89: Is it really worth it to raise and grow your own food?

As more people consider self-sufficiency and self-reliance, I am asked the question, “but is it worth it?” I find the question often comes when people realize it requires some money to step into this lifestyle. If you’re gonna get chickens, you need a coop. If you are getting baby chicks, you need a brooder and heat lamp. If you’re gonna have a raised garden you need supplies to build that. An acquaintance asked the other day, “with all the stuff you have to invest to get started, is it actually worth it?” Valid question.   **My thoughts were also recorded more in depth in a podcast episode, which you can find by pressing play on the black bar at the top of this post, or by finding episode 89 of the Farmish Kind of Life podcast in your favorite podcast player/podcatcher.**   The reality is that at some point you realize it’s going to cost something to do this self-reliance thing—be it time or money—and you may end up questioning if it's worth it to raise/grow your own when you can get it at the store for way cheaper and way less work. I took the words out of your mouth, right? So is it worth it? It really boils down to where you’re coming from and what your goal is. Here are my thoughts. The first year of anything new is usually the most expensive year. Whether we’re talking about a building a chicken coop, fencing a pasture, or building raised garden beds, getting the infrastructure in place will cost money. But, once it’s done, that part is done—until you decide to expand or improve or change something. So yes, the first year is expensive, and you should be honest about that going in. Deciding to raise your own means you're switching from a conventional diet. I can’t raise a chicken for cheaper than I can buy a conventionally raised chicken in the store. I go to the store and see a 5 lb chicken for 5 or 6 bucks and I’m like how can you do that? Last year it cost me over $8 to raise a 5 pound bird—and that was only the cost of the chick and the feed. And that’s just regular ol’ feed. I remember a couple years ago when a dozen eggs at the store were 88 cents a dozen. At the time, I was selling mine for $2.50 a dozen because to sell for any less than that wasn’t worth my time. So when you get caught up in stuff like that, it can feel like it’s not worth it. But, sidenote: the fact that larger corporate farms can sell their stuff for that cheap should make us stop for a second and say hmmmm. Another side note: I get that some people are living a really really frugal life out of necessity, and they have to make choices based on that. They're either scraping by because that’s what their income dictates, or they're scraping by because they are trying to reach some goal and they’ve cut out a lot of stuff to get to that goal. And I can’t fault people for buying the cheapest thing possible because friends, I have been in that place. And I can’t fault people for making the economic decisions they have to make when they are in a place where they’ve got to make those decisions. That’s called being responsible. So if you are someone who is scraping by and I tell you hey, raise your own meat birds, it only costs $8 or $9 a bird to grow them out (not including heat and your time or any processing costs if you don’t do it yourselves..) you’re gonna look at me and say, “I can get a whole bird for $5 at the grocery store.” And you're not wrong. But if you are in a position where you’ve got some wiggle room, I think it’s important to look at your options. Because here’s the thing. When we’re talking about cost and if it’s “worth it”, we have to… Compare apples to apples when talking about if it's worth raising and growing your own food Deciding to raise your own food puts your food in a different category than what you might be buying at the store. So you have to compare those prices accordingly.  Y'all, I couldn’t afford to buy the sort of pork that we raise if we didn’t raise it.