Those of you who have been reading my blog for some time know that one of the ways we save money on groceries is to garden. Earlier in the season, I shared with you what we had saved through our spring harvest. Now that we are into fall, here’s my update on our garden.
Since late spring, we haven’t purchased any vegetables at the grocery store and the only fruit we have purchased are those that can’t be grown in our area, such as oranges and bananas. Through our garden (and supplemented with other local growers), we have enjoyed asparagus, beans, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, spinach, greens, broccoli, peppers, onions, corn, peaches, apples, strawberries, and rhubarb plus chives, parsley, basil and mint. We have also given away many pounds of apples, tomatoes and beans.
As of today (Oct. 2, 2015), here’s what we have in storage in our pantry and freezer:
- Beans: 3 quarts
- Corn: 17 quarts
- Broccoli: 2 quarts
- Green peppers: 4 quarts
- Jalapeno peppers: 1 quart
- Banana peppers: 3 quarts
- Chopped tomatoes: 12 quarts
- Tomato puree: 19 quarts
- White potatoes: 12 pounds
- White onions: 5 pounds
- Basil: 1 quart (frozen, not dried)
- Parsley: 1 quart (frozen, not dried)
- Rhubarb: 3 quarts
- Sliced apples: 6 quarts
- Applesauce: 13 quarts
- Apple juice: 9 quarts
- Apple cider: 3 quarts
We are still harvesting beans, tomatoes, apples, rhubarb, carrots, chives, parsley, basil and mint. We have only dug about half of the potatoes and the onions. In addition, we won’t harvest the sweet potatoes until after the first frost.
Although we purchased the broccoli and the peppers from local growers and the corn was given to us, everything else we have in storage was grown in our garden and from our fruit trees. We have easily saved hundreds of dollars in groceries and our savings will continue through the rest of the fall and most of the winter.
Judith Ackland has more than 26 years of experience in accountancy and financial planning, including seventeen years as a CFO of a diverse business. She started Crystal Financial in 2010 to help a wide array of individuals, families, and business owners better understand their finances and how good financial management could help them achieve their goals. Judith has an MA in Professional Accountancy from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln as well as a Certified Public Accountant Certificate and a Certified Financial Planner designation.
