OUR PLANS MULTIPLIED

In the beginning, JD adamantly only wanted two children. I thought that four would be perfect. Once we caught God's vision of putting orphans into families, our plan was multiplied by God. We are currently blessed with 12 children; five biological, six adopted and one more waiting in Ethiopia. Our first adoption was from the U.S., the next three were from Liberia, West Africa, and our last two were from Ethiopia. We are supporting our 12th child in Ethiopia after her adoption could not pass court.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Canning Analysis

JD located strawberries for $1 a pound last Sunday. He did what I've trained him to do and called me to discuss the potential of the good buy. We decided on 30 pounds to make jam. I really didn't know if I would financially come out ahead by canning it or not, but quickly figured it out after we were done. I made two double batches two days in a row - each double batch yields 10 pint jars, so we finished with 40 jars. With the cost of strawberries, sugar and pectin, I spent $51 on 40 jars! So, that's about half the price of what I pay for Smuckers at the store.


What really sold me on the deal was when I compared the ingredient list. Smuckers has high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup listed above sugar. Mine obviously has plenty of sugar, but no corn syrups!


The other nice part is I really enjoy canning. JD did the strawberry cutting and cleaning the first day with me, but James and Tori volunteered to do most of day two's prep work.

I also figured out that while it was about $1.28 a jar at $1 a pound, it really only goes up 37 cents a jar if the strawberries cost $1.50 a pound. I've bought several pounds at that price all year, and I think it's still well worth it at that price.

Now it will be interesting to see how many jars we actually go through a year. 40 jars of salsa is exactly what we need for a full year, but I don't know about jam. We may be making more next year!

5 comments:

  1. That's an impressive amount of jam!

    ReplyDelete
  2. i a so jealous!!!! i am on a hunt for strawberries this weekend!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, good job!

    I sent you an e-mail with my address awhile back, and just now sent one again based on your comment. Let me know if it comes thru this time! I copy pasted the e-mail address, but I thought I did that time. :0)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like canning alot. Especially since you know what is in the jars. No weird stuff. Hope Gabe and Alei gets home soon and safe! Blessings

    ReplyDelete