One day, out of the blue, I was in the mood for peach jam. I went to the store to buy some. I didn't even think about the price. I get to the store, look at the price and couldn't believe it was over $3.00 for one little jar. I almost fell over. I passed it up. I just couldn't see paying that kind of money that wouldn't last me long, maybe a week.
So, i make a call to my mom. I knew she made strawberry jam growing up, how hard could it be? It ends up she never made peach jam, but her mom did. I remember it, it was really good!
By the end of the day my husband had bought me a water bath canner, I bought a few pounds of peaches at the fruit market, sugar and pectin. The next day I had 7 1/2 ounce jars of peach jam, all for under $4.00!
This was an important milestone into simplicity, more than i ever realized. It took one less thing off my shopping list - which was long enough- it saved the extra gas money having to run to the store since we always seemed to be running out of jam or jelly. Mentally it was comforting to know it was in the house. That summer I ended up making jam to last throughout the winter. With the money I saved from not having to buy jam I stocked up on extra peanut butter and put a few extra dollars in my pocket. The next summer I canned not only jam, but canned peaches for the kids to last the winter. That winter the kids ate canned peaches and homemade snacks all winter.
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