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Anybody growing for "survival" purposes should consider nutritional efficiency -- a combination of ease of growing + nutrient density + ease of storage. .... Anything other than beans, peas, potatoes and corn (and even corn is suspect due to high N requirement) are quite inefficient, adding little besides texture to your diet.
Check nutritional density of any food here: https://nutritiondata.self.com/. I figure any food that supplies less than 20% RDA (ie- more than 5 servings/d to give full RDA) of a given vitamin or mineral isn't worth the effort in terms of nutrition. We can't argue about tastes.....And remember all you kale fans- nobody needs any Vit K at all from their diet, and it takes at least 6 full months with zero Vit C intake to show signs of deficiency.
That said, I like strawberries & raspberries anyway-- self-propagate and grow like weeds with practically no care or attention required...and if you're a rabbit, the brambles provide good cover from enemies.
There are lots of "weeds" that are very nutritious, self propagating, have medicinal uses, and are native to whatever area you live in.
Once started, you don't need to do much else including watering as most are adapted to the rainfall in the area.
Lambsquarter, Burdock, Stinging Nettles, Dandelions, are all excellent food sources. Biscuit root, arrowleaf and millet all make good flour for baking. Fruits like Chokecherry, Elderberry, Gooseberries, all good eating, high in vitamin C.
Rosehips grow just about anywhere there's water, and while the hips are a super food, the wild rose flower makes very aromatic tea and the canes make decent arrowshafts.
Mullen helps open bronchial tubes, a tincture made from the flowers helps earache, and the big soft leaves are why it's sometimes called the toilet paper plant. Handy to have around...
An added bonus is stealth. Who's going to raid a weedpatch for food? Your supplies are safe in plain sight.
Corn, peas, potatoes and squash are on everybody's list because of calories, not nutrient density. We simply cannot grow anything with more calories than those. Sweet potatoes maybe, but not much else. Tomatoes, peppers, greens of all types, berries...all nice additions for the vitamins, but they are.mostly water and crunch. Not many calories to speak of, and we will need calories.
But there's fat and B12, also essential nutrients (cannot live without them). For this reason I also recommend keeping a few egg hens. Eggs will supply quality fat and also vitamin B12. There is no plant that provides B12, and we cannot live without it.
Patty Pan squash, painted serpent melons, snow peas, asparagus, rhubarb.
I grow things that are either much better home grown, or expensive, or not available in the stores.
Sorry, but I am not growing potatoes when I can buy a 20 pound bag of potatoes (at harvest time) for 99 cents.
(I do grow zucchini which tastes the same, is readily available, and cheap because I put it into dog food)
If you are growing for self-sufficiency, put in a few apple trees. Grow a sweet apple, a baking apple, and a winter storage apple. Good plentiful food, nutritious, and great trading value.
If you are growing veggies for prepping, add cabbage to the list. It is a winter storage veggie with vitamin C content and can be used in many tasty recipes.
Parsnips are also a good choice. They are delicious and you can't even harvest them until after the first frost and they can be dug well into winter and store well after they are dug.
Keep an eye on what you can eat during the winter months.
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