Is Home Canning Worth it?
Assuming you don’t get hot jam on yourself which is probably the hottest substance known to man, I feel home canning is “worth the effort.” But feelings are not useful in a budget. We need some hard numbers to look at.
Let me lay out the numbers for strawberry jam from fresh store-bought berries. I’ve made excellent jams from frozen Costco berries in the past. How is that even relevant?
Let’s assume that Grandma gave you her canning equipment and you didn’t have to pay for it so I don’t have to depreciate how many uses you get out of the crock pot, etc. The costs would be too variable and your sweet grandma probably picked it up at a yardsale for pennies, anyway.
Let’s also ignore the cost of running your stove as it is probably nominal.
And your time... we have to assume your time is worthless. I’m sorry, but unless you would have been using this time writing a blog post that’s worth more than $5 like mine average... (Okay I admit I don’t have enough history of blog writing to give an accurate number here.) You have to be the judge of your your time is spent. Time is money after all. Money is a store of energy… so then if time is money and money is a store of energy… you shouldn’t waste your time money or energy. I’m pretty sure my logic here is sound! ; )
Random aside: When researching I found that sugar is about 300% more expensive than it was in the 1980s. Buy Steem and Bitcoin people!
That’s weird considering that you can still pay about as much USD now as then for a pair of jeans. Of course now there’s T.J. Maxx.
Strawberries were $.99 per pound on sale at Aldi. I bought 8 pounds and used 5 in my recipe.
Pectin: To make sure the jam gels properly. It’s optional but I like it.
Canning Lids (not reusable) ( at least not for canning.)
Jars and bands (reusable) We will include the total cost of the jars in case I give away or sell my jam. Entirely possible. We reuse a lot of jars but because we are ignoring the cost of equipment and electricity… I’ll keep this cost in the final expense numbers.
Yesterday's Batch of Strawberry Jam
Hold on now I’m mashing on the clear © button on my calculator. You have to hit it at least 3 times… it’s not an obsession. It’s necessary. I’m not a Mathlete for crying out loud.
Strawberries $4.95
Pectin $2.24
Sugar $1.70
Canning Lids & jars $5.32
$14.21 for 6- 8 ounce jars of jam and 2- 12 ounce
Works out to:
12 ounce Jar cost is $2.36
8 ounce Jar cost is $1.58
Now let’s compare a popular brand of jam:
$2.98 for 32 ounces… oh no!!!!! The hard numbers are hurting my feelings!
Okay wait a second here. Am I comparing strawberries to strawberries? Let’s see what jam without high fructose corn syrup costs.
Welch’s Natural Strawberry Spread $2.98 for 27 ounces (.11 per ounce)
Homemade is $1.58 for 8 ounces ( .197 per ounce )
8 ounces homemade is $1.58
8 ounces of Welch’s is: $0.88
(I really want to add the cost of driving to the store to this number… and the human cost of having to give Walmart my money & the damage to my eyes from the buzzy flickering of cheap fluorescent lighting & the soul sapping of seeing the the PEOPLE OF WALMART who have no qualms about smacking their kids & acting like imbeciles.)
8 ounces of Mine is: $1.58
Say just for a moment I can(a.k.a. preserve) strawberries I grew from plants that your sweet old Grandma gave me for nothing. And the gosh darn clouds that keep dropping rain the next town over actually stop by my place for a change so I don’t have to pay the city for water. They cost me essentially nothing to grow.
Strawberries $0.00
Pectin $2.24
Sugar $1.70
Canning Lids & jars $5.32
Now I spent a total of $9.26 for supplies
Now my 8 ounces of jam costs: .128 per ounce… $1.02
I’ve finally beaten the Walmart price of Welch’s Strawberry Spread! In my imagination at least.
There is nothing like the feeling of pride and independence you get from growing and preserving your own food. I always have to take pictures of the finished product. The pretty labels are optional so I didn’t include the cost.
Tell your your sweet grandma I’ll be by to pick up those strawberry plants today. Maybe she just made cookies. I’ll save you some, I swear.
I'll be your best friend for a ^ and a Resteem. I swear! ; )