Krish was a beginner gardener when she started growing her own food. A year later she’s saved almost $500 on groceries

With the cost of groceries continuing to rise and a 40-minute drive to her nearest Aldi store, Krish Wajé and her husband started growing their own food two years ago. Despite being beginners, they’ve already saved $300 to $500 on fruit and vegetables.

Once their garden was established in their backyard and on the balcony of their Blue Mountains home, it only took a year for their own produce to start slashing their supermarket bill. They were also able to grow a wider variety of fruit and veggies than they could ever hope to find at the shops.

“We’re growing the main veggies and herbs I use for cooking; that was the number one priority for me because that would save us money and the trip to get them,” Wajé told nine.com.au. 

“We’re also growing produce we don’t usually get at the supermarkets. So, for example, there’s a fruit called kiwano that we’re growing, dragon fruit, mulberries, chestnuts, you name it. We’re trying to grow the essentials as well as being able to try new things that we often wouldn’t find at the supermarket.”

Herbs in particular are a huge money saver and particularly convenient to have on hand when needed, given how far away the supermarket is.

“When I’m cooking a specific dish, normally you have to buy a whole bunch, and you only end up using a little bit, which is quite wasteful and quite expensive, so being able to have that and also just harvest what we need is really nice,” she said.

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A bunch of basil, for example, costs about $3 at the supermarket, which you’d need to spend almost every time you cook something with the herb since the leaves don’t stay fresh for long. But growing your own basil doesn’t cost much more than buying a bunch, and it means you can take a few leaves as needed, and freeze what you’re not using to have on hand year-round.

The other benefit of growing your own herbs, Wajé said, is they’re easy to grow, which makes them perfect for beginners, even if you’ve only got a small space to grow them, and they can even be grown indoors with the right conditions.

“You don’t need much space. If you’ve got just a balcony, having the plants in little pots is great because you can have them quite small. I like to have the herbs up on the balcony so then I can just grab them when I’m cooking,” she said. 

“The balcony is a great way to start, and you can just experiment, and you’ll be surprised with how things will grow, and you’ll be able to still harvest and get plenty out of it even though it’s in tiny pots.”

While there are costs involved with setting up a garden, the savings and benefits of growing your own food will soon outweigh them. There are also things you can do to make gardening cheaper by starting from seeds.

“You can buy a pack of seeds that has hundreds of seeds in there for a fraction of the cost of buying the plant. We’ve started doing seeds inside the house and that also just helps with the timeline, so if we start the seeds now, then in a couple of weeks when it’s spring, they’ll already be sprouted and ready to plant,” she said.

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Wajé also recommended reaching out to local community gardening groups where you can learn gardening tips and swap excess seeds and produce.

“That way you don’t feel burdened to have to grow everything, you can grow what you like or what you’re good at or what thrives in your garden, and you can swap with others. I really enjoy that community aspect; it’s a great way to save money and learn and make new friends as well,” she said.

Wajé and her husband aren’t the only ones enjoying the benefits of growing their own food, with Youi insurance research finding 58 per cent Aussies are growing their own food at home, saving an average of $500 a year.

Small-space gardening is particularly popular, with the survey showing people who grow produce on balconies, patios and decks are saving an average of $618 a year on groceries.

If you’re inspired to grow food yourself to one day experience the savings, Wajé offered some words of wisdom to help you keep going when not every seedling grows to a harvestable plant.

“Don’t be discouraged if some plants don’t survive, it is honestly just part of the process. Every time something happens, it does teach you something so document what’s working or what’s not working,” she said.

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It also helps to start with easy growing plants, such as Wajé’s pick herbs, or something like lettuce.

Given a lot of store-bought lettuce ends up going mushy in the bottom of the fridge, you’ll save plenty of money harvesting your own leaves fresh when you need them.

“You can buy a packet of seeds for [a few bucks and] some packets have about 1000 seeds in it. So if you’re thinking of that compared to buying a head of lettuce, you’re really going to get your money back,” gardener Sarah Rani from In My Patch, who runs a masterclass course on growing greens, told nine.com.au.

The taste and variety of lettuce grown at home also far surpasses what you can get at the supermarket, making your salads a lot more interesting.

Then sow some seeds in a few small pots and once they have their first set of true leaves, which is actually their second pair of leaves, they are ready to plant in a pot or garden bed. 

If you keep the soil moist and give the lettuce at least a few hours of sun, preferably more, a day you’ll be on your way to eating home-grown lettuce in about eight weeks.