Whether you want to provide enough food for your family just for the season or be able to can enough to get through winter you first have to determine what you eat.
First take inventory.
I spent a month taking inventory on what we eat in terms of fruits and veggies, what we like and what we wish we had more of. I also reviewed prices at our local grocery store and farmers market to determine what we spend the most on. The spring starts us out with fresh asparagus, which has been growing like weeds in our front flower bed. Then strawberry season greets us with jar after jar of homemade jam. In the summer months we love to grill squash and egg plant, potatoes and peppers, corn on the cob and fresh green beans. And typically we end the season with roasted winter squash and warm pumpkin pies. With all this in mind I want to make these the devoted crops for our first year with a few extras thrown in to try out.
Second sustaining your family.
After taking inventory on what we eat next was to determine how much we would have to grow to provide for our family. While researching online I came across the Pennsylvania Victory Garden Handbook from 1944. It contained the following table which started as a preliminary guide.
You can read the entire book with the following link. http://www.earthlypursuits.com/VictoryGardHandbook/VGHv.htm
Since this is our first garden we had to scale back greatly from this chart but this gave us a new perspective as to how much food it takes for a person to survive for one year. It is also necessary to determine the average yield per plant which you can find on the table below.
These guides as well as your knowledge of what your family consumes should provide you with enough information to get started on a plan.
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