Following on from my last blog post about saving money on vegetable seeds, I thought it would be interesting to look at which grow-your-own crops save you the most money on your household food budget. I know many of us like to grow our own food to be chemical free but as allotment holders we lose a lot of sleep over rabbits and badgers stealing carrots, slugs eating potatoes and caterpillars destroying broccoli but are we just wasting our time on those? Maybe we should focus on growing the expensive crops and purchase the rest at the supermarket? I know a few people who take that attitude already. Focusing on the most costly crops could also be helpful with a hard Brexit and import price rises looking likely (and I’ve already written about that a bit too).
I have compared vegetable prices from two leading UK supermarkets (Tesco and Sainsbury’s). Yes I know other supermarkets are cheaper, but that’s pretty much irrelevant because it’s the high to low pricing scale I’m interested in and I doubt that changes regardless of supermarket price differentials on the whole. Asparagus won’t be much of a surprise to anybody but baby sweetcorn, dwarf beans and cherry tomatoes on the vine were unexpected. We eat a great deal of those in our house, mainly because the children do too (it’s quite hard to find child friendly veg). Fennel is more of a herb than a vegetable but comes in at 11th on the table below – I think I need to devote a whole bed to that stuff! In 2019 I shall feel less guilty about growing my own cherry tomatoes (they can be hard & questionable work) and it’s mini pop sweetcorn all the way – I’ve found those to be badger and rat proof in the past. I also highly recommend Dwarf French Beans, they are fairly easy to plant out and forget about mid summer and crop well. I was surprised to find aubergines such a long way down the list (37th place) as they’re not the easiest things to grow, again perhaps that means I should focus on something else.
The Top 10 Money Saving Vegetables to Grow Yourself
| Vegetable | Tesco | Quantity | Sainsbury’s | Quantity |
| 1. Asparagus | £14.00 | kg | £17.50 | kg |
| 2. Samphire | £13.92 | kg | £17.14 | kg |
| 3. Mixed Chillies | £10.00 | kg | £10.00 | kg |
| 4. Sweetcorn (Baby) | £9.24 | kg | £8.86 | kg |
| 5. Okra | £9.15 | kg | £9.10 | kg |
| 6. Broccoli (Purple Sprouting) |
£9.00 | kg | £8.75 | kg |
| 7. Tomatoes (Cherry on Vine) |
£8.50 | kg | £10.28 | kg |
| 8. French / Dwarf Beans | £8.19 | kg | £7.75 | kg |
| 9. Rainbow Chard | £7.50 | kg | N/A | kg |
| 10. Peas (Sugar Snap) |
£6.67 | kg | £6.50 | kg |
| Fennel | £6.00 | kg | £3.75 | kg |
| Pak Choi | £5.60 | kg | £6.00 | kg |
| Runner Beans | £5.56 | kg | £4.44 | kg |
| Carrots (Baby) | £5.00 | kg | £1.30 | kg |
| Kale (Curly) | £4.95 | kg | £4.80 | kg |
| Brussels Sprouts | £4.38 | kg | £2.00 | kg |
| Spinach | £4.00 | kg | £7.50 | kg |
| Leeks | £3.00 | kg | £2.50 | kg |
| Mushrooms | £2.96 | kg | £3.00 | kg |
| Radishes | £2.71 | kg | £3.30 | kg |
| Courgettes | £2.00 | kg | £2.25 | kg |
| Tomatoes (round) | £1.92 | kg | £1.88 | kg |
| Chantenay Carrots | £1.80 | kg | £1.80 | kg |
| Broccoli | £1.66 | kg | £1.79 | kg |
| Cauliflower | £1.65 | each | £1.00 | each |
| Butternut Squash | £1.50 | green | £1.50 | each |
| Celeriac | £1.40 | kg | £1.40 | kg |
| Peas (Garden) | £1.20 | kg | £1.54 | kg |
| Parsnips | £1.15 | kg | £1.40 | kg |
| Onions (Red) | £1.00 | kg | £1.00 | kg |
| Sweet potatoes | £1.00 | kg | £1.20 | kg |
| Potatoes (King Edward) | £0.80 | kg | £0.90 | kg |
| Swede | £0.80 | each | £0.80 | each |
| Cabbage (Red) | £0.79 | each | £0.80 | each |
| Onions (Brown) | £0.75 | kg | £0.85 | kg |
| Sweetcorn (large cob) | £0.75 | kg | £0.60 | each |
| Aubergine | £0.70 | each | £0.70 | each |
| Cucumber (Large) | £0.70 | each | £0.75 | each |
| Cabbage (Savoy) | £0.69 | each | £0.85 | each |
| Green Pepper | £0.55 | each | £0.55 | each |
| Mixed Peppers | £0.55 | each | £0.37 | each |
| Garlic | £0.50 | each | £0.55 | each |
| Turnips | £0.50 | each | £2.40 | kg |
| Lettuce (Gem) | £0.50 | each | £0.50 | each |
