This year I have been weighing and recording every time I picked anything off the allotment with a view to doing a roundup together with a price list showing how much the same quantity would have cost me from a supermarket.
I've decided to post the results now because, although I still have some Desiree spuds, carrots, beetroot and all the brassicas still in the ground, I can't be arsed to keep writing it all down (plus I keep forgetting to do it), so it seems that now is as good a time as any.
I can't seem to work out how to add a table or spreadsheet to this - at least, not easily, I think I have to get involved with coding which is a huge pain, so I'll just have to do a list. There are some things I've grown but haven't bothered weighing, or I've not finished harvesting them yet, so they won't appear - things like most of the brassicas and the Desiree Maincrop potatoes. Other things, like Pattypan Squash and Crystal Lemon Cucumbers you can't buy in the shops so I couldn't get a comparable retail price for them. Also some things are sold on a price-per-item basis (i.e., organic cucumbers at £1 each) which doesn't work for me as I've just weighed them in bulk rather than as individual items. So I've mainly gone for the bog-standard veggies that you can get from a shop here.
I've taken today's prices from Sainsbury's Organic range where possible (as I grow as organically as I can) or, if there isn't an organic option, their 'Taste the Difference' range. And, remember, this is the total amount picked over several months:
Maris Peer Potatoes - 4.141kg x £0.86/kg = £3.56
Climbing French Beans - 11.56kg x £5.96/kg = £68.91 (!)
Courgettes - 6.66kg x £1.84/kg = £12.26
Strawberries - 2.77kg x £9.97/kg= £27.69
Blueberries - 114g x £9.95/kg= £1.13
Mange Tout - 646g x £7.50/kg = £4.84
Carrots - 1.016kg (so far) x £1.28/kg = £1.30 [still harvesting]
Kale - 329g (so far) x £4.95/kg = £1.62 [still harvesting]
Onions - 4.32kg (at least) x £1/kg = £4.32
Broccoli - 169g x £3.50/kg = £0.59
This all totals £132.48, a not insignificant sum. And this list doesn't include sweetcorn, dwarf yellow beans, pattypan squash, cucumbers, gherkins, garlic, savoy cabbage, red cabbage, brussel sprouts or Desiree potatoes, so I think I can confidently say that, if they were all included, I'd probably be looking at something nearer £200!
Some of the figures are laughably low - in the case of the blueberries, the plants had only been in the ground for a few months so this was their first season. I'm expecting them to do better next year. But broccoli was disappointing - I'm not sure I'll bother again next year. Last year I grew purple sprouting which was okay but nothing to write home about and not especially prolific, so this year I grew Calabrese, which is what is labelled as broccoli in the shops. Mine matured early, bolted and flowered all before I could get to it. But just compare it with the Cobra Climbing French Beans!
This has definitely been a worthwhile experiment and for those of you reading this who grow your own, I would recommend you have a go yourself next year and see how much it would have cost you to buy in the shops what you can grow yourself.
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I like you decided to do this as well this year but choose to price everything in relation to what I would have bought if the crop was not available, for eg; I priced my patty pans at butternut squash prices, as this is what I didn't buy as the patty pans were available.
ReplyDeleteIn case you would like to check it out, I update my post on the topic here; http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/2009/05/am-i-saving-myself-money-check-in-often.html
I think once the intial set up is done the allotment/ vege garden really starts to save you dosh.