20 Best Crops For A Survival Garden

When times are uncertain, many people turn to survival gardening—and why wouldn’t they? Survival gardening provides healthy, readily available food at minimal cost. It’s good exercise, boosts morale, and can even be fun. Plus, if you have extra time, it’s an excellent way to take your mind off global stresses.

Even if you live in an apartment, you can create an urban food garden. For those with larger yards, we’ll briefly discuss survival garden design on a bigger scale. However, the primary focus here is on growing your own food for survival purposes and identifying the most effective crops for both caloric and nutrient density.

Let’s start with how survival gardening works and then explore the best foods to grow in your survival garden!

How Survival Gardening Works

Most people like to grow plants that look good as well as some that taste good. But in a survival garden, your goal is to survive. Every plant in your garden should have a use that supports that goal.

Vegetables are essential—they’re diverse and provide a lot of nutrition. But let’s be honest, you and your kids won’t want to face a zombie apocalypse with only squash and potatoes. You’ll also need vitamin C, so add some fruit to your pandemic pantry.

Don’t forget herbs, which add flavor and can have medicinal uses. Just stick to culinary-safe varieties to ensure they’re safe for everyone, especially kids.

Small-space gardeners shouldn’t panic. Hanging and free-standing containers can hold a surprising amount of plants. Grow bags, for instance, are perfect for potatoes! Kevin wrote an entire book full of fantastic information that’s easy to apply to an urban survival garden layout. You can use decorative planters or try one of the many other methods he outlines.

If you have a yard, you’re in luck. Raised beds are a great option, but you can also plant directly in the ground. Plan for climbing plants that need trellises first, then decide where larger plants will go. Use the remaining space for shorter crops—leafy greens, for example, thrive in the shade of taller plants.

Planning Your Survival Garden Crops

Let me stress this: grow food that you will actually eat.

Survival gardens only work if you use what you’re growing. If you don’t like something, don’t grow it. Even if it’s considered a superfood, there’s no point in wasting time and effort on it if you won’t eat it.

How many people do you need to feed? Survival gardening for one is simpler, but if you’re feeding a family or group, you’ll need to consider their preferences too. For example, my husband has a love-hate relationship with eggplant, so I grow much less of that and focus more on crops like tomatoes that he enjoys.

Once you’ve identified foods you’ll enjoy eating, it’s time to analyze them further. When planning for survival, focus on two key factors: calories and nutrition, and storage.

Calories and Nutrition

Most nutritionists recommend a certain number of calories per day for basic survival. If you consume less than you need, you may feel shaky, tired, or unmotivated.

When planning your crops, focus on starchy and sugary foods, as they tend to be the most calorie-dense and will form the bulk of your diet. However, these alone may not provide all the nutrients you need. Balance your diet by also growing green vegetables, fruits, and legumes to supply protein, vitamins, and essential minerals.

Storability

Imagine, if you will, an abundance of sweet, delicious strawberries.

Now picture what they’ll look like in two weeks if you don’t store them properly. Eew.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t grow strawberries, but you should plan for most of your crops to be ones that store well. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to preserve your harvest.

If you still have power, freezing is a great option. Use a pressure canner to preserve certain vegetables for later, or try lacto-fermenting as another storage method. Dehydrating is also an excellent choice.

And for those strawberries? Make strawberry jam—you’ll love enjoying that sweet treat later!

We’ve included Kevin’s top nine favorite crops here, complete with detailed information on why each one is essential in a survival situation. But that’s just the start—we have even more recommendations for you. Read on for our top picks for anyone looking to live off their garden!

Top 20 Best Foods To Grow For Survival

So you’re still at a loss. What vegetable crops or fruits should you grow? Let’s break the options down to our top 20.

Beans

Just hearing the word beans, you’re probably envisioning green beans, right? But there’s a surprising amount of variety packed into this one crop category. Simply put, beans are an essential staple.

Beans provide a lot of nutritionally dense food in a compact form. They can be grown as bush or pole varieties, giving you flexibility in how you cultivate them. The seeds are rich in protein, and the edible-pod varieties are delicious and versatile.

Grow a mix of bush beans and pole beans, as well as a combination of storage beans and fresh beans. And don’t forget to save some of those valuable seeds from each harvest to plant your next crop!

Corn

This crop is harder to grow in an apartment but is a yard staple. Personally, I prefer to grow dent corn or flour corn for survival gardening. Once harvested, you can dry it, nixtamalize it to boost its nutrient density, and grind it into corn flour. When stored in an airtight container, dry corn flour keeps well for a long time.

Corn also serves as an excellent living trellis for bean plants. Plant your corn first, and once the stalks are a few inches tall, sow beans around them. Just ensure the soil is nutrient-rich enough to support both crops. As the pole beans grow, they’ll naturally climb up the corn stalks.

You can also grow sweet corn, and that’s what many people prefer to do. The fresh kernels are delicious and what we think of most.

Squash

Both winter and summer squash are excellent additions to your survival garden, and you’ll want to grow both. Summer squash grow quickly and provide immediate food, while winter squash take longer to mature but store much longer when kept whole and undamaged.

If possible, start seeds for both types at the same time. If not, prioritize planting winter squash first, as they require more time to develop. Squash also pair well with corn and beans in what’s called a “Three Sisters” vegetable garden. The squash act as a natural ground cover, helping to retain soil moisture and suppress weeds while complementing the other crops.

Cabbage

While not particularly dense in calories, cabbage is packed with nutrients your body needs. A rich source of vitamins B6 and C, it’s also full of fiber. Whether cooked or used raw in salads and slaws, it’s a great choice.

Cabbage is also a great survival crop for another reason: sauerkraut, kimchi, or any other type of fermented use you prefer. Once fermented, it becomes a long-storing vegetable option that can be used in soups, sandwiches, casseroles, or as a topping for sausage.

