Growing your own veg Fruit and veg for less money
You may want to try growing your own fruit and veg to cut down on your supermarket bills. We’ve done some simple calculations to see how much you could save.
For example, you could grow a kg of baby carrots for around 25p, but you'd pay around £3.30 for a kg of baby carrots in a supermarket.
Don't forget to check out our reviews of garden tools for Best Buy equipment that will help you tend your plot.
For more on growing your own vegetables, see our book Growing Your Own Vegetables Made Easy.
- Find out about the Best Buy tomatoes
- Read our guides on growing soft fruit and growing your own herbs
- Subscribe to Which? Gardening magazine
| Growing your own fruit and veg | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetable/fruit | Good varieties | Typical purchase price | Expected yield | Cost of homegrown vegetable/fruit | Supermarket cost | Saving |
| Cucumber | Marketmore | £1.50 a plant | 30-40 fruits per plant | 5p each | £1.10 each | £1.05 a cucumber |
| Tomatoes | Gardener’s Delight | £1.50 a plant | 3kg a plant | 50p a kg | £3.56 a kg | £3.06 a kg |
| Courgettes | Defender; Endurance | £1.50 a plant | 30 courgettes a plant | 5p each | 43p each | 38p a courgette |
| Mangetout | Delikata; Oregon Sugar Pod | £2.50 for a packet of seed | 3kg a square metre | 83p a kg | £6.62 a kg | £5.79 a kg |
| Baby carrots | Early Nantes; Sugarsnax | £1.50 for a packet of seed | Up to 6kg a square metre | 25p a kg | £3.30 a kg | £3.05 a kg |
| Baby leaf salads | Choose a mixture (check you like all the ingredients) | £2 for a packet of seed | Two to six bags of salad | 33p-£1 a picking | £1.47 for a 125g bag | 47p-£1.14 a picking |
| Strawberries | Elsanta; Alice; Symphony | £1-£1.50 a plant | 2kg from six plants | £3-£4.50 a kg | £4.36 a kg | Up to £1.36 a kg |
| Raspberries | Autumn Bliss | £1-£2 | 2kg per bush each year | 50p-£1 a kg | £9.97 a kg | £8.97-£9.47 a kg |
Table notes
Savings and prices are a guide only. We checked supermarket prices online in February 2009. Supermarket prices are for cheapest available products and from the standard range where possible. Prices of vegetables and fruit will vary according to the time of year. Yields are based on the best varieties in Which? Gardening trials or expert estimations
