a lot of chillies, and 3 or 4 plants give us a whole year's supply (they freeze well).  Haven't actually worked it out, but as a pack of 5 supermarket chillies can cost about £1 and only do 2 meals (we like it hot!) the savings must be considerable.

Davesnave

TheBanker said:

Of course, if we do have food shortages later this year, or if we see a repeat of the scenes in supermarkets earlier this year, having some home grown veg might help supplies last a little longer. 

I doubt if we'll see food shortages, but it would be be interesting to know if those who rushed to buy seeds on line at the start of lockdown, maintain their interest into future years. Maybe the extra demand was just from people who would otherwise have bought at garden centres and many could have been growing flowers rather than veg too, I suppose. Maybe not quite 'Dig for Victory.'

With regard to the thread title, I've remembered a battered packet of Moon Daisy seeds I bought in 2016. It's still provided me with about 50 seedlings this year, as in previous years. There are only about 25 plants in my stand-out area, so I must've sold  the rest, which @ £0.50 a 9cm pot means quite a profit and a lot of happy insects!

Farway

Depends what you grow, I've large Bay tree, with the leaves costing £378 per Kg retail there's a fivetune sitting there waiting to be harvested.

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/cooks-ingredients-bay-leaves/036463-18281-18282

PS, mint is only £340 per KG, but it does grow more quickly

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/cooks-ingredients-mint/086106-43929-43930

Davesnave said:

TheBanker said:

Of course, if we do have food shortages later this year, or if we see a repeat of the scenes in supermarkets earlier this year, having some home grown veg might help supplies last a little longer. 

I doubt if we'll see food shortages, but it would be be interesting to know if those who rushed to buy seeds on line at the start of lockdown, maintain their interest into future years. Maybe the extra demand was just from people who would otherwise have bought at garden centres and many could have been growing flowers rather than veg too, I suppose. Maybe not quite 'Dig for Victory.'

Continuing interest from some maybe, but from some of the forums I read on FB a lot of newcomers have wild expectations, tomatoes not fruiting yet even though I sowed them a month ago. But we all have to learn, and patience is one we all know of

MovingForwards

To become 'self sufficient' or have it as a 'business' you would need a garden or land bigger than most average homes come with. 

To supplement your shop purchases, to have the option of some fresh fruit / veg and potter around / maintain, it's good.

Christmas freshly pulled out the ground parsnips, roasted, I even pinched some to try raw. The smell and taste was wonderful, I don't like parsnips.

I was given some homegrown leeks several weeks ago, made leek and potato soup and oh my, it was good, so much flavour, ended up raiding the allotment of the person who gave me the leeks! 

To me, it was seeing / tasting the difference of something straight from garden to table, compared to a few days / weeks from soil to table (I don't know the commercial to ship to sale timeline), which is enough to justify doing it. On a small scale, to grow key things which make a difference to a meal.

theoretica

It depends how you garden - if you buy a few seedlings, compost, pots you are unlikely to save money growing on a small scale.  But I have a couple of gooseberry plants from free cuttings more than 10 years ago which just grow in the ground - they cost me only time and an occasional sprinkle of fertiliser and give good quantities of practically free fruit.