Maintaining a vegetable patch can save you £35,000 over your lifetime, a report suggests.
A possible solution for consumers struggling with high food prices has been proposed by National Savings & Investments (NS&I): growing your own vegetables.
According to the body, many staple foods are easy - and cheap - to grow in private gardens. Indeed, evidence cited by NS&I today suggests that growing your own results in savings of £1,000 per year, or £35,000 over a working lifetime.
Moreover, a host of lifestyle benefits are also claimed for the process of tending a vegetable patch; to this end, NS&I indicated that it is supporting the Royal Horticultural Society's ongoing Grow Your Own Veg campaign.
Tim Mack, head of communications at the body, commented: "A meal of freshly harvested vegetables from your plot is very rewarding; somehow the produce seems to taste even better than usual. Not only that but by growing your own you can save on your grocery shopping, leaving a little extra money to set aside."
He added: "Even small amounts of money saved regularly can add up, allowing you to enjoy the bounty of your savings efforts, using the funds for a holiday, a family day out, a new gadget, or to simply ensure you have enough set aside to cope in an emergency."
Latest figures from the new Retail Price Index - a commonly-used inflation measure - show that food prices have grown by 13.7 percent over the past month alone. Particularly strong growth was measured for chicken, pork, bread, cereals and vegetables.
