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Items I No Longer Buy at the Grocery Store thanks to my Garden

8 Foods I No Longer Buy at the Grocery Store

in Fruit· Fruit· Garden Planning· Gardening Tips & How-to's· Herbs· Herbs· In the Garden· Spring Garden· Summer Garden· Tomatoes· Vegetables· Vegetables

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Although having a fully functioning, self-sustaining homestead isn’t a possibility for us at this point, I am proud to say my gardening adventures have allowed me to eliminate a few items from my shopping list.

I achieved this fairly easily so I have no doubt that with a little effort you can cut these items from your shopping list, too!

8 items I no longer have to buy at the store thanks to my garden

Peppers

Peppers are expensive at the grocery store! Yet they are so easy to grow and preserve. With 4-6 bell pepper plants, I am able to have enough red and green bell pepper plants all year. From July to November I pick them fresh. I also freeze them chopped, in strips, and in kabob-shaped squares.

Green Beans

Beans are the easiest vegetables to grow AND preserve. Although many people freeze green beans, I prefer to can them. By planting 40 feet of pole beans we grow enough beans to never buy Del Monte again.

Green Beans

Basil

Have you noticed how expensive fresh herbs are at the grocery store? But most of them are so easy to grow! Basil grows quickly and without much effort in my garden. I end up with more than I’ll ever use. From June through October I pick it for fresh eating, and I also make bulk batches of basil pesto to freeze for winter. One plant is plenty, though I plant more to attract beneficial insects to the garden.

Blueberries

With my four blueberry bushes, I picked enough blueberries to last us all year in their second year of production. They freeze well, and I mainly use them in blueberry pancakes and muffins.

Related Blog Post: Growing Blueberries? How to Avoid these 4 Beginner Mistakes

Black-eyed Peas

I began growing black-eyed peas because it seemed in Arkansas it was the thing to do. After canning them — which was as easy as canning green beans — I was hooked (though many people freeze them as well). It has become a staple side dish in our family. Especially when paired with…

Sweet Pickle Relish

Thanks to a delicious Ball Blue Book recipe for sweet pickle relish, I haven’t bought relish from the store in years. Cucumber vines are so prolific it’s easy to get enough cukes for this delish condiment from just a couple of plants. And if you grow peppers and onions like I do, all you have to buy is the vinegar and sugar, and a few spices!

Tomato Sauce & Tomato Paste

Homemade tomato sauce and tomato paste is easy, thanks to my Kitchen Aid mixer with the fruit/vegetable strainer  attached (affiliate link). I no longer have to blanch, peel, or de-seed the tomatoes. After the Kitchen Aid does its thing, all I have to do is cook down the sauce to the desired consistency. Without the mixer, making enough tomato sauce and paste is still possible; it will just take a little more time. Just a few Roma tomato plants yields enough for my family.

Here is how I use it:

(affiliate link)

Update! Now I can add an eighth item I no longer have to buy at the grocery store: 

Garlic

With one 4×8 raised bed, I’m able to plant garlic to last me the whole season! I plant in November, harvest in June, cure until July, and it stores until the next harvest! Learn how to grow and store garlic here.

What do you grow, or hope to grow enough of, to last all year?

7 foods I no longer buy at the grocery store

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Filed Under: Fruit, Fruit, Garden Planning, Gardening Tips & How-to's, Herbs, Herbs, In the Garden, Spring Garden, Summer Garden, Tomatoes, Vegetables, Vegetables Tagged With: basil, black-eyed peas, cucumbers, garlic, growing blueberries, peppers, tomatoes

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Debbie Swindell says

    December 6, 2015 at 9:38 pm

    I am enjoying your more frequent posts! Thanks for writing.

    Reply
  2. Julie Walker says

    September 8, 2019 at 7:40 pm

    I want to try garlic because it is coming from China now. Home-grown is not easy to find. I also want to try potatoes because Aldi’s potatoes go bad fast. I’m glad you shared your list.

    Reply

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Instagram post 2198265150899759696_4245469154 I did a thing today! I made a compost sifter! I’ve had this on my winter to-do list for months and I finally got it done. .
My compost tends not to be uniform — some is ready while larger pieces need longer to break down. With a compost sifter I’ll be able to “harvest” the ready compost while allowing the not ready compost to break down further. .
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I’m so excited to begin using it with my homemade compost in the garden! .
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#compostsifter #compost #gardenproject #gardendiy #gardenprojects #wintergardenproject #homemadecompost #wintercompost
Instagram post 2197555773960122320_4245469154 The falling bronze needles from our pine trees 🌲 provides a perfect, light mulch for the garlic! Some areas (colder climates) need to mulch garlic more heavily over the winter, but we don’t. I let nature do it for me! Then, as spring approaches, I add a layer of wood chips for weed prevention. .
I just love garlic in my garden! When most everything else is dead, garlic is growing through the winter!
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Instagram post 2191116923062830272_4245469154 I had such high hopes for my fall broccoli but it looks like it’ll end up a bust. 😥 The plants grew more rapidly than ever but because of the long, hot fall we had, they didn’t start forming heads when they should have. Then we got an abnormal cold snap with two 19* nights just as the heads started to emerge. The damage was pretty bad and it took a few weeks to recover. But now that the heads are showing promise, we’ve dropped under 10 hours of daylight, which means vegetable growth pretty much stops. I guess time will tell if temps stay mild enough for the plants to hang in there until the days start lengthening, but I’m doubtful. Oh well, you can’t control nature. There’s always next fall. Have you had a fall garden crop bust this year?
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Instagram post 2184470474493519477_4245469154 I’ve never been able to use fallen leaves 🍁 as mulch for my garden because my property doesn’t have deciduous trees. 🌲 But this year I decided to get creative and “harvest” leaves from on our rural road. Living on a dead end has its perks. 😀 .
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Question... for now I’ve bagged the leaves. What’s the best way to get them ready to use for next season?
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Instagram post 2179485779548631594_4245469154 I still have far to go in learning how to extend my garden season, but I’ve had so much fun this year growing and harvesting new crops when most areas of my garden are bare. In the basket: parsley, radishes, beet greens, mustard greens, and arugula. Though the harvest is small, it’s incredibly rewarding to harvest anything in November! .
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Instagram post 2178013588969557324_4245469154 What can you be doing in the off-season to prepare your garden for next year? Check out this podcast episode for some things I’m doing in my garden and get some ideas for your own! Listen on your favorite podcast player or in the link in my bio. What do you like to do for your garden in the off-season?
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