Grow What You Actually Eat

1. What does your household eat most?

List the 10 foods your household eats most often (fresh or stored). Be honest — enthusiasm in March is not consumption in October.

+ Add a food

2. Score each one

For each food above, rate Store (how well it keeps without a freezer: 0-2), Effort (how much work per dollar saved: 0 = high effort, 2 = easy), and Eat (how much you actually eat it: 0-2). The total (0-6) tells you what earns its bed.

3. Your cut list

Build my list

The rule of thumb from our farm: anything scoring 4+ earns space. Anything under 2 is donated labor unless you love growing it. Print this page and work it with your household.

What the scores mean

5–6: plant generously — these are your carry crops (potatoes, dry beans, garlic usually live here).

3–4: plant a modest patch and evaluate at season's end.

0–2: buy it at the market. One bed of "someday" crops is fine; ten is how new farmers burn out.

Want this done for your whole farm, not just the garden? The Farm Plan Review ($125) applies the same discipline to a plan you already have.