Let’s talk for a moment about food prices, inflation, and the nitrogen fertilizer shortage, and steps you can take. We’re going to go from food bank to growing your own, so stick around. This is mostly written for people who do not have much, if any, start up money.
To be brief, food prices are high, and inflation is going to mean more people will be struggling. On top of that, there has been a nitrogen fertilizer shortage, and on top of that, China and Russia said they wouldn’t be exporting any until June.
I’m not here to discuss how bad it’ll be, I’m here to provide some options.
First off, if you have money, donate money to food banks. If you’re in a well-off area and your food banks have lots of support, consider donating money to areas that aren’t as well off. Food banks can buy in bulk, so they can get way more food for the same dollar, which is why I’m not saying donate food.
Secondly, if you’re struggling or even if it would make life a bit easier, use your food bank. If it’s coming down to rent or food, go to the food bank and pay your rent. This might be different where you are, but here they get enough support that they really want and encourage people to come get food. If you’re not sure, you can always call and ask.
Consider joining a bulk buying club (this is where a lot of food coops started) - people joining together so they can buy in bulk, get the cheaper prices, and then divide it up. If there’s not one where you are, consider starting one. Buying in bulk is so much more cost efficient!
Where to grow:
Next comes growing food. If you don’t have space, see if there are community gardens that you can join- or start one by asking the owners of vacant land if you can put in a garden. Join your local gardening groups (they’re probably on facebook) and see if there’s anyone with space willing to let you garden, or make some kind of arrangement.
If none of those options work, look into guerrilla gardening. Two factors for success here are that your plants be located a) close enough to you that you could feasibly walk by them multiple times per week and b) located where they either won’t be noticed or won’t bother the type of people who would notice. There has been much written about this, read up on it.
Of course, if you’re lucky, you have your own yard, and can just grow in the ground there.
What to grow:
We’ve got a different mind set than many self-sufficiency folks, because we don’t have enough time or space to grow all our own food. So, the focus instead is on growing what we can to reduce our grocery bills as much as possible.
What do you eat a lot of? What costs a lot per square foot and unit of time? It’s the plants that you eat a lot of AND are costly AND are productive that we’re going to want to focus on. Keep in mind that what might be true for my climate might not be true for yours. I’ll give you a few examples:
Onions: If you eat a lot of onions, you might be tempted to grow them- but they are usually less than $1/lb and they take the whole growing season to make one harvest.
Kale: relatively expensive to buy, multiple harvests, and super easy to grow while not taking up a lot of space.
Artichokes: super expensive to buy, easy to grow (once established), but takes up a lot of space.
Personally, I grow the kale, and skip the artichokes & onions.
This person actually looked at yield per squarefoot and cost at the store and made a table for it:
But keep in mind, again, yields depend a lot on climate. In general, fresh herbs, leafy greens, and things like tomatoes are your most cost efficient plants to grow.
Look at what you actually eat and figure out what will be most cost efficient to grow. Don’t grow a bunch of cilantro unless you really like to eat it, no matter how cost efficient it is.
Once you know what you want to grow, check out your local extension office/ master gardener program and learn HOW to grow it in your area!
Next: getting and growing food plants
If you’re doing this on the cheap, first look to your local free groups, mutual aid groups, seed libraries, and gardening groups. There will be seed and plant swaps where people just want to share and don’t particularly want or need a trade in return.
If you get food stamps, those can be used to buy seeds and vegetable starts in some states.
Other than that, I prefer to grow from seed, but I know that can be scary for new gardeners. Give it a try anyway! You’ll be amazed.
How to feed your vegetables for free:
The best time to start composting is 6 months ago, but alas. Start composting now. Get coffee grounds, get lawn clippings, get whatever you can, and compost it. Heavy feeders grow well with a mulch of lawn clippings around them. Someone near you has horses or rabbits or something else and would love to give you some manure.
You can also straight up bury kitchen scraps and plant over them and the decomposers will still do their job if you don’t have room for a compost pile.
Do you know what the limiting nutrient in most gardens is? Nitrogen. Do you know what you have an unlimited, free supply of?* Just saying, raspberries love it. Look into it and read up on it so you’re not just going out there willy-nilly and burning your plants to a crisp.
Also, if you’re municipality has yard waste/Organics pick up, there’s a good chance they have a very large pile of free compost/mulch some where. Make use of it.
I’m sure there’s more, but I gotta get going. Add your thoughts!
P.S. if you really do want to look into growing more of your calories, look into potatoes, corn for corn flour (not the same as sweet corn!), fava beans, and dry beans. What will work for your climate might be different.
*pee
This is a really good explanation of my 3rd principle of choosing what to grow in your garden- grow what makes economic sense.
