Now do not get discouraged when you see all the expensive things that they want you to buy when you search for indoor gardening or growing your vegetables indoors.
Please do not buy one thing for growing until you read what i write!
First. i will show you from time to time what exactly i have done in my indoor veggie production and so on but i will tell you what i have done so far when i give you all the info..
here is the list of the only things you will need
-pots free if you have them or you can use yogurt cups, butter containers or other plastic things you would toss out that you can puncture holes in the bottom for drainage
-soil (free if you have good, light garden soil, but you might want to pour boiling water over it to kill bacteria, pests, eggs and other things.) but since i have clay spoil in my gardens i buy a bag of it for less than 7$ for what i need.
-all purpose fertalizer 1-10$ (depending on amount and brand, i use store brand small bos for 3$ and it lasts for months)
-tin foil 1-2$
-area that is room temperature free from cold drafts
-cheap shop spot light ( i got mine at home depot for 5$)
-30-60 watt comparison compact flourescent bulb ( this must be a daylight comparison bulb!!! this gives a decent spectrum for growing) 5-10$
-vegetable seeds and other things. (the next list will tell you about the things you should grow and why, plus where is the best sources i have found)
VEGGIES TO GROW
Take into consideration:
-amount of space and light you have. If it is a big rooting veggie or something that you need to plant a lot of then forget it! People do try tomatoes and so on but it is really not cost effective because of the heat and light you need. I have found some foods that need little light and take very little space.
-amount of time these veggies take .. most things will say how long it takes to harvest so keep in mind there are fast growing things that have a harvest time of less than 50 days (ideal for indoor growing and cost effectiveness)
thing of general cost savings.- first can you find the seeds and stuff for free or less than the cost of the already grown item?
shipping adds cost when buying seeds online! so add than in on how much you want to spend
you might need to try new things. There are somethings that you might be able to grow real fast and cheap, but they are not the typical thing you would buy in the store to eat ( or in the store at all) but keep an open mind and just find different ways to make these things until you find a recipe you like.
HERE ARE MY FAVS. !
-onions
I grow these for flavoring for the most part. You do not grow them for the bulbs but the greens. so, first you start with the cheepest source of where you can get these. TRY YOUR FRIDGE OR PANTRY! chances are you are like me and every now and then you have an onion that sprouted in your kitchen. So plant this bulb and harvest the greens for anything you want.. these are best cooked tho. Chances are too that by the spring you will have offshoots of these bulbs and you can grow them like green onions or for the flower to get the seeds from.
second choice is to get them in your grocery store. Buy green onions and when you use the gree onion you plant the root end that you cut off, harvest the greens from the new growths or the entire onion and then repeat the cutting and regrowing process
third you can buy a bag of pearl onions (these are more expensive) but it is worth it.. Plant as you would green onion bulbs but harvest for just the greens.
fourth you can buy the seeds and sets. i found that no one will ship to michigan in december when it comes to ther onion set, but i can get the seeds.
all in all when doing seeds remember it takes a long time to get useable indoor crop.
-chives
great for seasoning and you can gety these cheep in seed form but they take forever to grow, you can get these from your garden if you already planted some.
-Lettuces
Look for looseleaf producers. Head lettuce takes too long and it is cheaper to buy that in head form
so look for cool weather crops. gourmet, and oriental lettuces are good too. There is a asian lettuce called sword lettuce that says is grows real fast so i am trying it this time
Others i am trying
-spinaces
-radish
-gourmet greens
and more, but i will update later on what i get.
Things i would loive to introduce.
Weeds!
(I know this sounds sick and i do need to tell everyone to take special procautions when trying some of these because there are certain things that are poisionous and not good for you so when experimenting in these make sure you follow proper safety precautions. know what is harmful and do investigation before use)
weeds such as dandeliions can be eaten for greens or cooked, wilted and so on. But we all know these plants to be easy growing and fast growing (due to the observation of the pesky things in out lawns) but remember that these could be beneficial to you!
you can get these from your yard if you have them, remember you do not use any that have been sprayed with anything or are contaminated with anything bad like bacterias from manures and so on.
but there are places you can buy hybrid dandellon seeds for cheap. these plants are heavy on the yummy greens provoiding you with lots of yummies in small compact plants. 
but keep your mind open and experiment on things you might not have tried before.
Here is DAY 1 for me
I have potting soil left over and some pots laying around so i was covered with those. using a sturdy box i covered the inside with tin foil top help my plants get more light and not lean to the light source. I clipped on my light and filled the box with pots and trays that had the following:
1 large onion from my fridge that was old and close to sprouting
1 potato that had sprouted oin my pantry (put in a large plastic dixie cup for now)
chive plants from my herb garden. they had already died back from the cold and now will think it is spring now that they are inside.
gourmet pearl onions that i found in a mesh bag at the store. I found the ones that looked like they were sprouting so i asked for a discount on them since no one else was going to buy them.
some sprouting garlic. I took the bulb apart and planted the individual cloves.
some salad mix seeds that were left over from the summer.
One venus fly trap (just because it was lying around and i needed to get it more sun.
This just filled up the box so i stopped for the day.
I then hopped online and searched for unusual things finding the site
Gourtmetseed.com
This has lots of cool seeds. decent prices and decent shipping!
so i ordered a lot from there… and will keep you posted on how it all is. Keep in mind i did not get paid to review them and i paid for the seeds myself so i will express my real opinion about this company and product (score one for the consumer)
I basically kept my grocery cart to the seeds that had the quickest grow time. You can't find this stuff through BURPEE seeds!!!
But keep in mind i am trying to grow a lot, and fast!
as soon as i get my order i will have to do some work
I have a green house fram to bring in for the basement. The cover is wrecked so now it makes a great plant shelf for this project.
then i will rig the shop lights with the compact daylight bulbs to the shelving while covering the sides and back of the shelving with tin foil.
I have to also keep in mind tha the basement where i am doing this is kind of cold. I will be going the extra mile and insulating problem areas and sealing hiles and cracks with spray foam insulation (needs to be done anyways)
but this area will still be too chilly to grow tomatoes, peppers and other things like that. I then have to think that my other things will grow a little slower because of the cold.
well that is that for the day., Keep poste for more!
