making jam yourself is stupidly expensive.

[ToniAlto]

We've got a glut of apples so started investigating the internet and adding to basket all the bits and pieces I think I'd need.

I've come to the conclusion that each jar of applesauce would be roughly £12, obviously reducing if I store and reuse the jars and equipment for the next ten years.

AIBU to think that home made jam/sauce is stupidly expensive.

OMG, you are me. It is so, so easy to want all the gadgets, isn't it?!

You don't want Kilner jars for jam or apple sauce, honestly. They look pretty but there's no need for that type of lid and it'll be a bugger to do when you're dealing with hot stuff.

Tell your DH to step away from the apple press/crusher. If you are making sauce you just need a sharp knife.

I put the apples in the pressure cooker with cinnamon, star anise and ginger and cook them down for ages. Then I put it in old jam jars and seal them in the oven in a baking pan of water. It’s delicious and very cheap.

YABU to say that applesauce is jam!

I would just stew the apples and freeze them personally. Then use them in crumbles/porridge etc over the winter

3 Bramley apples
50g caster sugar
50g butter

Takes less than 10 minutes to make. I dont understand the £12 at all.

Oh goody, another post trying to 'prove' that it's not worth making any foodstuff yourself because it's more expensive than value level supermarket products that are not comparable quality wise.

I made apple sauce with some apples I picked up from a 'we have more apples than we know what to do with, please take some' bucket I picked up while out on a walk locally.

It cost:

apples (free)
sugar (pennies, a couple of spoonfuls from a bag that costs about a pound)
splash of lemon juice from the 50 p bottle that lives in the fridge, so again, pennies.

A few minutes electricity to run the microwave (not that much really, say £1 but probably nowhere near that amount).

It is currently stored in a mix of tubs, jars and bags in the fridge and freezer, all of which which were free/very cheap as mostly old jam/sauce jars or or takeaway containers.

Leaving aside the minority of people in temporary or very small accommodation because, despite what MN would have you believe, the majority of people do have at least basic functional and equipped kitchen facilities, it only costs 'a lot' to cook most things if you cost in every last thing you could possibly buy as if you're only using it for that recipe, instead of using thousands of times over decades, so the cost per use is too small to measure

It never occurred to me to can things in the oven! That's such a good idea. You don't happen to remember where you got a deep enough baking pan to submerge the jars? I always end up canning mine in my biggest saucepan and it's a faff.

To add to the confusion, the amazing USA women talk alot about 'canning' I think by this they mean putting it in a jar not literally welding up a Tim - that confused me for a long while.
The USA health boards are also very strict about not advising the reuse of jars or lids which led me down an expensive path.
And apple butter, which is amazing, isn't anything to do with dairy, it's very sweet, full of cinnamon and nearer to jam than sauce.

I took it to mean kilner jam jars not the clip top ones - that’s what I use anyway but just stock up whenever I see them on sale during the year

I've made jam now and again over the years and I usually only pay for the jam sugar. I would occasionally pay for more unusual fruit ie greengages if I could buy some on offer, but mostly use free berries. Agree that jars can be expensive, never understand why when it is cheaper to buy eg value jam where you get the jar thrown in.

With apples, I’d freeze.
I make jam annually (well, grape jelly). I invested in a Ball canning kit on Amazon, of which I use the basket thing they sit in in the boiling water, and the tongs. I also buy ball jars and lids, because I find that if you properly can, the jelly lasts longer (previously I’d get 3 months using old jars and lids, I’m now getting over a year). Otherwise, I use my own saucepans etc.

I had an apple tree and the main cost was the jars and labels, though the following year I had friends give me their empties. A strainer cloth too. The rest I had or could cobble together from stuff.
I never used jam sugar just regular sugar.
I can recommend: apple chilli jelly! That was one of the most popular things I made. Chutney requires additional food ingredients but was the easiest to make.

Cross posted. My advice would be to get off You tube, and especially TikTok because there seems to be far too many 'experts' who have 'discovered' all manner of simple things that people have been doing since time immemorial and turned them into ridiculous expensive performances.

Our great grandparents will be at the same time pissing themselves laughing and shaking their heads in despair.

Canning is the process whereby you make sure there's no air caught inside the jar, and it's sealed.

You can make a decent seal on a sterilised jar simply by ensuring the jar and the sauce/jam are both hot, and the lid ought to pop down nicely as both cool. This is all I'd bother with for something like chutney, which has a high vinegar/sugar content that'll help preserve it. If I were making sauce, which is more liquid and more liable to go off, I would also 'can' it by putting them sealed jars into a pan of hot water and letting them simmer for a bit. You can literally see the bubbles of air coming up from under the lids into the water.

(NB: do not ever do what I did the first time, and forget that if you put a hot glass jar onto a surface that is very cold or wet, it can shatter!)

@mrsbyers - oh, that would make more sense! I was trying to figure out why on earth you'd want clip-tops.

BTW, who buys jars? Seriously.

Has no-one ever heard of reduce, reuse, recycle?

Just reuse old jars from whatever.

I have just voted iabu on my own thread. DH will not be filling our inadequate storage space with jam toys and I'll get off YouTube, no more lifestyle brand experts.

Keep your wisdom coming......plenty more apples on the tree.

Glad you’ve seen the light OP!

I do, if I want them all to match. If you want to be competitively holier-than-thou about it, you could consider that if you truly were reducing, reusing, recycling, and knitting all your own yoghurt, you'd have precious few old jars anyway, wouldn't you? What with making everything yourself.

Sugar, old glass jars, possibly a sieve for apple butter, and any old pan.
You are very ignorant.

I have loads of pickled beetroot, apple sauce, pickled cucumbers and onions, they are all in various jars from pasta sauce to mustard. I wouldnt even think of actually buying jars, it seems so wasteful.

"I have just voted iabu on my own thread." 😀

Another vote for keeping it simple. Sterilise the jars (fuck the US health board) and pour the sauce or whatever into hot jars so they seal. Get a cheap pan from the charity shop if you're not confident you won't burn it. The only outlay I have when I make jam is the sugar.

Also, if you end up making what I call "sad jam" that hasn't really worked/set, or the kids won't touch, don't chuck it - use it as fruit pulp in cakes, muffins, or as a marinade/sauce base for meat. Waste not want not!

I have just voted iabu on my own thread

I think this is probably one of the funniest things Ive read on here

I have matching Bonne Maman jars - just from eating Bonne Maman over the years.

Competitive? Holier than thou? When you’re the one who wants all your jam jars to match.

"You are very ignorant." That's uncalled for, @NoNameNowAgain . OP's come here for advice and taken the criticism in good humour.