Photo USU Extension
This last Saturday my neighbor was canning tomato juice. Of course they were juicing the tomatoes first. One thing that interested me was how much he said it cost him. He indicated his cost was approximately $1.10 per quart bottle.
After I got home I started thinking about the cost of my own garden and food processing. I have always argued that it cost me less to produce much of my own food as opposed to buying it in the store. Others have also argued that it costs you much more to raise your own food.
Unfortunately, my arguments have been based on my experiences as a kid. My parents had about a half-acre in garden and about another half-acre as a fruit orchard. What I learned was wonderful. And, quite frankly, we saved a lot of money producing much of our own food. Or so I thought.
What I decided to do was to put ‘pen-to-paper’ and determine my cost on two items. Remember, the cost of what you produce will vary by the plant itself as well as the quality of garden and maintenance.
I chose tomatoes and pear butter. Tomatoes happen to be common in home gardens and I was currently processing Pears from my parent’s trees.
For the tomatoes I included the cost of the plants, preparation in the spring, fertilizer, and the water. The cost of the fertilizer and water is somewhat of a moving target, depending on the heat of the summer. Also, I use fertilizer and water for the entire yard and garden. This means I have to break down the costs in proportion to space used.
Anyway, the costs are as follows.
Tomatoes: Plant cost $8.00 for four plants, preparation and fertilizer cost $4.12, and water for the area cost $2.72. Water is very inexpensive. My total water bill before watering my yard is $79.00. For the last two months my bill was $144.00 for a difference of $65.00. However, this went to the entire yard and not only my tomatoes. Absent a meter on the end of my hose, I chose to evenly divide the water usage over the entire square footage of my yard.
My total cost then is $14.84. Year-to-date we have harvested approximately fifty pounds for a cost of $.30 per pound. This compares to approximately $.99 per pound in the store. Now, I did only include the previous two months of water. However, the two months prior cost $103.00 for a difference of $24.00. This would only add a minimal amount to the cost. I also was conservative on the preparation. I charged an entire gallon of gas for my tiller when I only used about a quarter of a gallon.
Pear Butter: The pear butter was a little more difficult, as the pears did not cost me anything except the gas to drive to my parent’s house. Actually, after so many years, the trees do not really cost my parents much money. The fertilizer is natural from the grass that is mowed and their water is a flat fee for secondary water. I still calculated the cost as if these were included.
We picked about 70 to 80 pounds and I used about 25 pounds for the pear butter. After the sugar ($.54), lids ($3.34), fruit ($7.00 for gas fertilizer/water), and spices ($.59), the cost was $11.47 for 9 quarts of the jam. This comes to $1.27 per bottle, compared to $2.50 per bottle at the store. And the store cost is when it is on sale. I did not include any cost for the bottles, as these can be used continuously. The cost for the gas stove can be calculated. However, the additional cost for these two months last year was minimal at $5.00
Overall, the cost to raise your own food is cheaper than in the store, despite what some may argue. It is also fun and relaxing.
USU Extension
Comments