Home Grown Vegetables Taste Better and Saves Money!

It’s been a bit since we had an update on the garden, but everything is starting to grow fast! I do have a few interesting tidbits to tell you about. We have an abundance of fresh home grown vegetables now!!! We have been getting plenty of cucumbers, squash, zucchini, jalapenos, bell peppers and cherry tomatoes. The okra is coming along and has started to produce, but it seems it always takes it a little bit to start coming off fast enough to pickle any of it.

The only thing we are still waiting on is our tomatoes! There are some that are just almost ready to pick!!!! I know they look red, but they need at least a day. We don’t want to hurry them! Within a day or so we should be eating big juicy red ripe tomatoes WOO HOO!! But, with 18 tomato plants, once they start – we will be super busy making salsa and canning And, they want how much for those no-taste rubbery ones in the grocery store???

I just had to show you guys what I picked from the garden this morning! I am a big veggie eater I eat veggies such as these for snacks and at meals. So, instead of having to spend money at the grocery store on them, which by the way doesn’t taste near as good, I have tasty home grown vegetables! I saved money and have better tasting veggies Cucumbers and tomatoes are a good healthy snack. Serve them up with some Ranch dressing and even most kids will eat their veggies!!! Better yet, let them plant a cucumber plant! They are easy to grow and will encourage them to eat the veggies!

We are also starting to get quite a few jalapeno peppers off at one time. We’ve been using a few fresh ones, but it’s almost time to crank up the dehydrator! By chopping them up and dehydrating them, they will keep in the freezer until you need them to cook with. When needed, just take them out and throw a handful in your chili, soup, beans or whatever you want them in. We are partial to jalapenos, so we use them in just about everything we cook! We also can a few of them to eat with various things.

Jalapenos are expensive at the grocery store! But, did you know that just a plant or two will give the average family enough home grown vegetables for the entire winter? These little plants are work horses in the garden and produce abundantly! Check back in about a week or so and I will show you how easy the dehyrdating process is! If you love them as much as we do, it will save you some money to grow a couple of plants

The bell peppers are producing abundantly also! We eat these fresh in our salads, but the most of them, we chop and freeze in freezer bags to use for cooking now and through the winter months. We also use them in making our salsa

We are almost getting to the point of the canning and preserving. This is where the money saving really comes in! Even though we coupon, saving on fresh produce is always a challenge! You don’t see many coupons for produce!!! It is one of those things that is also expensive at the grocery store, but in the winter months it gets even more expensive. By growing it yourself, you can have your fill during the summer months. Then can it, freeze it, or dehydrate it for the coming winter months! Sure, it does take a little work, but the taste of fresh home grown vegetables just can’t be beat!

Want to see how it all got started? Follow along with us as we venture through Krazy In The Garden. We will have some recipes coming, along with some canning and preserving recipes. We haven’t had a lot of trouble with critters yet, but if they show up, we will talk about that too.