On June 28th, 2011, I decided to try my hand at canning. Since we are growing our own veggies in the garden, and because of the type of grocery shopping I am doing now, it only makes since to can our foods when they are at their freshest and lowest cost. I did a lot of research before purchasing the necessary materials, and I finally decided on a Granite Ware 21.5 qt Canner with Rack for water bath canning and an All-American 15 1/2 qt Pressure Canner for pressure canning. I got the water bath canner for about $19.00 on Amazon, and I paid about $130.00 for the All-American pressure canner on Amazon. I decided on the more expensive All-American because, well, pressure cookers can be scary, and I want to make sure that the one I has is well-built and able to withstand many years of use. I also purchased the Ball Blue Book: Guide to Preserving (from our local Agway), and the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving from Amazon.
Once I researched and ordered the materials, it was only a few days before the canners came in and we could begin canning. We decided to try our hand at blueberry jam first. I got the blueberries on sale for $1.99 a pint, and they were very fresh. It took about an hour, from start to finish- which definitely took a bit longer as we are still becoming familiar with the process of canning-, 3 pts of blueberries, 6 cups of sugar, and we ended up with 6oz jars of blueberry jam. We only did a small batch since it was our first. I haven’t tried the blueberry jam yet, but it looks great and the jars all sealed. I can’t tell you how great it felt to hear those jars pinging as they sat on my counter cooling off.
I will upload a picture of jam as soon as I get some free time, but I am very proud of our first attempt. My 2-year-old son also loved the canning process, as he got to eat all of the blueberries that I thought were too ripe or too bruised to go into the jam.
So let’s do a price comparison. At my local grocery store, a 13 oz jar of jam is $3.99 (or about 31 cents per ounce). It cost me about $2.50 for the mason jars, lids, and rings. $5.97 for the blueberries, and about $0.25 for the sugar to make 6- 4oz jars of blueberry jam (or about 36 cents per ounce). It comes out to be a little more expensive to make our own jam, but once we’ve done this a few times, the overhead that we put into the jars will even out and it will be more cost effective. Also, it is healthier, since I know exactly what went into my jars, and learning how to can may just be a priceless skill to have if the SHTF.
All in all it was a great experience, and I can’t wait to move on to the next one. Up next on the list? Some peaches that I got on sale for 69 cents a pound!
Happy Prepping 
- A Prepared Mom
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