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The prices are already very high. We have one grocery store within about 45 miles that consistently has low produce prices. We buy enough for several months and keep them fresh in Green Bags or chop and freeze or dehydrate whatever we can’t keep long enough. The costs of electricity and labor has driven up the price of canned vegetables. Frozen vegetables often are on sale and you can buy bulk and rebag in the vacuum bags that you can microwave, but then, the problem is having alternative power to keep the freezers going in case of a power loss.

For fresh produce, the only alternative in winter in the North is container gardening or hydroponic gardening under lights. It is possible for lettuce and cherry tomatoes. To produce enough for 2 people to have 3-4 salads/week costs about $100- $200 one time per each set-up that lasts quite a while and about 65 watts/each of electricity for 16 hours/day, using compact florescent grow lights. I have CFLs that are still good after 2 full years. I haven’t yet tried the LED balanced color grow lights, but they appear to be cheaper both to buy and to run. Miniature or dwarf plant varieties do the best.

Our gardens supply fresh produce for only a few months. For the year between harvests, it is canned/frozen or dried vegetables.

A lawn is usually thin soil and a mat of grass roots. It takes about 3 years to get all the grass out and to amend enough to have the 8”-12” of loose tilled soil needed to grow something.

OTOH, a supply of canned or dried tomatoes will provide enough vitamin C for health through the period between harvests.

This is my 3rd year of learning to grow container vegetables inside during the winter. It is, like anything else, a learning curve. I have found a miniature tomato and a regular lettuce that are easy to grow, taste great and provide at least some fresh produce to supplement our other sources. After 3 years of successfully drying tomatoes and apples, I am going to be branching out this year to peppers, potatoes and other vegetables. In humid areas, you will likely need silicon gel pacs to put in with the dehydrated veggies. The plastic ones used in medication bottles can be recharged by a couple of hours in the oven on low or 170 degrees. My vet saves them for me. You can buy silica gel for drying flowers and make your own.

Here is a website that compares dehydrated veggies to fresh
http://waltonfeed.com/old/self/deh-veg.html
and here is one for miniature/dwarf varieties suitable for container growing
http://www.containerseeds.com/index.html

For some produce, you can buy them very cheap in bulk at harvest time and then preserve them yourself. Sweet corn, for example, costs about $40 for a years supply for two people. There are loads of instructions online for preservation techniques.

This is my hobby and it is a fair amount of extra time/work throughout the year. But it is rewarding in terms of self-sufficiency and I find that growing things reduces stress, for me, at least. I can’t yet say I have saved money, but if these energy plans actually happen, we will at least have access to produce year round.