I have been canning for years, decades really. During that time, I have been told countless times that it is so much work and that it would be easier and cheaper to just buy it from the store. Those same folks however would always enjoy it when I would give them a jar or two of something I canned. An interesting reality that speaks to the convenience we as a society have come to. Although there is a lot of work that goes into canning, the many benefits far outweigh the work. But despite the many benefits, the thing that always comes up is does it save me money? For the second year now, I have gathered the data to determine if it does. This article will dive into the 2024 data and subsequent analysis to determine that answer.
Why do I like home canning
As I explored in Preserving the Garden Harvest by Canning - Does Home Canning Save Money there are many methods of preserving a harvest from the garden besides canning such as freezing, dehydrating and fermenting, to name a few. Although I use a number of them along with root cellaring to preserve the produce I grow and/or forage, hot water bath and pressure canning are by far used the most frequently. As I explained in the section titled Why do I can I have many reasons for canning and they are all important. But I would have to say that the main reason for canning is two fold and are similar to the same reasons why I garden. Namely, I enjoy it and I know what's in my food.
Besides my two major reasons for doing all this work, and it is work, I feel that it also saves me money. Couple this with the feeling of security that it gives, it really does invoke a feeling of calm. Part and parcel to my stocked pantry shelves is that I grow most of my own produce. I do purchase some fruit and forage a number of items, but for the most part if I can't grow it, I don't can it. As I explored in Does Gardening Save Me Money - A Year In Review - 2024 Edition, for the 2024 gardening year I harvested 927.961 KG (2,045.8 pounds) of produce from my garden which when compared to in store pricing saved me $1,882.13 CDN ($1,326.78 USD) over conventionally grown produce. However, I garden in a manner I would consider organic. A comparison to organic in store options, when available, revealed a realized savings of $3,608.52 CDN ($2,543.76 USD). Certainly worth the effort.
But when it comes to canning all the produce I grow, there are many factors that come into play which will ultimately affect how much money I could save, if any. Things like what I grow each year, what produce I can, how much of it I can and whether I were to compare to organic or not all play a part. As I explored in Preserving the Garden Harvest by Canning - Does Home Canning Save Money, in 2023 I realized a $329.10 CDN ($238.89 USD) savings by canning my own organic produce. But how much will I save in 2024, if any?
Does home canning save me money - Context
This is my second year collecting data on everything canning in hopes of answering the question if canning saves me money. To do this, I record the time spent prepping the produce, what I canned by jar size and how long the stove runs to do the canning. While the stove is running, the time waiting for jars to can up is not included as part of canning because I am not actively doing anything related to canning. The time is allocated to stove run time. Also included would be new jars, spices, vinegar, lids, etc that would be used to can stuff up. This is used to determine the base cost. Last year I based it on the jar regardless of size, but this year I decided that it was more accurate and fair to determine the base cost per mililitre (mL). By dividing the total costs by the total mL canned, I was able to determine the 2024 base cost.
But the picture is not complete because I needed to add the cost of producing the food which I had determined in the article Does Gardening Save Me Money - A Year In Review - 2024 Edition to be 0.54 CDN/100 grams or $5.43/KG ($2.47 USD/pound). Some foods require more attention in the garden and therefore cost more but as an average, this is what it cost me to produce 927.961 KG (2,045.8 pounds) of produce in 2024. But only a portion was canned and so each vegetable type was given a percentage to reflect its use in the canning process.
Although I canned up 567 jars of food from August 25, 2024 to January 23, 2025, they were not all directly from the garden. Rather, the 567 jars also contain 56 quarts and 64 pints of convenience meals such as chili, broth, turkey meat, chicken meat, and vegan beans. As the cost of production did not affect these convenience meal jars the cost of production was not included in the analysis of these 120 jars of convenience meals. However, the base cost was. The cost of the ingredients was factored in to calculate how much each jar cost me to produce and allow a reasonable comparison.
The last piece of the puzzle is what it would cost me to buy it in the store. So going on line to one of the local stores, I gathered prices in Canadian dollars per 100 ml for everything, including organic when available. Because I decided to include the convenience meals I have canned up thus far in this analysis, $CDN/100 mL were gathered although organic options were not available.
Does home canning save me money - Analysis
Cost of Production
As I mentioned above, in 2024 I produced 927.961 KG (2,045.8 pounds). To be able to apply this to my canning I would need to use the cost of production to apply to the weight being canned. As determined in Does Gardening Save Me Money - A Year In Review - 2024 Edition, the cost of production was determined to be 0.54 CDN/100 grams or $5.43/KG ($2.47 USD/pound).
Home canning Base cost
The next calculation to determine was the Home Canned Base Cost. This cost was determined as follows:
- Total jars canned August 25, 2023 - March 1, 2024 = 567
- Recorded hours spent prepping = 49
- Wage costs - 49 hours @20.00/hour = $980.00
- Jar purchases = $0.00
- Snap lids =$60.00
- Sugar, vinegar, spices, miscellaneous ingredients = $100.00
- Electric Stove usage - 54.7 hours @0.20/hour = $10.94
- Canning equipment - although it can be pricey to initially get the equipment, it lasts for years, if not decades. Therefore the attributing associated cost is negligible.
