Freezer Jam for Dummies (like me)

Today was a domestic day.

The day is not over yet.

For some reason this year I have heard "freezer jam" injected into countless random sentences by countless random people countless times.
For some reason I have never made freezer jam before.
For lots of reasons, I have tasted freezer jam many times. MMM.
I also feel completely and utterly giddy when kind people bestow their homemade canned jam upon me. It's my favorite.

Today I decided to make my own freezer jam.
I'm not yet ambitious enough to make cooked jam...
Mostly this decision was based on spectating at our young women's activity last night.

Here is how my jam making went...
But first, remember how I'm not very good at pictating? Well, just think about how it would be if I had a big kitchen, a nice camera, 4 extra arms, no puppy, and a babysitter. Also think about how it would be if I remembered to carefully stage and photograph every step of the process, before starting.

Now remember who you're talking to.
And who is writing this blog.

To start off, this is what you need: sugar, pectin, and strawberries.
Not quinoa, Stubb's, or a random red potato.

Please don't think about the fact that I took this "cast of characters" pictures after I'd finished making everything. This is why I don't get paid.

Next, cut the stems off the berries and rinse them.

After that, find a really cute, blonde haired, blue eyed, babe to be your helper.

This is a crucial step in achieving the desirable kitchen cleanliness you'll see below.

Okay, so you pulse the berries in a blender til chunky-ish, mix the sugar and pectin together in a bowl, then add the berries. After that, stir for 3 minutes.

Try not to get distracted by cute helper dumping pectin and sugar on the floor.
Or mixing his bottle parts and scrub brush into the blender.
Or trying to climb into the sink and play in the "pool."

After 3 minutes, pour into containers and let set for 30 minutes. Store in freezer for a year, or fridge for a week (or something?). Yum!

Ta-Da!

Desirable kitchen cleanliness:

what you can't see are the pectin-sugar granules all over the floor.

Oh yeah, and I had some extra berries so I whipped up a recipe of Strawberry Sauce from OBB.

please don't look at my messy counter. It's clean now. Promise.

And that, my friends, is how to make freezer jam. 

So easy.

So fast.

So delicious.

So cheap too!

Cost breakdown:

Strawberries: $4 ($1/lb at Aldi!)

Pectin: $4.98 (walmart), I used about half of it, so $2.50 ish

Sugar: uhhh, cheap?

Containers: already had

Total: about $7.00 for 8 containers of jam and one container of sauce. 

Way cheaper, and better, than store bought stuff!

p.s. I used the Ball powdered pectin. It called for about half as much sugar as the Certo, and seemed to work and taste great!

Strawberry Freezer Jam Recipe:
from inside the pectin jar
1 2/3 c. strawberries
2/3  c. sugar
2 TBL. pectin

Crush the berries. Mix sugar and pectin in a bowl. Add the berries and stir for 3 minutes. Pour into containers, freeze. **I doubled the batch twice to get the amount shown above.