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6 foods that are so much cheaper to grow than to buy it's not even funny

Gardening isn't always easy, but it's definitely worth it for these crops.

Photo credit: Canva

Certain fruits and vegetables are particularly cost-effective to grow yourself.

Some people are born with a green thumb and love the idea of having a garden full of all kinds of produce. Others of us struggle to keep basic houseplants alive and feel overwhelmed by the idea of trying to grow our own food. Anyone who's tried to grow a garden knows it's not as simple as just throwing some seeds in the dirt and waiting, and if you don't really enjoy it, gardening can feel like it isn't really worth the time or effort.

However, there are some fruits and vegetables that are worth trying to grow, even with some initial cost and time investment, simply because growing them is so much cheaper than buying them. That's not automatically true of all produce, but for these six foods, if you succeed in nurturing them to harvest, you can save a bundle vs. buying them at the supermarket. (Yes, even when they're on sale.)

vegetable garden, grow your own food, plant a garden, save money, produce Growing your own food can save money, especially with certain crops.Photo credit: Canva

Tomatoes

There's nothing like a fresh tomato right off the vine, first of all, so that's a reason to grow your own tomatoes all by itself. But tomatoes are fairly easy to tend and cost approximately six times less to grow than to buy by some estimates. And that's even if you include some initial cost for soil, a pot, and a starter plant. If you already had a garden plot and grew from seed, it would cost you even less.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Tomatoes can be frozen or canned to make a large harvest last longer than the growing season and then used in sauces and soups. Baby or cherry tomatoes can be frozen whole and roasted in the oven straight from the freezer.

Zucchini and other summer squash

Have you ever had a friend with a zucchini plant who tried to give you zucchini every time you turn around in the summer? Once these famously prolific plants start poppin', they don't stop.

You can grow zucchini in a bed or in a pot. You can also grow it vertically, like this:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Zucchini's cousin, yellow squash, is similar. Before you know it, you've got squash coming out your ears. You can give it away, but you don't have to. You can slice it up and freeze it for soups or stir fries after the harvest comes to a close.

Peppers

If you buy bell peppers, you know they can be on the spendy side, especially if you buy organic ones. Growing your own can save a pretty penny, though, especially once you get a garden plot or container established for them.

One gardener demonstrated how a successful crop of pepper plants in his raised bed can save approximately $320 a year, and that's including initial startup costs. Savings would be even greater in subsequent years since most of those costs aren't recurring.

@geekygreenhouse
How much money can you save by growing your own bell peppers? #gardening101 #gardeningtips

Peppers can be frozen fresh to be used in cooked dishes later. (Are we getting the hint that a large freezer is a necessity when you have a garden?) And the grow-your-own savings goes for all kinds of peppers, not just sweet bells. Poblanos, jalapenos, serranos, chili peppers—you can have a whole array of pepper plants right at your fingertips.

Lettuce

Salad lovers, rejoice, because growing your own leafy greens can be a big boon for your diet and your pocketbook. Romaine lettuce in particular is a fast-growing green that replenishes in just a week or two, so if you have a few of these babies planted you'll be eating fresh salads on the regular through the spring and summer (and into fall as long as the weather holds).

Lettuce is a comparatively easy crop to grow, so don't be intimidated if you've never done it.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

To harvest lettuce, you can cut off the largest, most mature leaves to eat, leaving the interior of the plant alone so it will keep on growing. Another method is to slice the whole lettuce plant straight across, as long as you leave the "crown" in the center so it can keep regrowing.

With lettuce, unfortunately, you don't get the ability to freeze for later, but having fresh salads for many months of the year makes up for it.

Cucumbers

If you enjoy the fresh, crisp crunch of a cucumber, growing your own is where it's at. While how much you can save will vary depending on where you live, where you shop, and how successful. your crop is, a cucumber patch can yield a ton of cucumbers, especially if you learn some tricks specific to cucumber growing.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

One of those "tricks" is to regularly harvest your cucumbers. The more you pick, the more the plant will produce—nifty, eh?

Another tip is to keep them watered well. Cucumbers are largely water, so they do require a lot of water to grow. Just don't get the leaves wet—keep the watering at the base of the plant.

Fresh Herbs

This might be the most cost savings you'll see in a garden, especially if you use a lot of fresh herbs (which you should—they're so good!). Have you ever bought fresh herbs in those little plastic clamshells at the store? They're usually $2 to $3 each for just a handful of leaves or sprigs, and they don't stay fresh for long. An herb garden can save you tons and provide a nonstop source of fresh flavorings.

