I'm looking forward to how your ideas develop.
Frugal is relative, of course. We're mostly retired on very limited income. Our means have so far allowed me to maintain an uncommitted approach to edible gardening, though, so deer and rabbits, also insect hoards, weird viruses, etc., have always gotten to most of the little I've planted. Three does are raising 4 fawns on and around our little hill this summer. Yesterday morning I found the cylinder of welded wire that protected the last surviving tomato plant of 3 put in shoved to the side and the tomatoes gone. So much for those.
We do have some fruiting plants that all thrive without any spraying or watering: a couple of mulberry trees, wild and cultivated scuppernong and grape vines, a couple of sour cherry trees and figs and several blueberry bushes. They also all get cleaned out by the birds and other critters, but if we got hungry we could eat the critters and the fruit. Raccoon braised with figs. Itm, the outside lights come on when they come to raid, and it's fun to watch.
What I do grow these days, in a raised, protected strip at the top of a retaining wall that they haven't found, are fresh cooking herbs and a mesclun-type salad greens mix that would just be too expensive if I had to buy them. (Others the rabbits don't eat, like thyme, rosemary, fennel, oregano and sage, are elsewhere.)
All are expensive at the market, of course, and short lasting, so this small area definitely pays its way, and it requires little water. I do need more space for salad greens. Tonight, though, we had red potato salad with fresh tarragon, chives and parsley, and some lemon thyme tossed in too just because. If I had to purchase them fresh, it'd have had to have been a mayo and pickle version.
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