This is such a great question as I have pondered it myself while gardening. It is true I get so much more out of gardening than just the monetary cost, but in today's economy, every dollar counts in a young family like ours. In an effort to have more organic produce available at a "sustainable" price (LOL), I decided to try growing my own. The following are my challenges and what I've done. Hopefully it can help you: Poor soil = Raised Beds: We have clay marl in this area, not conducive to veggie gardening. So I decided to do a raised bed. Cedar lumber, railroad ties, and pavers (recommended for raised beds) are all quite expensive so I went on www.freecycle.com and craigslist.com. I was able to get 200 pavers / bricks for $20. Droughts in Central FL = Expensive Water: The raised beds help conserve H20 bc you are watering a smaller area more efficiently. I added soaker hoses I found in a neighbor's trash (really). Cost was zero. Mulch is free at a local park where the county gov't shreds it, puts it in a pile and you just have to bring your own container. I'm sure your county has a similar set-up. Soil: Now this was expensive. A 2.5 cf bag of garden or potting soil is about $10 here and the bed I have takes about 10 bags. So I scoured the net for Home Depot and Lowes coupons. I found several $10 off of $25 purchase. So I methodically bought my soil in $25 purchase increments in order to get the $10 savings. I spent some more on compost because I don't have a compost pile. I add calcium to my tomatoes by saving egg shells. Transplants vs. Seeds: It's nice to have an instant garden with transplants but inflation has hit them too. They are much more costly now. You can get seeds for 1/3 the price and have 20 to 50 more plants. Plus transplants often have diseases and pests from the nursery which you are INTRODUCING to your new 'virgin' garden! So, I buy the seeds and follow the french intensive/sq. foot garden method. Jiffy mix + pots works too but that was too costly this year. Pests and Diseases: Unfortunately, here in FL we have year round bugs, fungus and blights. I have tried very hard to go homegrown organic, but so far I have failed. I had to resort to buying Organocide ($15) in order to treat blight in my tomatoes. Today I found corn earworms in my corn and fruitworms in my tomatoes. A cursory net search revealed that the preferred organic control (a predatory wasp) is $90. Yeah, who can afford that? So, tomorrow I am going to buy some BT at $9 a bottle at Home Depot. It's not conventional pesticide, true....but I'd rather get the wasps! So far, the major costs have been pest / disease control. If you want to plant a garden on the cheap- you definitely can....just think outside of the box and ignore all of the glossy Lowes/Ace/HD ads...they just want your $$$$$$$...scour the net/eBay for coupons, check out freecycle and craigslist. You can even rent power tools for FREE from local libraries (check out swap and borrow sites). GOOD LUCK!!!!