Basil, oregano, rosemary, and mint are particularly easy to grow and you can even grow them in your kitchen.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

But a full-fledged herb garden is even more fun. Cilantro, parsley, holy basil, chives, dill, thyme—there are so many herbs you can grow yourself. In fact, you may find yourself using more herbs if you grow them since you won't have to spend money on them at the store and they need to be harvested in order to keep growing. Aromatic, healthy, delicious, and cheap—win, win, win, win.

And you can dry or freeze excess herbs to use for cooking later as well. So much winning.

Growing your own food isn't always easy, but learning how to garden crops that can save you big money is definitely worth the time and energy investment to try.

From Your Site Articles

gardening

Family

15 delicious ways to reduce food waste.

True

I wouldn’t claim to be an environmental whiz kid, but I do the best I can.

I truly believe that even the smallest effort can make a huge difference. I read the numbers on the bottom of my plastic containers to make sure they can be recycled. I use empty bottles of wine to help water my plants — that’s really a win-win because I no longer have to remember to water them! But, I fall short in a few areas. I rarely finish a plate of food and have been guilty of tossing everything in my fridge in search of the one item that’s causing a funk.

Then I learned about food waste. And it’s no joke.

Food is the single largest contributor to landfills, and 40% of food in the U.S. is never eaten. That's a whole lot! But food waste isn't just about what winds up in our trash cans. Producing all of that wasted food uses over 20% of the U.S. supply of freshwater — that's more water than is used by California, Texas, and Ohio combined — and creates as much greenhouse gas emissions as 33 million passenger cars.

Trash on trash on trash. And it doesn't all have to be! Image via Petrr/Flickr.

And food is a tricky issue in general. At the same time all of this food is being wasted, there are so many places, in the U.S. and abroad, where families simply do not have access to the nutritious foods that are out there.

Given all this, it seemed worth taking a look at ways to reduce food waste — or, at the very least, our individual food waste. These tips aren't a cure-all, but doing just a little bit can help to make these very big issues just a bit smaller. Here are a few of my favorites.

First things first: In an ideal world, our food wouldn't go bad.

Sometimes we can’t avoid it. We put a pear at the bottom of a bowl, and by the time we get to it, it’s becoming pear cider. But that’s what refrigerators are for! Did you know that those drawers at the bottom serve a specific purpose? I didn’t. Turns out, it's called a crisper for a reason. Want to become an expert at storing your fruits and veggies? Here are a few tips:

Potatoes, onions, and tomatoes don't need to be kept in the fridge. It's actually better if they aren't.
Salad greens should be stored in bags filled with a little air and sealed tightly. As someone who tries to remove all air from ziplock bags, this was an interesting tip.
Not all fruits can be stored together: Avocados, bananas, and kiwis produce ethylene as they ripen, so they need to be separated from fruits like apples to prevent the latter from going bad.

Those two drawers? They aren't just for top shelf overflow. Image via LaraLove/Wikimedia Commons.

Now, if you have a few food items that are already past their prime, there’s still time! These recipes are for you.

Full disclosure: I tried a few of these myself, but most of the delicious goodness you’re about to see is courtesy of the DIY mavens online.

Bruised fruit just ... isn’t cute. But it’s still delicious.

Bananas look downright unappealing when they’re brown and spotty on the outside, but did you know that’s actually when they’re at the best for a few recipes?

I had a very unattractive banana lying around and decided to put it to good use.

Not looking so good, banana. Image by Mae Cromwell/Upworthy.

1. Meet banana fritters.

I made these myself. And they were delicious. Image by Mae Cromwell/Upworthy.

2. And banana bread is another great way to get rid of your spotted bananas!

Image via Jo del Corro/Flickr.

3. Do you have overripe peaches, strawberries, or really any fruit you find irresistible? Turn it into jam! It’s surprisingly easy.

These jars of home-canned peaches look SO good. Image via Rachel Tayse/Flickr.

4. Love breakfast foods? Your bruised fruit can play a role there, too. Those fruit-filled pancakes aren’t just for a fancy brunch. Smash your overripe fruit in a bowl, and make your own pancakes at home.

*Drooling.* Image via Matheus Swanson/Flickr.

5. And how about popsicles? Did you know you could make those with overripe fruit? Your bruised peaches never looked so good.

Image via Sameer Goyal/Flickr.

And then there’s stale bread — it still has its uses!

6. Confession: I’m not much of a bread eater. Too often, I’d buy a loaf of gluten-free bread, forget about it, and toss it. But now I know that dried out bread can be transformed and used for something I really do like: breading things! Fried catfish is going to be perfect from now on.

