How much to plant to feed your family?

Figuring out how much to plant to feed your family for a whole year is super helpful when planning your garden. What works for one family of four might not be the same for another—it all depends on taste preferences, your climate, and whether you’re growing veggies just for fresh eating or planning to preserve them.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps to help you determine how much to plant for your family.

Ever wondered how much you should plant to keep your family fed all year? There are so many factors to consider, and I thought it’d be fun to chat through them and give you a solid starting point.

What Does My Family Actually Like?

When planning your garden, the first question to ask is: “What does my family enjoy eating?” If nobody likes kale in any form, skip it! If some like it and you want to dehydrate it for soups or smoothies, just plant a couple. But if kale is your family’s absolute favorite—raw, cooked, or as chips—you’ll want a few plants per person!

Action Step: Make a list of all the fruits and veggies your family loves.

Can I Actually Grow This in My Climate?

Not everything thrives everywhere—and that’s okay! But don’t assume a cold climate means you can’t grow much. “Reasonably” means different things to different people. Some folks grow food in greenhouses during snowy months, while others take winter off to rest. Both choices are fine!

If you’re in a hot summer area, you might need shade cloth or just stick to heat-lovers like peppers, okra, and basil in August. Whatever works for you!

Need help understanding your climate’s impact on gardening? We’ve got a short e-course for that.

Action Step: Cross off anything on your list that won’t grow well in your climate.

Preserve or Eat Fresh?

Deciding how much to plant depends on whether you’ll preserve any of it. If you just want fresh summer tomatoes, you’ll need fewer plants than if you’re canning sauces for the year.

The general rule is 4-5 slicing tomato plants per person. I plant 24 for our family of 5-ish, which covers fresh eating plus salsas, spaghetti sauce, and other preserves. If I made ketchup or paste, I’d need even more—those take tons of tomatoes!

There’s no right or wrong answer, but it’s a key question before planting.

Action Step: Star the items on your list that you’ll grow extra for preserving (canning, dehydrating, freezing, fermenting).

Adjusting Expectations

We’re used to having every fruit and veggie available year-round, but gardening means eating seasonally. When something’s in season, you eat it; when it’s not, you don’t.

We live on the Texas Gulf Coast—mild winters, long hot summers. Our growing season runs mid-October to mid-July (summer’s too brutal for much). Yours might be totally different!

Here’s how we handle it:

Summer: Tons of green beans and squash, but no leafy greens. We eat them daily and can/dehydrate extras.
Peak summer: Okra’s our main veggie, plus canned beans and frozen squash.
Fall: We harvest broccoli and cauliflower leaves to sauté.
Winter: Kale, chard, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, and cauliflower keep us fed.

The goal isn’t to copy this plan but to see how seasonal variety works. By the time we’re tired of one crop, the next is ready. After months without cabbage, it tastes amazing when it’s back!

Plus, knowing we’ll have fresh garden food in January means we don’t need to preserve hundreds of green beans—just enough for the “in-between” gaps.