Food, at any time, could become a valuable commodity. In addition to learning to grow a garden, you should also know how to garden, save seeds, and “regrow” certain vegetables in water to get the most out of your garden.

A lot of preppers understand this idea, but many still don’t practice it. I admit that I don’t do this as often as I should, but now is good time to start! And getting started is simple. Just don’t throw away your vegetable food scraps, just yet! Those can be used to grow more vegetables, money can be saved, you’ll spend less time at the grocery stores, and won’t need to grow as much in your own garden.

Regrowing your vegetables in water can be done with store-bought vegetables too, and that is a great place to start.

These are the ten vegetables that will easily regrow in water in the comfort of your own home (there are others, but it can be easier to start here):

Bok Choy
Simply cut off leaves at the bottom of the stalks and within a few days, new growth will appear.

Cabbage
Cut the bottom of the head off, & place it in a shallow bowl with a small amount of water. Don’t let the leaves get too big, they’ll taste better when small.

Carrot Greens
When you’ve finished eating the root of the carrot plant, save the tops! Cut them down to just a few inches and watch them produce new green leaves.  Excellent for tossing into salads, make pesto or add to your green juices.

Celery
Cut the stalks down to about 2-3 inches tall.  Place the base of the plant and small roots into a shallow bowl with a small amount of water and watch a new small stalk begin to grow from the center.

Fennel
Cut the stalk down to about 1-2 inches tall, leaving the roots intact. Place in a shallow bowl with water.

Garlic Chives
Place a small garlic bulb that has started to grow a green shoot into a shallow bowl of water. Within a few days, you’ll be enjoying fresh garlic chives.

Green Onions
Cut the green part off of your green onion, and place the white stalk with the roots intact into a bowl of water.  The stalk will regrow the green section that you cut off.

Lettuce
Remove the bottom of the head, leaving it about 1-3 inches long.  Place that into a shallow bowl with water.  It will regrow small lettuce leaves in the center.

Leeks
Place the bottom section of the stalk, about 2-3 inches long, into a bowl with water. It will re-grow the center portion of the leek.

Lemon Grass
Plant the same as you would a leek. Remove all but 2-3 inches of the stalk, place in about 1/2 inch of water and watch it regrow from the center.

Don’t stop there either! Plant your own garden this year. Choose non-GMO heirloom seeds so you’ll have new seeds from your vegetable harvest every year. Save seeds and you can replant your garden without needing to purchase more seeds.

Once you’ve learned to garden, don’t let a late frost or an animal destroy your means of getting food.  You should also be able to forage for plants that are edible.  There are several books out there to help, the three below are highly rated and great resources for anyone looking for a more self-sustaining lifestyle: