At this stage of the game, you need to do a little research to narrow down all the possibilities, centering up on what you want to grow and how best to do it.

You can visit my Web site by clicking on my profile; the URL is in there. Also, peruse the many posts on the forum and visit other members' Web sites. There is a huge amount of information available.

In general, you can grow everything you've mentioned, but there are "rules" so to speak as to what grows best and how. Pay close attention and learn about EC and pH. These two factors pretty much 'rule' what can be grown together.

Hydro is a blast; I've been at it for 30 years.

If your "space" is a windowsill, then I would forget about spinach, carrots and broccoli. They need a lot of space.
I you are a "salad"-man, then I would suggest to concentrate on herbs (parsley, corriander, basil, etc), tomatoes (3-4 plants would be enough) and lettuce (grown in a raft sytem)
I assure you, that would be more than enough for starters.

If cheap is the main factor, I would not do hydroponics. By the time you get done buying what you really need to be successful, you will be far past a few containers and dirt.

For example, a ECC/PH meter, baskets, media, air hose, air pump, air stone, and nutrient solution.

vs.

Containers and dirt.

If you just want to get started in hydro, then I would start off growing cheap, easy vegetables like lettuce, herbs and hot peppers. I say cheap because they are fairly easy to grow, and they do not use a lot of water and nutrients.

Tomatoes are fun to grow, but use lots of space, water and nutrients.

If you want super easy hydro, do a wick or static system where the lid of your Tupperware container becomes the "saucer" under the pot. Just take the Tupperware lid, flip it upside down, then put your Tupperware container on the lid. Fill the lid with water, and viola, static hydroponic system (you would need to put holes in the bottom of the container of course).

For media you can use Perlite, and you would not need any baskets. Just fill the tub with Perlite, and your ready to grow. Also this way you can grow carrots, potatoes, green onions etc.

It's actually not going to be that expensive cause I have most of the expensive stuff already. I have air pumps, ec and ph meters from my saltwater fish tank. I'm mostly trying to save on monthly expenses, not really the initial expense, so I'm trying not to get a system with lights running 16 hours a day. I tried the wicking system last year with dirt, but I'm looking for more. I'm trying to get higher yields since I have limited space. As for the tomatos, I was thinking of getting a bush type so that it doesn't take up that much space. The perlite idea sounds good though. Might try that for my next setup, but I think I'll have my hands full with the herbs, lettuce, tomatoe, pepper systems.