Strawberries!

Two days ago, I happened upon a deal on strawberries at one of my local grocery stores.  Ripe, mold-free strawberries for only 74 cents a pound.  So naturally, I bought 40 pounds.  I washed and stemmed 16 pounds to freeze for smoothies or cooking/baking.  Side note- my husband bought me a Vitamix blender about a year ago, and it makes wonderful smoothies, amongst other things.  I love, love the Vitamix and will be posting more about it in the future.  But they're totally worth the investment in my opinion.  Anyway, the other 24 pounds of strawberries were washed, stemmed, and turned into freezer jam.  This took 3 large pots to make, and about 4 hours from start to finish (including washing and cutting), but I made exactly 25 pints of fresh, homemade jam.  One of the reasons I find that making jam is worth the work is because I know exactly what ingredients are going into our food.  No extras- just the wholesome minimum.  So let's do the math:

I usually pay $9 for about 8 pounds of frozen strawberries at costco.  That's a savings of 6 dollars on my frozen strawberries, since I froze 16 pounds.  ($18 for 16lbs at costco versus $12 for 16lbs with the deal I found).

I usually pay $3.35 for 18 ounces of strawberry jam at the store.  I made 400 ounces (25 pints x 16 ounces) and it cost me $18, plus about $3 more for pectin and sugar. That's 5 cents per ounce homemade versus 19 cents per ounce of store-bought.  

Plus, my home smells like ripe strawberries and we have enough jam to last us nearly two years and it only took 4 hours-totally worth the effort.  I'm a big fan of buying in bulk, especially when you find a good deal.  Might I also recommend an extra freezer if you have the space in your garage?  My grandma gave her old garage freezer to us and it works like a champ.  I wouldn't be able to make all the freezer jam without the extra freezer space.  Thanks for reading about our mindful home.