Determinations of the true cost of frozen food must consider the initial cost of the freezer plus the cost of operation and repair. Containers, plastic bags and boxes, or foil are additional costs.
Evelyn Johnson in her Outlook Talk of 1975 quoted staff at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Cornell University as reporting a cost of 20¢ to 24¢ per pound of food frozen just for the convenience of freezing and storing food at home. Add to this the price of the food being frozen for the correct cost of home-preserved frozen food.
Freezing is probably the most satisfactory method of home food preservation, the most versatile and the easiest to do. But for all except the very best managers who use the freezer intensively, the home freezer is more a convenience than a money saver.
[Illustration: Needed equipment for home canning. Left, water bath canner, and right, pressure canner.]
Raising a garden takes time over a significant number of months. As a hobby for table use, gardening can be a real pleasure. Skillful persons with the right tools and know-how can handle a garden of the size needed for home food preservation with a few hours of work a week, once the plants are well established. Novices can expect to spend a significantly greater amount of time per week during the four or five month growing season in northern areas and even more in areas with longer growing seasons.
The author, an experienced gardener, kept records of the hours spent cultivating and harvesting a 20 by 40-foot garden, planted primarily for fresh consumption. Only three foods—tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers—were raised in amounts sufficient for a limited amount of home preservation. Over 40 person-hours were required. The actual grocery store value of the garden food consumed by the family of three was $45. Food given as gifts and preserved raised the dollar value to $75.
Gardening often helps stretch cash income, but the dollar return is low for hours of effort. And poor weather may cause crop failures and small yields, regardless of effort. Food preservation also is time-consuming.
_Satisfactions._ Why garden or preserve food at home? Most gardeners will cite a number of reasons:
—The best of good fresh food with no unknown additives or ingredients —Healthy exercise —Family pleasure working together toward a goal —The joy of giving —The challenge of growing a seed into edible food —Prestige