5 Crops to Grow to Cut Your Grocery Bill

Is growing a garden really worth the cost? Yes, it can be. But if you are looking to cut your grocery bill by growing a garden, you need to know the 5 crops to grow to cut your grocery bill. 

These crops can help you cut your grocery bill and save you money. Plus provide a much higher quality of food than you might be able to afford at the store. 

Is Growing a Garden Worth the Cost?

Getting a garden started can be expensive. You need supplies, tools, soil, containers or materials to make a raised bed. 

And once the garden is set up, you will need plants, seedlings or seeds to get growing.

While the initial setup of the garden can be expensive. Year to year the expenses will be small and the reward of money saved on food can be great. Even from a smaller backyard garden. 

But you need to know what to grow to save the most money. 

We grow a few plants because we love them.

Like artichokes. 

We get 5-10 on a plant for the year and then it’s done. That still saves us $15 to $30 in artichokes, but the plant takes a lot of room in our small garden. So not really cost effective in saving money. 

But there are a few crops you can grow that can help to cut your grocery bill all season long, and those are the ones I’m focusing on today. 

I want you to cut your grocery spending as much as you can with your garden. And these 5 crops can do just that.

5 Crops to Grow to Cut Your Grocery Bill 

1. Herbs

Fresh herbs can be so expensive for those small packages at the store. 

But herbs are fairly easy to grow at home. And some are perennial, which means they come back year after year no replanting needed.

And most can be grown in pots, so you don’t need a sizeable garden to grow them.

We like to grow..

Basil, there are many kinds of basil to grow and it’s fairly easy to grow too. This is one herb we grow every year.  

Parsley, is a useful herb and we use it often. Most of the time our parsley will winter over too. But once it goes to flower, pull it up and start over. Once it’s flowering, it will be bitter. 

Mint, start with a plant but be sure to put it in a pot. Mint can really spread. We love to make mint cubes, simple mint syrup and mint water too. 

Thyme, is another useful herb that is easy to grow. We planted one in a pot years ago. I give it a haircut each year and it produce well. 

Oregano, this is another herb we use a lot that is easy to grow and will come back year after year.

Those are just a few herbs to grow, but there are many more. Grow the herbs you use the most. 

Learn More: Tips for Growing Basil in Your Backyard Garden | DIY Herb Garden | Windowsill Herb Garden

2. Berries

Growing our own berries has saved us so much money. We started with a few strawberries, a pot of raspberries that were given to us and two blueberry bushes. 

After a couple of years we regularly pick quarts of berries each year.

Strawberries are great to start with plants. Get varieties that grow well in your area. We like hood strawberries where we live. They are easy to grow and take little maintenance. 

Raspberries are expensive in the store. The biggest cost to growing your own raspberries is the cost of the canes to get growing. But if you have someone to give you a few starts, they will multiply. 

We were given a pot with a few canes to start. Once planted in the ground in a few years we had two rows of raspberries. So even if you start small, raspberries will multiply over the years. 

Blueberries are another berry that are expensive but can be easy to grow. 

We bought two pink lemonade blueberry bushes. They have beautiful flowers in the spring, yummy blueberries in the summer. And in the fall the leaves turn a beautiful reddish color too. 

This past growing season we were giving blueberries away because our two bushes were producing so many. 

Learn More: How to Grow Sweet Strawberries in your Backyard Garden | How to Keep Strawberries Fresh Longer | How to Freeze Strawberries

3. Lettuce

This one crop may surprise you. Because frankly, a few years ago I would not have included it in this list. But now with lettuce costing $2 or more a head or bunch. Growing your own lettuce can save you some money.

Especially if you like to eat a lot of salads in the summer like we do. 

Plus, you are not limited to the varieties at the store. You can get seeds for so many kinds of lettuce. 

To get your full money’s worth, I would suggest growing some head lettuce and also some leaf lettuce.

Why?

Because leaf lettuce matures faster and you can start enjoying leaf lettuce as soon as it is big enough to harvest. 

And that gives you lettuce to eat while you are waiting on your head lettuce to mature. 

You can also harvest a few leaves or the entire head of head lettuce. Leaving the stock and letting it regrow more lettuce for you without replanting. 

Learn more: Everything You Need to Know about Growing Lettuce | What to Do with Lettuce, Lettuce Recipes

4. Peppers

Another crop that is a money saver is peppers. With peppers costing $1 each or more in the store. Growing your own is a good use of your garden space. 

Last year my pepper harvest was superb. I had 9 plants, not huge plants but good sized plants, we ended up with close to 10 pounds of peppers. That is a lot of peppers. 

We grow many baby bell peppers, heirloom cherry peppers and banana peppers. I’ve found those three types grow very well in our garden. 

And they can be eaten fresh, cooked in dishes or even frozen for later use. Plus, if you save your seeds each year you won’t have to invest in purchasing more seeds you can use the seeds you saved. 

Learn More: A Guide to Growing Peppers in Your Garden

5 Pole Green Beans

Growing green beans can be a money saver too. Notice I said can be.

There are two main types of green or string beans, bush beans and pole beans. It makes a difference in which type you grow that can save you money. 

Bush beans are planted, grow with no need of support and produce one good crop and then a smaller crop a little later. And then that’s it. You can remove the bean plants and plant more to get more beans. 

So one big harvest and one small one isn’t that good for ongoing food from the garden. Unless you plant a bunch of bush beans and then can or freeze them for eating later.

Pole beans are planted and need support. Something like this diy trellis works great. 

And then they produce all season long. You’ll be able to pick pole beans until fall arrives. Which is nice if you want ongoing production for meals, like string bean and chicken or garlic ginger green beans. 

And green beans are fairly easy to grow too. 

Learn More: How to Grow Green Beans in Your Backyard Garden | Green Bean Stir Fry | Garlic Green Beans

By growing the 5 crops above, you can cut your grocery bill. Most of the crops grow well in almost every climate and are easy to grow too. 

If you are starting a garden to help cut your grocery bill, be sure to include a few of these crops.

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