Potatoes

Potatoes have helped people survive times of famine around the world, and for good reason. This starchy root crop is incredibly easy to grow, which is a major advantage!

Potatoes are also simple to grow in an urban setting. Use five-gallon buckets or grow bags to plant them, and when the tops yellow and die down, you’ll have a container full of delicious roots ready to harvest. Along with being an excellent carbohydrate source, potatoes are packed with potassium, vitamin C, and vitamin B6.

You might get tired of them eventually, but there’s no denying that your Norland Reds or Yukon Golds can sustain you through tough times!

Kale

I grow kale year-round. It’s highly cold-tolerant and often tastes sweeter after a touch of frost. During the height of summer, it can become more bitter, but consistent watering helps reduce the bitterness. Kale has certainly earned its reputation as a superfood.

I prefer lacinato kale, also known as dinosaur kale. It’s easy to use in soups and stews, tender and flavorful when cooked, and makes an excellent green side dish. However, don’t overlook Red Russian kale or other crinkled-leaf varieties. They taste just as good and add a beautiful touch to the garden.

Sweet Potatoes

Don’t confuse sweet potatoes with regular potatoes—they’re a very different crop. While they are also calorie-dense, sweet potatoes typically contain more nutrients than regular potatoes. They also have a wonderful flavor, making them versatile for both savory and sweet dishes.

One key difference is that sweet potato greens are edible, providing both leafy greens and tuberous roots from the same garden bed. Although they take longer to mature than many other crops, the effort is well worth it in the long run.

Lentils

The nondescript lentil is seriously underrated, and it absolutely shouldn’t be. Lentils are protein powerhouses, packing almost 18 grams of protein per serving. This legume is one of the world’s healthiest food sources and a must-have for your survival gardening stash.

Believed to be one of the oldest cultivated crops, lentils are a timeless favorite for soups and stews. They shine in curries, and I love adding cooked lentils to salads. They absorb other flavors beautifully, pairing perfectly with nearly any dish. Lentils are the ideal storage protein.

Onions

Have you tried cooking your favorite meals without a dash of onion powder? Onions add flavor to nearly everything on this list, along with a boost of nutrition, without adding many extra calories. You can use the young greens as green onions or wait for the full bulbs to develop—just be sure not to harvest all the greens while the bulb is still growing.

And don’t forget, there are plenty of related allium plants to explore. Include some leeks for bonus flavor potential!

Tomatoes

A popular fruit, tomatoes are a staple in everything from soups and stews to the ketchup on your burger bun. They absolutely deserve a spot in your survival garden. These heavy producers are easy to grow, ripen beautifully on the vine, and taste fantastic whether fresh or preserved. You can sun-dry, freeze, can, or simply enjoy them fresh.

Spinach

Nutritional density like that found in spinach is hard to match in many survival gardens. Like kale, these leafy greens are loaded with vitamins and minerals and should be included among your vegetables. Spinach can be stored by freezing or dehydrating it and crushing it into a powder for later use.

Peas

Both shelling peas and edible-podded peas are excellent choices for survival gardening. The dried seeds from shelling peas store well and can be easily used in a variety of meals. If you’re growing snow peas or sugar snap peas, they can be frozen to preserve their crisp sweetness for stir-fries and salads. Peas are also high in protein, although not as much as beans or lentils!

Beets

Sweet and versatile, beets are not only a vitamin-packed option but also a potential source of natural sugars. Depending on the variety you grow, they can be used in both savory and sweet dishes. Additionally, their edible greens provide a secondary food source, offering a benefit that many other root vegetables don’t.

Carrots

They’re in most vegetable blends for a reason. Carrots are a fantastic addition to your gardening efforts. A whole rainbow of colors awaits you, along with their sweet and crunchy flavor that works perfectly in meals and snacks. Packed with antioxidants, minerals, and nutrients for eye health, some even claim they’re one of the best choices for overall health!

Berries

Don’t forget dessert! Whether you choose raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, or even lingonberries, there’s a berry out there to suit your taste. These fruit crops are essential for satisfying our sweet cravings while also providing a great source of additional nutrition. Store them by making canned jams or jellies, freezing, or dehydrating them.

Garlic

Hardneck or softneck? Garlic is an essential flavoring, a natural pest repellent for gardening, and a kitchen staple. It stores well once dried and has countless uses in your survival stockpile. I consider it one of the most essential crops to grow every year, and you will too!

Peppers

Need some heat in your life, or are you looking for a versatile gardening staple for stuffing or seasoning blends? Peppers offer a wide variety of options to suit both needs. Make dried chili powder, or freeze bell peppers and jalapeños for easy additions to soups and stews. A little spice is always nice!

Cucumbers

You can’t have pickles without cucumbers, and it’s hard to make a salad without them, too! Gardening enthusiasts agree that cucumbers are incredibly productive and require little effort. A survival garden staple, they’re perfect for fresh eating as well. Whether you prefer sweet or sour pickles, cucumbers will keep you satisfied!

Melons

Summer just isn’t summer without melons. Honeydews, cantaloupes, watermelons, and more thrive in the garden from late spring through early fall. These vines produce a ton of fruit, and oh, is it worth it.

Just remember, most melons develop texture issues when frozen and are only usable as a puree afterward. To preserve them, dehydrate slices of melon. Watermelon rinds also make excellent pickles!

Herbs

Finally, no garden would be complete without a selection of herbs and spices to brighten up your food. The song mentions “parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme,” but don’t forget to include mint (and catmint or cat grass for your feline friends), chives, oregano, basil, and any others you love. These herbs not only add flavor to your meals but also enhance your gardening experience while elevating your culinary creations!