The price of vegetables: Why renting an urban garden is a good idea also for saving money

The price of vegetables has been worrying Spanish households for some time now, as inflation has also taken its toll on the price of vegetables in department stores, mainly due to travel costs caused by the rise in diesel and the drought period.

The price barrier has sometimes been a deterrent for certain consumers to consume organic products, but in the current situation we see that these prices are equalising and the difference is no longer so great.

Lately, it has been said on television that peppers and summer watermelons have reached a price of around €3/kg, even in season.

The price of vegetables in department stores is catching up with that of the garden itself.

From Huerto 360 we have carried out a small study of the vegetable prices at different points, being those marked in green those that come directly from small-scale production where the benefit goes to the market gardener and in red those of the large, well-known supermarkets (where the market gardener hardly earns).

*Survey carried out in July 2023, some boxes are empty as there are not similar vegetables in all points.

As we can see, practically the most consumed vegetables such as tomato, potato, courgette or aubergine, there is hardly any difference.

The average cost of fresh vegetables in Spain

Taking official data from the Report on food consumption in Spain for 2022, the average price of fresh vegetables has reached 2.13 €/kg, increasing by 9.8% compared to the previous year with respect to 2021, as we can see in this table extracted from the report.

And in the absence of official data, it seems that vegetable prices have continued to rise so far in 2023.

This confirms that apart from the benefits that we have mentioned on other occasions, having an urban garden also allows us to make savings.

 For an average family of 4 people the vegetable shopping basket can already be around €200.

But apart from the price of the vegetables, there are other reasons for us garden lovers: if we consume products from our own garden, we obtain parallel benefits that go beyond that and are priceless in our opinion:

• The fair profit stays with the producer (which will allow you to continue consuming their products).
• You consume larger products (another way to save).
• They last longer because they are not in chambers (another way of saving, not wasting).
• Pesticide-free (Zero concern for washing emphasis)
• It helps us to lead a more active life by changing our habits at least once a week.
• Being in contact with nature.
• Socialising with neighbouring huertanos
• To be able to teach our children about the rural environment
• To be able to learn from the most traditional huertanos their secrets and teachings about the vegetable garden.
• And the main thing: to keep the taste of our traditional vegetables.

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