|
 In the immediate, the answer would probably be
yes, harvesting vegetables from the garden is probably going to cost
less than visiting the produce department at your local grocery.
The following video is one grower’s opinion of plants in the garden
that will save dollars in the bank account. Most of these are fresh
food products that you can grow and eat immediately, so during the
spring and summer months you have the pleasure of visiting your back
yard instead of the local produce department.
Top 10 Money
Saving Crops
When growing a garden with plans to have veggies over the winter,
you will need to plan how to preserve them. The method is a personal
choice and costs vary. Some will say that they would never can corn
while others would never want to eat a tomato that's been frozen.
Others will say the only way to go for green beans is a pressure
canner, while others prefer frozen because they stay greener and can
be preserved without the use of salt.
You should also consider your storage space for preserved food. If
you don’t have a deep-freezer or large pantry, then where are you
going to store the surplus food you grow and preserve?
You will need canning jars, rings and lids, and of course a pressure
canner and/or hot water bath pot if you are going to can vegetables.
Glass quart jars
with a ring will cost about $2 per set. The jars and rings are
re-usable, but you must buy new lids each canning season. A box of
12 lids will cost about $2.30 this year, and that price could be
higher in the coming seasons.
If freezing a product with a moderate to high liquid content you
should do so in freezer containers with lids. Those containers cost
about $2 each for an eight-ounce container and $3 for a 16 ounce
container.
Freezer bags are much more economical and great for low or no liquid
preserving. The bags can be used for green beans, corn, cauliflower,
broccoli and much more. They are not reusable, so you must buy new
every year.
A frozen two to four serving bag of veggies can be purchased for $1
and most one to two serving sized canned veggies can also be
purchased for around $1.
Year-round access to fruits and veggies from the grocery makes it so
you can buy only what you need as you want it, and you have room to
store in the short term.
When you take these things into consideration, then preserving foods
may not actually save you any money.
The greater satisfaction of preserving your garden products is going
to come from knowing what you are putting on the family dinner
plate, where it came from, and what it contains, or better yet, does
not contain, in addition to the quality of the vegetable.
You should also consider the time it takes for food preservation.
Two of the best and easiest vegetables to can are tomatoes and green
beans. Tomatoes take quite a bit of work on the prep end, but very
little time in the pressure canner. Green beans also take an
investment of time on the prep side and take longer during the
canning process.
[to top of second column] |
If you are interested in trying your hand at canning
these two veggies, here are a couple of videos that will give you a
good look at what it will take to do so.
CANNING
TOMATOES 101
Canning Green
Beans - simple and to-the-point
Many people enjoy canning their own salsa from veggies they grow in
the garden. This too is a time consuming effort, but it can again be
well worth it if you have storage space and consume a lot of salsa
in a year.
Here is a great video to walk you through that
process. But, bear in mind the tomato you use is important. This
recipe uses Roma or plum tomatoes because they are meatier with less
juice.
Making and
Canning Fresh Chunky Salsa - Complete Walkthrough
Freezing veggies is controversial for some, as the old school belief
is that nothing frozen will ever taste as good as a canned product.
The true analogy is, nothing preserved will ever taste as good as
fresh from the garden. But in the end, what you do preserve will
taste quite good on a cold winter day.
The following video demonstrates how to freeze green beans without
blanching them. Again this is controversial as many will say all
veggies should be blanched before freezing. However, this is the
exact method the author of this article uses and it works well. The
best advice though, is take the product from the freezer to the
stovetop, do not thaw the product ahead of time. The author also
uses this same method for preserving summer squash, and chunky
chopped bell peppers.
How To Freeze
Your Green Beans Without Blanching--The Video--AnOregonCottage.com
So, will growing a garden save you money at the grocery store? Yes
and no, but remember that sometimes the greatest reward is knowing
that you are doing it yourself and with no ingredients in the food
you serve that you can’t spell or pronounce.
|
