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.

We make jam every year as glut of berries in garden

I use a regular pan, like a pasta saucepan
I use jars from year before, ideally similar so they match.
just buy jam sugar which was 1kg for €1 this year.
I just wash jars in hot soapy water, then sterilise in the oven for 30 mins.

Mincemeat is also homemade, and cheap.

You don't need all the gadgetry just a big pan and you would only need to buy sugar. I save all my glass jars so have never bought any. Have a look on Freecycle someone might be giving them away.

Where is the best place to buy sugar this year? I had trouble finding big/bulk bags but I got some from a Tesco Superstore in the end.

In canning you need to achieve fully sterilised and sealed jar contents to avoid the risk of food poisoning. This is quite different from preserving with high quantities of sugar (also applies to preserving in salt, alcohol or vinegar) where the sugar (etc) is in sufficiently high concentration that it provides protection against bacterial growth and spoilage. As a result 50:50 sugar/fruit jams don't need all the canning equipment and reusing jars is fine (I still put my jars in boiling water to ensure they're properly clean and try to use the ones whose lids pop to show they've sealed properly). Freezing is also very effective if you don't want to use the high quantities of sugar.

Jam Pan: direct.asda.com/george/home/pots-pans/silver-stainless-steel-stock-pot-30cm/051073770,default,pd.html?cgid=D26M08G08C12
These are really good value.

Jam thermometer: www.dunelm.com/product/jam-thermometer-1000117935

If you have a food processor, then use that to chop stuff up.

You don't need tongs if you have oven gloves.

Ask locally on FB for old jars. Many come with perfectly reusable lids (ones that have not been used for curry or similar that stains the seal.
Or buy replacement lids - you can often find packs of assorted sizes online

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.

i knit my own yoghurt and crochet my own müsli. My DH bakes all our bread and we make pretty much everything from scratch (what can i say? I'm an old hippy and he's a chef)

we haven't bought jam for years, people give us jars and often return the ones we gave them previously (in return for a load of jars usually). The only jars we reuse from bought are the honey jars, and those from dill pickles (which we give to the neighbour who makes her own)

The sneering is so unattractive

I am sneering at (or rather, being critical of) people who were calling the OP 'stupid' for being unfamiliar with their chosen hobby. I'm not going to apologise for that, and I'm not sure why you want to defend it?

sorry, my eyes glazed over after a page or two of guff so i didn't see too much of that. Apologies.

So to anyone who was sneering at OP - fuck that. I always embrace people trying out things for the first time that I've been doing for years. They usually ask good questions that make me rethink things.

It's fine! It's a really long thread and I would generally be absolutely with you in not liking sneering. And there are now lots of nice positive posts sharing tips about making preserves, which is lovely.

(I love home-made bread too - your post is reminding me I must get back into baking. We stopped out of laziness but shop bought just isn't as nice.)

we started because we live in a village with a lovely bakery but when they retired nobody wanted to take it on. So we started making more and more and now never buy bread.
(i say "we" it isn't me doing it )

I love jam making, I find it so rewarding as it just tastes so bloody good. Like others I collect jars throughout the year and only pay for sugar. I dont have a thermometer i just freeze a plate and do the set test with that

I see at least part of the cost as the hobby rather than the jam, if you see what I mean. Because I enjoy doing it, it’s worth the money.

Do people really add sugar to apple sauce? I just cook mine down with a little water. Mind you, I don't then do anything with it apart from eat it. Bramley apples are very hard to get mind you. Maybe it's different with eating apples.

Sorry for the pondering derail. As you were.

Both spellings are used here.

I use it to make dog biscuits.

Do people really add sugar to apple sauce?
I don't but I don't like overly-sweet things. It's why I don't like shop-bought mincemeat; it tastes like flavoured sugar.
Bramleys are expensive. I have a friend with a tree thank goodness!. I noticed the other day that our local NT property was selling them (honesty box).

Thanks @BritWifeInUSA, good to know.

I add sugar to apple sauce if I am intending to spoon it over porridge (which is my favourite thing); however, the apples I use are quite tart - more so than Bramleys. I wouldn't add sugar if I were making it to have with roast pork (yum, now I want roast pork ...).

Also, I really rate adding cardamom to the cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves combination. So good.

Step away from the American websites.,

Biggest outlay for me was the big jam pan. Had it 10 years now and a funnel to go over the jam jars to make it easier to fill.

Blackcurrant jam every year - for about 50p a jar.

With apples, I cook them down and freeze them.

@ChiefWiggumsBoy - I do because the neighbouring gardens have 4 large old Bramley trees and I alway get offered about 6kg of the things. I find them too tart on their own for having in porrige or plain yogurt or in apple turnovers.

The Bramleys are also good in green tomato chutney.

I made jam yesterday, free blackberries which I'd frozen, largest normal pan I had, saved jam/honey jars (but have been known to use glasses before now if I ran out of jars, just don't pour in when boiling hot and put a metal spoon in whilst pouring as this absorbes the heat and stops the glass cracking). No special equipment is required, let it come to a rolling boil and cook for a few minutes then, you can test if setting the old fashioned way, you don't need a thermometer, spoon a little on a saucer to cool, if it wrinkles when pushed with your finger it will set (I get impatient and put in freezer to chill quicker). Cost 50p sugar for 3 large jars of seedless organic jam........ Not expensive at all!!

Do people really add sugar to apple sauce?
It depends on the apples. If sour cooking apples I put a bit of sugar in but if sweet eating apples I don't bother.
I don't fuss about what apples are used, my neighbour has an orchard and I take whatever he gives me. They are usually unfit for anything but cooking.

Fot those who haven't cooked apples before, cooking apples cook to a mush and eating apples retain their structure - so if you have sliced or diced them they will stay in lumps.

It is wasteful to buy brand new jars specifically for jam making (because you want them all to match) instead of repurposing existing jars that you either already own or can salvage from family and friends. That’s just a fact. It really can’t be spun in any other way.

Absolutely. If you're able to obtain jars otherwise, makes total sense to use them. I'm just making the point that all of us have to obtain the jars somehow; if for you that's buying them empty, well, them's the brakes and it's not the end of the world, because you can keep using them for ages.

(Now wondering if it's 'them's the brakes' or 'them's the breaks'. My spelling has completely deserted me after the applesauce/apple sauce question.)

Well, thanks a bunch whoever mentioned the Reddit canning sub! That’s half an hour of my life lost. Takeaway: they can some weird shit (and I make loads of jam/chutney so not against preserving as such), and they are super paranoid about food safety.

The Bonne Maman jars are also quite sought after by the mushroom growing community because of the shape of the jar which is why they're still expensive on FB. They're pretty much the only jar that doesn't have shoulders which you need if you want to get something out in 1 piece.