Why Should You Grow Your Own Food?

You may have been wondering if growing your own food is worth the effort. The short answer is yes. In fact, growing your own food can provide a fairly simple solution to many of the health and economic problems you may face. Whether you are imagining a small balcony garden with lots of pots to plant and grow things like tomatoes or a full garden in your backyard, there are so many positive benefits from growing your own food. 

Six reasons why you should grow your own food:

Improve Nutrition

Freshly picked fruits and vegetables not only taste better but will also provide you and your family with more nutrition. Grocery store produce often undergo the process of harvesting before the food is even properly ripe, being shipped to a distribution center, and then from the distribution center to stores. The produce then remains on the grocery store shelves until purchased. Much of the original nutrition of the food is lost during this process. Growing your own food will make sure you get the maximum nutrition and health benefits from the food you eat. 

Outdoor Exercise

The seeds and starts you plant in your garden will need to be watered, weeded, and harvested. There’s also (depending on how big your garden is) hauling manure and compost around in a wheelbarrow, pruning, Therefore, growing your own food is also a great way to satisfy your exercise needs. You will also enjoy the added benefit of provide yourself the vitamin D your body needs from the sun. The outdoor exercise you will gain from planting and maintaining your garden is also an activity the entire family can enjoy. 

Eliminate Food Safety Worries

It is difficult not to worry about food safety when foods like spinach, peanut butter, and tomatoes are regularly recalled for safety reasons. Growing your own food as organically as possible will help eliminate worries about pesticides probably used in the commercial growing process or contamination that can occur anytime from the planting to distribution process. 

Save Money on Food

With the way the economy and inflation are now, this is something that I think is on everyone’s minds. Saving money on our grocery bills can help lighten the load all around and free up the budget for other important things. The potential of lowering the cost of your monthly grocery bill is another big advantage to growing your own food. A single pack of seeds can sometimes cost less than a single serving of the food product you wish to grow. The savings are even greater when you consider the cost of organically grown foods in grocery stores. Savings will also be extended by learning to properly store your produce after it is harvested. 

Reduce Your Impact on the Environment

Another great reason to grow your own food is that you can benefit the environment in a number of ways. Organically and locally grown foods spare the planet the pollution that results from the use of herbicides and pesticides. The pollution from fossil fuels will also be reduced when fewer food products need to be shipped to stores. 

Pride of Growing Your Own Food

Trust me, you will gain a great deal of gratification and pride from watching a seed you plant in a garden become delicious, nutritious food that provides nourishment to your family. Growing your own food will provide you and your family with many various benefits including healthy food, saving you money, and help to preserve the environment. These are all things that you can be incredibly proud of. 


It is likely you have thought about growing your own food in the past, only to talk yourself out of the idea. The six reasons listed above are proof positive the benefits of growing your own food is well worth the effort and time it will take to do so.

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