Does Making My Own Save Me Money?

     I have spent the last two days making Beach Plum Jelly. I have a few things to say about this:

     First, whenever I mention either Beach Plum Jelly or Apple Butter to friends the response is either "What?" or "Oh my gosh, I haven't had that since I was a child." I don't think you can buy beach plum jelly. And the apple butter that you buy is nowhere near as good as the homemade. For all of my life these were made by either my Nanny or by my mother. This weekend was my first foray into the world of both jelly making and sterile canning.

     Secondly, jelly making is a breeze...until it doesn't work right. The juice seemed to cook up fine. The jars boiled and sterilized easily. All my jars sealed with a satisfying little "pop". What could be easier? I did just 15 jars yesterday. I needed to buy more cap collars today, so I only did one batch yesterday. It all seemed great until I checked them this morning and only 8 out of the 15 had jelled properly. I'm assuming that it was the last 8 jarred that jelled because they had more time over the heat, but that's just my very unscientific guess.  I had a lot of beach plum juice (2 gallons) so I had 3 batches (these are double batches, by the way) to do today. Jelly making is really a nice thing to do in the fall. It's still nice enough to have the windows open while you work, but it's better than spending a hot August afternoon in the kitchen over boiling pots of water.

     Thirdly, does making my own jelly save me money? Well I'm not sure. I think when you enter into the world of canning you need to be in it for the long haul. For me, I did not buy the berries or the jars (51 of them). I inherited about 1/3 of the flat tops and cuffs (when canning, the tops come in flat tops that seal onto the jars and screw on rings that hold them tight.) I borrowed the special canning tongs (to insert and remove hot jars from boiling water). I bought a wide mouth funnel for $5. I had to buy 3 boxes of tops (both parts) for about $4.50 each, 4 packets of Sure-Jell at $4 each and 20 lbs of sugar (yes, that's not a typo) for $13. Wait a minute while I get out my calculator.... That's about $47.50. That works out to a little over $1 per jar of jelly. Now some of my jars were 8oz jars, but some of my jars were 12 or 16 oz jars. Some of those jars I will give to my sister and my mother. Some of those jars will be given as Christmas gifts this December (a homemade gift fot $1? Not bad). The rest will be eaten by my family through the year or given as hostess or thank you gifts. So, even taking into account the pre-used jars and screw caps, I think it did save me money. A jar of Smuckers grape jelly (is not nearly as good, in my estimation) costs about $1.50 for 8oz. So far I'm ahead.

     Now, adding in the Time Value of Money (or maybe it's the Money value of Time), that's a little more difficult. This is quantified differently for different people. I find working in the kitchen to be therapeutic. I enjoy making food from scratch, and I love to have homemade gifts for people. So I find it hard to add more cost to the equation in this way.  So I'm sticking with a base cost of $1 per jar of jelly. My verdict? Yes, making my own jelly saves me money.

     Now...ask me again tomorrow after I've checked to see if all the jars have jelled properly.