The Expense of Eating Healthy
By: Stefani Vader
Tags: Homesteading, Life Lessons, Food, Vegetables, Gardening

Photo by nrd on Unsplash

In the midst of renovating one house, while trying to pack up another house, on top of work and school our diets have suffered.

Money is tight since it is all being poured into supplies and tools rather than being spent on other things such as our normal groceries. By the time we get home at night, we are too exhausted to cook, and end up eating frozen pizzas or TV dinners.

One of the reasons we bought the property we did was to have a huge garden. Even though we had to work on the house first, I was anxious to get my hands in the dirt and bought a tomato plant and a bell pepper plant. My thought was, even if we got to pick one tomato and one pepper, it would be worth it. I am so glad I did.

Last night I took my son to the grocery store. We were both starving and out of quick meals. We walked in, grabbed a basket and just stood there.

“What do you want for dinner?” I asked my sixteen-year-old son.

“Food.”

Normal response for a growing boy, right? But what hit me the most was the look on his face as he stood staring over at the produce section.

“What kind of food?”

“I know we’re trying to not spend money, but can I get some broccoli?”

My heart hurt.

It’s a mixed-up world we live in right now. When money is tight, the most expensive thing to purchase at the grocery store is healthy food. Trying to stretch your dollars leads you to buy fatty processed food.

We walked over and I let him choose the broccoli crowns he wanted. We then walked over and he grabbed a $.99 cucumber.

“What about a bell pepper? They’re on sale for $.79.”

He gave me the strangest look.

“We have a bell pepper plant at the new house. Why spend almost a dollar when we can wait until tomorrow and just pick one?”

We finished our shopping and went home. We had just walked through the door when my husband (who is staying up at the new house while he works on it) sent me a picture of him holding a bell pepper with a text saying “There’s still four left, don’t worry.”

That got me thinking.

I paid $1.99 for the plant. We have already picked two bell peppers that have not been chemically treated at all. In the store, we would have paid $1.58 for those two bell peppers, and we still have 4 more growing. A packet of pepper seeds is $2.48. You can grow 30 plants out of those seeds, so for less than $.10 a plant, you can get several handfuls of peppers for that one dime!

Same goes for the cucumbers. By this time next year (fingers crossed) we will have our fill of cucumbers without having to pay $.99 for each one.

I have grand plans for next year’s garden. I’m looking forward to watching my family pick vegetables whenever they want without worrying if we had the money to splurge on healthy food.

It’s a step in the right direction for us.

For those of you interested in growing your own food, but think you can’t because of where you live, you can do it anywhere. My tomato plant and pepper plant are in small containers. Because of that, I give them a dose of organic fertilizer every couple of weeks so they get the nutrients they need. You can grow them on a patio or a window sill.

I urge you to give it a try.

There’s something magical about growing your own food. Plus, for those of you who need to stretch every penny, in the end it will save you money.