There's different kinds of "bang" for the buck. From a pure compared-to-supermarket-prices perspective: shallots. I've seen shallots go for a buck each around here. I bought a bag of sets for 16 bucks years ago and save some back for replanting every year, so my cost per shallot goes down every year even as my crop size grew. As the numbers are currently working, each shallot I grow this year will cost less than two cents. Plus they are terrific to have in the kitchen (especially when they are cheap) and offer long storage with no special effort. From a nutrition-per-square-foot perspective: potatoes. A ton of food from small spaces. Also superb in the kitchen, especially new potatoes, and interesting variety available. And also offer long storage without canning or freezing. From a gee-whiz-in-the-garden perspective: Swiss chard. Grows from spring to fall, is hardy and likes cool weather yet also yields in summer heat, yields all season from a single planting, is easily grown and rarely bothered by pests (in my garden anyway) AND is best thought of as two vegetables culinarily (leaves and stalks)...whew, that's an impressive list of credentials for a leafy green! Collards come close, but I find chard easier to care for and more interesting in the kitchen. But my overall champion has to be: tomatoes. Easy to grow. Prolific plants. Great compared-to-market value. Almost mythical quality when garden ripened. Tremendous variety to choose from. And, for me, without a doubt the most versatile vegetable in the kitchen. They can find a place in breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They can be raw or cooked a million ways. Consider the number of cuisines they are at home in, and the number of roles they play in those cuisines, and the number of ingredients you can marry them to - it's amazing. So for me they are an unbeatable combo of money bang, garden bang, and culinary bang.

Have you been fertilizing? They look relatively healthy, though they could benefit from some fish emulsion or miracle gro.

I am no expert, but usually, when mature fruit like yours rots from the tips, that is blossom end rot. There could be two reasons for this: the squash has some kind of disease (e.g., bacterial wilt, but this is unlikely in your case as you would see symptoms on leaves before seeing fruit rot) or the plant got too much water. I think in your case, you just need to make sure not to overwater the plant. I wouldn't shade it as squash loves sunlight and depriving it from it could stunt the plant, which wouldn't help it in recovering from whatever ails it. If this is in fact blossom end rot from overwatering or wet weather, under the right circumstances, the plant will recover and resume producing healthy rot-free fruit (unless the blossom end rot is caused by nasty underlying things like the dreaded squash vine borer, in which case you would need to treat the underlying problem before seeing healthy fruit). Fruit with simple blossom end rot is okay to eat--just cut off the affected part plus an inch more and eat the rest. By the way, if it is hot, I don't think you should water more. Instead, try watering more frequently but give your cukes the same overall amount of water. The problem with hot weather is that the water evaporates more quickly. If you divide the daily watering into several smaller doses, more of the water will be absorbed by the roots. If the water evaporates and the soil around the roots dries out some, the roots will more readily absorb the water next time you water. If you only water once a day, the capillary properties of the soil will only allow part of that water to be absorbed by the roots and the rest will evaporate. Needless to say, avoid getting any water on the fruit. In fact, avoid watering anything but the soil around the stem. Deep watering of the roots only is the way to go. The best thing you can do to prevent hot weather from stealing water from the plant is mulching. Put a two-inch thick and two-foot wide patch of leaf mulch around the stem of the plant (make sure the mulch doesn't touch the stem). This will greatly help in keeping the water from evaporating.

In regard to the bread - I once gave a yellow 12-pounder to my neighbor, who has six kids. She made a huge amount of zucchini bread and gave me some. Once it is processed that way, it is totally indistinguishable from any other.