Have you ever considered how much money you spend on groceries that end up going bad within a few days?

Not to mention, you never really know what goes onto those products (you're not fooling us with those organic labels, Big Farming). In addition to finances, if things were to go haywire in the world, it would be great to know you could live off of your land for a little while.

Here are some ideas on how to get started creating your self-sufficient plot of land.

Raise Your Own Eggs

Think about how many eggs you eat on a daily/weekly basis. If you go through more than a dozen a week, you can likely save money by raising your own chickens. With a relatively small investment, you'll pay for the chickens, the coop, fencing it in, and the feed for the chickens.

This should come out to a couple of hundred dollars. Shopping for the right products is essential when creating a home for your chickens. That's why buying from industry experts, like Dalton Engineering accessories, is wise as their expertise can help guide your experience.

Besides saving money, the real takeaway here is having fresh, delicious eggs every day. That surpasses anything you can get at the store. If you're keen on having the best quality eggs, then you'll surely save money by raising your own.

Save Money - Grow Your Own Vegetables 

Here's where you'll get the most bang for your buck: growing your own veggies.

We've all done it: we've gone to the grocery store with high hopes and newfound motivation to be healthy. We buy up all the fresh produce, thinking we will suddenly become culinary master chefs overnight and will cook all this food before it goes bad…

Fast forward one week later, and it's all. Gone. Bad.

Grow the basic vegetables that you eat most often (i.e., green beans, tomatoes, onions, kale, okra, potatoes, even some herbs). You'll need a small space for dirt and sunlight, but it doesn't have to be very large. It can even hang off of a balcony ledge.

When you consider that a 6-pack of tomatoes costs $3 at the store every week, versus seeds that only cost a few cents, you'll be saving in no time.

Not only that, but how glamorous is the idea of waltzing into your backyard and picking your tomatoes?!

Try Going Solar 

If you live in a very sunny environment, why aren't you making use of solar power?

You can have rooftop panels or stand-up panels that can power your whole home. While the start-up costs may be a little pricy, nothing will compare to the feeling of a lower power bill every month.

And to top it off, the next power outage likely won't have you scrambling for a flashlight.

Keep a Composting Box 

If you're considering keeping your own vegetable garden, composting is a great idea.

Food leftovers and lawn trimmings can make for rich soil to tend your garden. This will make your garden more fruitful (no pun intended), while also helping reduce waste in the environment. It's a win-win!

Having a compost box costs next to nothing and is a simple way to boost your garden and reduce waste.

Key Takeaways

We often don't realize just how dependent we are on the systems that surround us: grocery stores, power, plumbing, etc. We just visit a store or flip a switch and magically, what we need is at our fingertips.

But what if that wasn't the case?

Wouldn't it be comforting to know that you could survive for a while on nothing but your resources? Build confidence in your abilities (and save money, to boot!) by growing or raising some of the things that you use most often.