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I did the sums - it takes me 6 minutes of paid work to earn enough to buy a day's calories worth of potatoes. I was always told that salad leaves are by far th

I did the sums - it takes me 6 minutes of paid work to earn enough to buy a day's calories worth of potatoes. I was always told that salad leaves are by far the best thing to grow for amateurs - relatively easy to grow, but very expensive in the supermarket.

throw0101a 5y ago
> I did the sums - it takes me 6 minutes of paid work to earn enough to buy a day's calories worth of potatoes. Assuming you have a job to work at. Or that (food) supply chains have not gone sideways. What you grow in your garden depends on (a) whether you're just doing it for fun, and/or (b) if you're offsetting certain risks you're worried about. E.g., how hard is it (for Ukrainians) go get potatoes with a war on? How hard is it to get groceries after an earthquake (or hurricane)?
- gruez 5y ago
  >Assuming you have a job to work at. Or that (food) supply chains have not gone sideways. If you want to mitigate that I still suspect it's cheaper to buy rice and beans, then stockpiling that, than it is to operate a vegetable garden every year. Not to mention, a stockpile works any time of the year. A vegetable garden only produces food during harvest time. >E.g., how hard is it (for Ukrainians) go get potatoes with a war on? how easy it is for ukranians to get potatoes when the ground has only recently thawed? >How hard is it to get groceries after an earthquake (or hurricane)? How useful is your vegetable garden when everything has been blown away and/or is rotting in the ground from all the water?
ethbr0 5y ago
I'd add "difficult to transport" and "freshness delicate" to the characteristics list. There's a huge amount of produce out there that we simply never see, because it's inhospitable for ship-to-grocery. Or that we don't eat at its best, even if we're able to get it. E.g. banana varieties, fresh figs, most things green and/or leafy

throw0101a 5y ago

> I did the sums - it takes me 6 minutes of paid work to earn enough to buy a day's calories worth of potatoes. Assuming you have a job to work at. Or that (food) supply chains have not gone sideways. What you grow in your garden depends on (a) whether you're just doing it for fun, and/or (b) if you're offsetting certain risks you're worried about. E.g., how hard is it (for Ukrainians) go get potatoes with a war on? How hard is it to get groceries after an earthquake (or hurricane)?

gruez 5y ago
>Assuming you have a job to work at. Or that (food) supply chains have not gone sideways. If you want to mitigate that I still suspect it's cheaper to buy rice and beans, then stockpiling that, than it is to operate a vegetable garden every year. Not to mention, a stockpile works any time of the year. A vegetable garden only produces food during harvest time. >E.g., how hard is it (for Ukrainians) go get potatoes with a war on? how easy it is for ukranians to get potatoes when the ground has only recently thawed? >How hard is it to get groceries after an earthquake (or hurricane)? How useful is your vegetable garden when everything has been blown away and/or is rotting in the ground from all the water?

ethbr0 5y ago

I'd add "difficult to transport" and "freshness delicate" to the characteristics list. There's a huge amount of produce out there that we simply never see, because it's inhospitable for ship-to-grocery. Or that we don't eat at its best, even if we're able to get it. E.g. banana varieties, fresh figs, most things green and/or leafy