I'm absurdly proud of these bread crumbs! Image by Mae Cromwell/Upworthy.

7. And if you eat a lot of salads, spice them up with homemade croutons.

Croutons have never looked so good. Image via Tasha/Flickr.

A lot of us have fallen victim to wasting parts of a whole rotisserie chicken. But not anymore.

After that first meal, there’s often so much chicken left that next steps can be confusing. Do you eat the same meal for a few days or toss the leftovers? Do neither! There are tons of ways to reuse leftover chicken.

8. Tacos

A Taco Tuesday staple. Image via Larry Hoffman/Flickr.

9. Chicken salad

Image via Lara604/Flickr.

10. BBQ it! Yes, you can take the same chicken, slather some BBQ sauce all over it, and voilà! A new meal. You can eat it as-is or shred it and make a sandwich. The world is yours.

Mouth-watering leftovers. Image via jeffreyw/Flickr.

11. As we head into winter, you can't go wrong with some comforting chicken soup.

Perfect for a chilly day. Or any day, really. Image via Carol VanHook/Flickr.

12. And as a new West Coast resident, I can vouch for chicken quesadillas. Shred or chop up your leftovers and make them part of this meal. You won’t regret it.

Image via Andy Melton/Flickr.

And — this is mind-blowing — you can revive some of that produce you wrote off as goners. Yes, you read that right.

13. Carrots?

14. Lettuce?

15. Parsley?

As certain vegetables wilt and start to lose their texture, they can be revived with some good ol’ water. Seriously. This is like a magic trick that we can all pull off.

So, you get it: Food waste sucks, but there are (delicious) ways to contribute to the solution.

Try some of these tips at home, and post your own tips! You never know which one of your tips can save someone else a ton of time and money while helping us all to treat this planet a little bit better.

Some people are going bananas about bananas possibly going extinct.

Save the bananas.

True

You may have heard that bananas are going extinct.

And it's sort of true: The banana as we know it is in danger. But that's also only part of the story.

To understand what’s happening with bananas today, we have to take a look at the bananas of years past ... because we’ve actually been in this situation before.

Years ago, the bananas found in grocery stores didn’t look or taste like the bananas we know now.

They looked like this:

The "original" banana: Gros Michel. Image via iStock.

By all accounts, those bananas apparently tasted better. Known as the Gros Michel strain, they were cloned and mass produced and shipped all around the world until their days as the reigning banana species were brought to an abrupt end. You know that deliciously sweet artificial banana flavoring that tastes nothing like a banana? Well, allegedly, that’s what the Gros Michel tasted like.

So, what happened? Why aren’t we still snacking on deliciously sweet candy-flavored bananas?

The Panama disease, a fungus that destroys any crop that’s susceptible to it, killed most of the supply, bringing the Gros Michel bananas to their knees more than a century ago.

With the Gros Michel banana near extinction, the banana industry went into a panic.

Farmers lost their crops and their livelihoods. The soil was tainted because of the Panama disease, so they couldn’t just start over.

But, luckily, there was a solution: One species of banana proved to be resistant to the Panama disease. It could be planted in the infected soil and would bear fruit — no problem. It was the Cavendish banana to the rescue.

The bananas we're used to seeing! The Cavendish. Image via iStock.

The Cavendish banana is what most of us think of when we think of bananas.

While there are other varieties of bananas sold in local markets, many of which taste sweeter and are fun shades like pink and red, the Cavendish was the best bet for farmers because of its resistance to the disease. It’s not as delicious as the Gros Michel, but it would have to do.

The banana trade made a mistake though: They treated the Cavendish pretty much the same way they did the Gros Michel the century before. Instead of diversifying their banana production, they cloned just the Cavendish and ratcheted up production until the Cavendish became the most dominant banana in the market. Today, about 99% of the bananas consumed worldwide are of the Cavendish variety.

But here’s the thing: Relying too heavily on one species of banana (or any other item, really) can be a mistake.

The red banana. Image via iStock.

That’s called monoculture cropping — growing a genetically similar or identical crop without introducing any variants. And while it bodes well for production because it’s much easier to mass produce genetically identical crop, it also means that the slightest change can put the entire crop at risk. One disease can kill them all.

That’s what happened with the Gros Michel. And it’s on the verge of happening again today with our beloved Cavendish.

The adorably fuzzy pink bananas. Image via iStock.

A new version of the original Panama disease is back with a vengeance, and it’s targeting the Cavendish.

The situation is bad, but it’s not dire — not yet at least. While it feels a bit like a ticking banana time bomb, scientists and banana-breeders are on the case.

