Just made up 2 kgs raspberries into jam and have worked out that it cost me $2.53 more for the 3000 mls than it would have cost buying Anatoths from Countdown - and that's not counting the gas and the jam covers! Of course I had to buy the berries, $12 per kg, and the flavour is going to be yummy, but Anatoths are pretty good too! Hmmm, won't feel guilty if I don't get a chance to make more.
dezzie,
Feb 4, 2:25am
I think its really only cost effective if you have your own fruit trees, or access to really cheap/free fruit.
korbo,
Feb 4, 3:10am
agree with dezzie, unless you can get fruit for nothing or cheap, better to stock up at s/mkt when on special. Tho in saying that, bought 2kg black doris plums on side of road,($2.00) 1.1/2kg of sugar and got 9 jam jars of jam.
sylvia,
Feb 4, 3:27am
Well, here goes again! Just realised the bought jam is in grams and my jam was measured in mls. So back to the drawing board - or the calculator. Wonder how I can work this out, must admit I do have quite a few jars!
davidt4,
Feb 4, 3:39am
1 ml of water weighs 1 g, jam is unlikely to be much different, so on a rough and ready basis your calculations are okay.
uli,
Feb 4, 3:49am
It is practically the same as 1ml of water is 1g. Both have 1000 to the kg.
duckmoon,
Feb 4, 4:14am
This is one of the reasons that our school fair doesn't sell raspberry jam, we can't make at a price where we can sell it for a profit.
However, there are many many other jams and relishes which came in with a huge profit margin.
My best deal was donated tangelos and grapefruit - from a grandparents tree; I purchased three oranges to make three-fruit marmalade - cost $1.26 With donated sugar, that would have cost a parent but no cost to the school, and recycled jars.
Total cost ( to the school ) of the marmalade was $1.26: can't remember if I made twelves jars or twenty six jars from that batch
griffo4,
Feb 4, 7:17am
Add in the satisfaction you get from making the jam, l love making it l onlymarmalade each year from our own fruit but love seeing all the jars lined up in the cupboard
lcl2,
Feb 4, 7:39am
Nothing better than home made jam no matter what the costYummy
pickles7,
Feb 4, 8:06am
I would urge you to use a sugar thermometer, I am sure I got 1 or 2 more jars of jam when I started to use one. It helps bring the costs down a bit.
ace441,
Feb 4, 10:36am
Weight is based on water i.e. 1 ml = 1g, 1 litre = 1 kg etc. Just learnt this today when daughter asked a maths question about how much water would fit in a certain m3 - I couldn't work it out so asked hubby who is a plumber and got a lesson in this very subject !
aktow,
Feb 4, 11:46am
my old mum makes jam all the time. shegets given lots of jars and fruit from friends.once a year at our holiday camp ground they have a market day so she makes around 50 jars of jams to sell.i think she sells it to cheap at $2.50 small jar and $3.50 large jar. funny thing but we never have any jam opened for ourselves, it mostly given away or sold
sylvia,
Feb 5, 3:36am
That's interesting about the measurements! Just made fudge for a school fair and am not even going to attempt that costing as I know it won't work out 'profitable' but it will fill up a stall lol.
duckmoon,
Feb 5, 5:17am
then you are under selling it.
I make russian fudge, last time it costed at $4.21 per batch.I cut it into 48 squares, and bags it with 6 or 7 squares per bag. Each bag was sold for $3.50.Which means that the school can get $24 per batch of fudge . which cost me 1/8th of that amount.
I love making four batches of fudge, it takes me around 1 hour, and the school gets $100. I can't earn that in one hour - when I am at work
puddleduck00,
Feb 5, 5:21am
But how much nicer is home made jam. I would say 5.7x nicer.
strebor1,
Feb 5, 5:31am
I only make jam from our own fruit. I can't justify buying fruit for jam, unless it is in a throw out deal because it is going to go off if not used.
biafran,
Feb 5, 5:50am
Jam is about 1.3 times heavier than water, so 1 litre of jame should be about 1.3 Kg, give or take. This will vary from recipe to recipe.
04redsox,
Feb 5, 10:14pm
Could you explain what to do with this! Thanks
davidt4,
Feb 5, 10:18pm
The setting point for jam and jelly is 105°C/220°F.You use a sugar thermometer (i.e. one which is accurate at high temperatures) to measure this.
kiwibubbles,
Feb 5, 10:57pm
how does a sugar thermometer give you more jam!
terachaos,
Feb 5, 11:08pm
Knowing exactly what goes into homemade preserves, and knowing where they came from.priceless!
lilyfield,
Feb 5, 11:08pm
By not over boiling the jam and therefore evaporating more water.
uli,
Feb 6, 12:35am
Because then you know when to bottle your jam, rather than keep boiling it and evaporating all the juice. Which means less jam.
nfh1,
Feb 6, 1:14am
If you evaporate less water, does that mean the jam is more watery and then you use more!
lythande1,
Feb 6, 1:49am
2 KG sugar=$3.98 Fruit = free.
You're doing it wrong, grow your own fruit.
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