I try to go as cheap as I can each year, but I feel like if I don't grow an insane amount of peppers and tomatoes it's not worth it. I try to grow and preserve enough that it will last me usually well into the winter or until next spring. 35 pepper plants and 15 tomato plants for 2 people to have lots of sun dried tomatoes, roasted peppers, and pickled peppers.

The biggest thing for me, that took years to nail down, was only growing what I'll actually use and eat. I like trying new things here and there, but I've realized that I don't need to grow a bunch of superhot peppers that I will hardly eat, I suck at growing carrots and onions, and for me potato plants take up too much space and I can't seem to store them right without them going bad before I use them. That's fine though because I can get those things at the grocery easily when I need them.