Live Wire Oak, this refrigerator is still under warranty and many parts for GE Profile models have a 5 year warranty. I would never have even considered an appliance that didn't have a decent warranty. For a less than one year old refrigerator to have problems is not normal or acceptable. Does anyone really think so? GE's offer of a discount on another model, is not acceptable either. Firstly, there isn't another GE model that I would want. We needed a refrigerator that had lots of space. I took a measuring tape with me to showrooms and measured the shelf space of many different refrigerators. I was surprised that most 24 cu ft models today have even less shelf space than my old 23 year old, 20 cu ft Whirlpool which did not have enough capacity for our needs. (and it was old - but as I stated earlier, never necessitated a service call). And we needed one with the largest refrigerator space - We have a small freezer in the garage. Today's French door and bottom freezers models just don't fill that requirement. We also didn't want an icemaker or water dispenser which take up way too much space and have many problems. This GE Profile model is the only 24 cu ft top freezer on the market. I felt reassured by a ringing endorsement by Consumer Reports at the time we bought it, although I notice that in their most recent ratings, GE refrigerators has lost its high rating status. As for my doing the diagnostics, the GE tech was just here. Wasn't that what he was supposed to do? But as I stated previously, of course we checked the door seals. And, of course I don't know for sure what the problem is, but I realized that once again I can't always depend on those who are supposed to have the skill, knowledge, and experience, to do work the homeowner can't be expected to because the homeowner didn't have years of training and experience. After researching the issue I've read enough to come to believe that the build up of ice in the freezer and water in the refrigerator compartment should not be considered "operating as designed". I wonder if Live Wire Oak understands what is involved in testing and replacing the thermostat. It's just not reasonable to advise that I do this repair myself. I don't have the ability or electrical knowledge. An internet repair clinic advises to"Consult with an appliance repair technician if you do not feel you have the skill or the ability to successfully complete this repair". I believe I read that one homeowner who tried this ended up with severe burns. Okay, first step, (according to the instructions on the website), is to locate the defrost thermostat, and in freezer-on-top models, it may be located under the floor of the unit. I'm not sure how I can get under the floor of the unit. Being 5' tall and 96 lbs, I can barely move the beast. And even if I were Wonder Woman, I don't have the equipment to do this repair. For example, in order to test the thermostat, one would need to "set your multitester to the R X 1 ohms setting". Apparently, the thermostat is wired in series (whatever that means) with the defrost heater. I just wouldn't touch that - even I could get access to it. You might want to check out the post: French Door Refrigerators. mmhmmgood wrote on Sat, Aug 13, 2011, "The only one that might be worth avoiding is GE, consumer reports show a pretty poor brand reliability with GE's fridges. " What I am complaining about is that the service technician was here for 5 minutes and left abruptly, without checking anything other than the evaporator coils. He was not originally scheduled to come to our house that day; we were added at the last minute - the fault of GE service schedulers. He normally starts his calls at 8 but he was forced to start his day earlier because of us and was here at 7:45 and he was quite angry. It was very, very unfortunate for us. And I want to stress that our first refrigerator was replaced because every test the tech did - and he did a number - all done with his laptop connected to a central service location - showed every test as failing. It was under warranty and it was declared "unrepairable". If it's unrepairable, it doesn't make a lot of sense to continually try to repair it. It costs a company money to have to send service people over and over again to try to make repairs (costs in labor and parts) when it knows that the appliance is not repairable.

>>>"1) I will have the ice maker installed. With the bottom freezer basket being wire instead of solid, if an ice cube fell out of the ice bin where would it end up?"In my freezer, it would wind up on top of something else. My freezer is usually pretty full. If you have an otherwise empty freezer, I suppose an ice cube could fall through the baskets to the floor. Does not seem likely as the wire bail/arm thingie projects down in side the ice bucket. I have not hooked up the ice maker so I'm not able to comment further. >>>"2) Does your freezer drawer extend out beyond the open french door? Whirlpool Customer Service says that depth with freezer drawer open information is "not available" for the KBFS20EVMS. I realize your refrigerator is 33" and I am looking at 36", but I suspect a wider freezer drawer would not open further than the one you have."Well, actually, mine will project out further than with a KBFS20 because mine is standard depth, not counter depth. As I pointed out in your thread, the CD model will only project out about 18 or 20 inches. The KBFS22 model that I have is several inches deeper to there is more room freezer drawerr. With a CD model, the drawer will project out about as far as the larger door. >>>"Any negatives you have noticed with wire rather than solid freezer basket?"Had not given it any thought but, now that you mention it, I think a solid basket (inner drawer?) might hold the cold a bit better, as with a chest freezer. On the other hand, I think wire baskets may give better air flow for more rapid cooldowns and more even temps throughout the compartment.

I think the Debbie Meyer bags have a lifespan, and it isn't actually that long. I've shown what I do before so I won't do it again, but will say that Lock and Lock really works for keeping vegs fresh until it's eaten. I use a separate container for lettuce with a screen guard in the bottom, and use a salad spinner to spin it dry before storing. I haven't tried rinsing it with lemon juice though, which is probably a good idea. I did recently buy a lettuce knife so I wouldn't have to tear lettuce to keep it from going brown, which is working well. If you have a Foodsaver and a the jar attachment, vacuum sealing already prepared (but not dressed) salad will keep it fresh a little longer. It doesn't last forever though! Lowsparks idea of planning your menus is important. If you have some of the prep work already done as you've already figured out, it's much easier to cook when the time comes. A simple madoline or slicer is a very easy way to prep vegetables if you haven't tried it, but you do want to use a finger guard. I don't plan for holding fresh food for more than a week though, so maybe if you expect it to last longer than that, that's the problem. Here is a link that might be useful: ceramic slicer