They’re trying to mate plants that are resistant to the new disease together, to create offspring that are more likely to make it if this situation repeats itself. They’re creating bananas that are built to survive.

And the farmers and economies that depend on the banana trade? They’re working to diversify their crop and to identify already-resistant banana species that can be grown in soil that’s been compromised by the disease. They’re not just waiting for a solution, they’re creating one.

The adorably tiny Lady Finger bananas. Image via iStock.

Our banana history may be repeating itself, but don't cry yourself to sleep just yet.

This time, we might be ready for it.

We’ve learned that doing the same thing over and over again will probably yield the same results, so we’ve got to change it up. Who knows, maybe in a few years, we’ll find a variety of delicious banana breeds in stores for all of us to enjoy snacking on.

Picture this. You're at a grocery store and there are only two tomatoes left.

One of them is perfect. It's shiny and totally round. It has a perfect little green stem coming out the top. It looks like it belongs in a Caravaggio painting.

The other one is ... well ... weird. It doesn't have that perfectly round shape you love, and it doesn't look quite as shiny. Maybe it has a little crack on one side. You know it's perfectly fine to eat, but ... you buy the other one. The "perfect" one.

I'll admit those are some sexy tomatoes. Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

We've all done it. But have you ever wondered what will happen to that "ugly" tomato you leave behind?

In all likelihood, it will be thrown out.

In the U.S. alone, around 6 billion pounds of fruits and vegetables go unharvested or unsold.

Because of strict aesthetic standards placed on food manufacturers, as well as consumer behavior in the grocery store, "ugly" fruits and vegetables barely have a chance. They're either cast aside as soon as they come out of the ground, or left behind to be discarded.

Photo by Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images.

That is why toy maker Hasbro decided to pull off a fun PR stunt for ugly foods, which involved a familiar face.

Specifically, the face of a familiar potato.

Photo via Geri Cleveland/Pixabay.

Hasbro decided to make it a little more "wonky."

That's right. Mr. Potato Head has gotten a makeover (or maybe the opposite of a makeover?) to raise awareness about food waste.

Toymaker Hasbro created this special item, which is for sale exclusively on eBay until July 3. And, as of this writing, it is sitting at 235 pounds (about $315), with over 40 bids. Proceeds from the sale of the wonky Mr. Potato Head will go to FareShare, a U.K.-based organization tackling food waste.

"We are very grateful that the proceeds from this unique Wonky Mr Potato Head auction will enable us to help those charities feed more people, and we’d encourage people to bid big," said Daniel Nicholls, FareShare's corporate development officer. "Every £1 we raise will mean we can provide enough food to make four meals for vulnerable and hungry men, women and children here in the U.K.”

Changing the face of a toy might seem like a silly thing to do, but it makes you think.

After all, he's not even that silly looking. I've seen a lot of potatoes that look just like that. I mean, you know, besides the bowler hat, eyes, and mustache.

Maybe next time you're at the grocery store, and you're faced with the choice of an "ugly" vegetable and a "perfect" one — you'll give the ugly one a chance.

Let's face it. Beauty standards are dumb and what matters is on the inside.

This food is super-ugly, mega-delicious, and helping to fight food waste.

They look imperfect, but they're perfectly delicious.

Chances are, right now, your fridge is filled with beautiful fruits and vegetables.

These precious picks were hand-selected by you (or someone in your household) from piles at the grocery store. Before they got to the store, they were hand-selected by farmworkers to make sure only the best-looking, flaw-free produce made it from the fields to the store, to your grocery bag, and finally home to your fridge.

Image via BuzzFarmers/Flickr.

And that's a big problem. Because, just like people, not all produce looks flawless 100% of the time — and that's OK!

Some is misshapen or bruised. Maybe it didn't ripen perfectly. Maybe the stem isn't in the right place. Whatever reason, that produce generally doesn't make it to stores and instead gets shipped to processing plants or landfills.

One-third of American grocery store produce goes uneaten. That's about 133 billion pounds of perfectly good food.

And when millions of people around the globe aren't getting enough to eat, that's pretty bad news.

Fortunately grocery chains around the world are trying to change that.

In 2014, Intermarche, one of France's three biggest grocery chains, launched a campaign celebrating Inglorious Fruits and Veg. They sold the produce for 30% less than its more-attractive counterparts — and by all accounts, they sold a lot of it.

Last year, two Canadian grocery chains, Loblaws and Sobeys, launched their own campaigns selling less-than-pretty produce. Loblaws sells Naturally Imperfect peppers, apples and potatoes for 30% off, and Sobeys stores in Quebec ran a successful three-month campaign last summer selling lightly imperfect cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, carrots, peppers, and apples at a 30% discount.

“If you were to grow produce in your backyard there’s a lot that would grow that wouldn’t look as pretty as what you would see in a grocery store. And Mother Nature doesn’t grow everything perfectly,” — Dan Branson, Loblaw senior director responsible for produce, floral, and garden items.

There are grocery chains selling imperfect produce in the U.K., Australia, and Portugal. And, just last week, Whole Foods announced its plans to get in to the ugly food game.

The message is clear: It's time to break the stigma around ugly produce.

They're a smart addition to your grocery bag since they're up to 30% cheaper, and buying them helps keep unnecessary food waste out of landfills. Plus, it's hard to deny how beautiful they are:

This apple loves the skin it's in.

Image by Heather Libby/Upworthy.

This pepper is feeling it's look.

Image by Heather Libby/Upworthy.

These bruised pears know every scar tells the story of a life lived well.

Image via Keith Williamson/Flickr.

These heirloom tomatoes know beauty comes in every color.

Image via Sarah R/Flickr.

These carrots are gorgeous — inside and out.

Image via peem5ter/Flickr.

This strawberry is all about that taste, 'bout that taste, not bitter.

Image via ComedyNose/Flickr.

This tomato has had enough of your outdated beauty standards.

Image via Joe Shlabotnik/Flickr.

These cucumbers think being sizeist is your problem, not theirs.

Image via woodleywonderworks/Flickr.

This pineapple is too fruitylicious for you, babe.

Image via Atibens/Flickr.

Here's the great thing about imperfect produce: Once it's in chopped into a salad or cooked into a meal, it looks and tastes exactly the same as its pretty counterparts.

For lunch today, I had two apple halves with peanut butter. One fresh from my bag of "naturally imperfect" ones. The other from my handpicked stash of pretty, perfect ones. Can you tell the difference?

Image via Heather Libby/Upworthy.

Spoiler alert: Neither could I.

We have a small favor to ask of you

fruits

Gardening isn't always easy, but it's definitely worth it for these crops.

Tomatoes

Zucchini and other summer squash

Peppers

Lettuce

Cucumbers

Fresh Herbs

I wouldn’t claim to be an environmental whiz kid, but I do the best I can.

Then I learned about food waste. And it’s no joke.

First things first: In an ideal world, our food wouldn't go bad.

Now, if you have a few food items that are already past their prime, there’s still time! These recipes are for you.

Bruised fruit just ... isn’t cute. But it’s still delicious.

And then there’s stale bread — it still has its uses!

A lot of us have fallen victim to wasting parts of a whole rotisserie chicken. But not anymore.

And — this is mind-blowing — you can revive some of that produce you wrote off as goners. Yes, you read that right.

So, you get it: Food waste sucks, but there are (delicious) ways to contribute to the solution.

Save the bananas.

You may have heard that bananas are going extinct.

Years ago, the bananas found in grocery stores didn’t look or taste like the bananas we know now.

With the Gros Michel banana near extinction, the banana industry went into a panic.

The Cavendish banana is what most of us think of when we think of bananas.

But here’s the thing: Relying too heavily on one species of banana (or any other item, really) can be a mistake.

A new version of the original Panama disease is back with a vengeance, and it’s targeting the Cavendish.

Our banana history may be repeating itself, but don't cry yourself to sleep just yet.

Picture this. You're at a grocery store and there are only two tomatoes left.

We've all done it. But have you ever wondered what will happen to that "ugly" tomato you leave behind?

That is why toy maker Hasbro decided to pull off a fun PR stunt for ugly foods, which involved a familiar face.

Changing the face of a toy might seem like a silly thing to do, but it makes you think.

They look imperfect, but they're perfectly delicious.

Chances are, right now, your fridge is filled with beautiful fruits and vegetables.

One-third of American grocery store produce goes uneaten. That's about 133 billion pounds of perfectly good food.

The message is clear: It's time to break the stigma around ugly produce.

This apple loves the skin it's in.

This pepper is feeling it's look.

These bruised pears know every scar tells the story of a life lived well.

These heirloom tomatoes know beauty comes in every color.

These carrots are gorgeous — inside and out.

This strawberry is all about that taste, 'bout that taste, not bitter.

This tomato has had enough of your outdated beauty standards.

These cucumbers think being sizeist is your problem, not theirs.

This pineapple is too fruitylicious for you, babe.

Here's the great thing about imperfect produce: Once it's in chopped into a salad or cooked into a meal, it looks and tastes exactly the same as its pretty counterparts.