How to Make Your Own Freezer Jam
Have you ever made your own jam? NO? Why not? Did you think it was too hard? Messy? Expensive? Well, you couldn’t be further from the truth! I am going to show you How to Make Freezer Jam. It is super easy and you can save a ton of money!
I hit up Aldi’s today and bought a ton of fruit! Well, not a ton but I got 8 lbs of strawberries and 4 pints of Blueberries for about $13. I bought it all with the intentions of turning into freezer jam.
I bought these Instant Fruit pectin packets last year on clearance for $1.16 each. I did see that this year they had instant fruit pectin in larger jars for a great price at Walmart. You can use almost any kind of Fruit pectin to make jam. You are going to want to follow the directions on the package since each one is a little different in how it gels.
I also splurged this year and bought these “fancy” Freezer jars. You can use any kind of jar or container for freezer jam. You certainly don’t need these to make a yummy batch of jam! I bought this 5 –8 oz jar pack for about $3.25 at walmart. I am totally going to be reusing these for different make ahead foods. I am thinking they would be great for smoothie servings, and so much more!
The freezer jam is as easy as processing the fruit in the food processor or blender, mixing in the sugar and fruit pectin, and storing it in clean jars or containers. That is the beauty of freezer jam. There is no heating, canning etc. Just mix and jar.
Freezer Jam
Equipment
- freezer jam jars
Ingredients
- 4 Cups fruit pureed
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 pouch Ball Instant Fruit Pectin
Instructions
- In a bowl stir together sugar and pectin.
- Mix in the fruit and stir for 3 minutes
- Pour into freezer containers.
- Can be frozen up to 1 year. Makes (5-6) 8 Oz jars
I ended up with 20 1/2 jars of jam. I think if my helpers would have kept their hands out it would have been an even 21. I made 2 batches of strawberry and one of blueberry.
I did the math about what each jar cost me and it looks like this.
Total Cost
8 LBs Strawberries $8
4 Pints Blueberries $5
3 Packets Pectin $3.48
4 1/2 cups sugar (est $1.25)
Total cost $17.73
Divided by 21 Jars
Final Price: $0.85 an 8 oz Jar!
Jam costs about $2.75 a jar regular price so this is a huge savings!
This is plenty of jam to keep us in peanut butter an jellies for quite awhile. Plus, I know what my kids are eating. It came out of my kitchen, and I know that there are no chemicals included!
I am hoping to find a great U-Pick farm and get some more great produce deals. You can find more info about u-pick farms here.
I am surprised you only used 4 1/2 cups of sugar. My recipe calls for about twice as much sugar as fruit. Can you include your recipe?
I just added it to the post Kathy. 🙂
This looks super easy. I’m gonna have to try it. I made jam once in my breadmaker. That was interesting.
Oh how easy! Ive only made Jam twice & it turned out so good! But question about this recipe & you can laugh because im not a very good canning person! Can I use the glass jars & freeze them or no? Thanks 😀
Yes, you totally can! I typically use my glass jars, but this year I am saving them for my tomatoes. I have my fingers crossed that they will start coming in any day! 🙂
thankyou:D! I really would love to learn how to can more since we usually love canned stuff better & it is so much cheaper too!
this looks way and great! i wanted to know, do you need to freeze it? or can you make it and put it in the fridge? i want to start with a small batch first to see how it turns out. plus its only me, dh and my baby ds so not much will be consumed just yet. thanks!
No it can go in the fridge. It just keeps better in the freezer for a long period of time. The Ball pouch I bought made 5 8 oz jars, but they sell the same instant pectin in smaller packets and a canister now. They have the directions right on them for smaller batches. 😉
thanks!! I’m going to try this now!!
looks so easy, i am going to try it! Thanks for posting
How did you puree the fruit? I have fresh raspberries and am going to have to try this 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
i did it in the food processor.
Thanks for the recipe! I’m going to have to try this one next as it calls for a lot less sugar than the recipe I typically use. Just as a thought- strawberries and blueberries taste great together in a jam- kind of a mixed berry effect. I use about 3 cups strawberries to 1 cup blueberries. What I’ve been really trying to find a recipe for is a jam sweetened with fruit juice rather than sugar to be comparable to the all fruit jams I usually buy for the kiddos sandwiches. Anyone know of one?
I hate to ask a dumb question, maybe, but do you have to strain the puree or is it ready as is??
I like chunks of fruit in mine so it is good as is. If you want to strain to take out seeds and such it is totally up to you.