This results in a total cost of $1,150.94 CDN ($827.51 USD) to can 567 jars or a Home Canned Base Cost of $2.03/jar or $1.46 USD/jar.
As I do a lot of canning in a variety of jars in many sizes, including odd jars as I explored in Recycle glass jars, upcycle glass jars and repurpose glass jars....but, can I reuse commercially filled glass jars for home canning?, I decided that a Home Canned Base Cost in dollars per mL would be more appropriate. The total mL of all the jars used was tabulated and determined to be 410,137.659 mL. Dividing this into the total cost equates to a Home Canned Base Cost of $0.0028 CDN/mL or $0.0020 USD/mL
Comparative Analysis
As with the 2023 analysis, I needed to determine what it would cost me to purchase the same volume of canning as I produced. With my decision to use mililitres to do my comparisons, it became a simple mathematical equation for comparison as everything could be compared based on a price per hundred mL. I was then able to determine if I saved money on that particular item or not.
To recap my 2023 process as applied to the 2024 data:
- I estimated the percent of the garden produce used in the canning process, applied it to the weight and multiplied it by the Cost of Production (CP) to give me the Production Cost by Produce type;
- To determine the Cost if Purchased, I applied the quantity of each jar size by Canned Product Type to the price of each Canned Product Type by $/ml. Unless it was an odd sized jar where ml were known, to compare against a price per mL in-store, each jar size was converted to mL with the following assumptions:
- 1 pint = 473.176 mL
- ½ pint = 236.588 mL
- 1 quart = 946.353 mL;
- To determine the cost of canning the produce, I needed to distribute the Production Cost across each Canned Product Type by jar Size. To do this I determined the CP Distribution % based on the Quantity Canned of each Size. The CP Distribution % was then applied to the Production Cost to give me the CP Distribution Cost. Which, when added to the Jars Base Cost (Quantity Canned x Home Canned Base Cost), gives me My Cost;
- And finally the savings could be determined as the Difference of Cost if Purchased minus My Cost. A savings being realized if the resulting difference is a positive number and a loss if it is a negative number.
Does Home Canning Save Me Money - Findings
After entering all the data into the spreadsheet I created, I was then able to complete the analysis and determine if my home canning saved me any money. As I stated earlier, although I would consider the garden produce I grow organic and the processes I follow for canning to be organic, I wanted to be able to also compare to standard canned food stuffs I would find in every grocery store. And although I was able to find prices easily for each conventionally canned Canned Product Type, finding organic prices proved to be more difficult for some items. But none the less, the findings of these two analysis proved to be interesting to say the least.
Regular vs My Cost
After running the analysis on the 567 jars I put up to January 23, 2025 using conventional priced items, I found out that I could have saved $1,347.24 CDN ($941.20 USD) by buying all my Canned Product Types in the store.
Although disappointing, looking at the individual savings and losses of each Canned Product Type, I found it interesting that although I could have saved $1,036.68 CDN ($748.96 USD) total by getting tomato products like sauce and whole tomatoes in the store, the specialty items like tomato juice, various relishes and pickles showed that overall, it was cheaper to can my own.
Despite the lack of savings with garden type foods, the analysis did show that I saved $457.44 CDN ($319.57 USD) by canning my own convenience meals. But interestingly, the largest savings was in the canning of meats. Although I can the majority of things as ingredients, convenience meals are a nice thing to have. So it was nice to see that despite some things being cheaper in the store, I could still realize an overall savings by doing things myself, obvious health benefits aside.
Although it is sad to say that I could have saved $889.80 CDN ($621.63 USD) by shopping at the store for garden type foods, I think it is important to mention that these savings or lack of savings can vary from year to year depending on what is being grown or how well something grows as it will affect what Canned Product Type one is comparing.
Organic vs My Cost
I garden organically and so a more accurate comparison would be to compare my canning to organic options in the store. Although there are limited organic options for some of the things I grow, at the end of day, I could have saved $495.64 CDN ($346.26 USD) by buying garden type canning at the store, using conventional priced items when organic was not available.
This was a bit of a surprise as I would have thought the savings would have been more. But when I started looking at the data, the only organic prices I was able to find in the store to use for comparison was for dills, whole tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato juice. The majority of the prices in the organic vs my cost analysis were unchanged from conventionally grown and canned product types.
If I was to only compare apples to apples on the organic options I would have saved $286.28 CDN ($206.83 USD) by buying these items in the store. However, if I compare these same items to the conventionally grown and canned product types I would have realized a much higher savings of $1,137.89 CDN ($822.08 USD) by buying in the store. Although it would seem that no matter which way I run the numbers, it is cheaper to not can, what this sub analysis shows me is that in a true apples to apples comparison, I saved $851.61 CDN ($615.25 USD), a 74.8% savings over conventional priced food product types despite it being cheaper to purchase the Canned Product Types in the store.
With this huge difference in a small sub sample apples to apples comparison, I decided to run some analysis to see what I would save if I were able to buy everything organically for all the Canned Product Types. To do this, the 74.8% savings was applied to the price/mL for all canned product types for which I had no organic prices (highlighted in pinky red). By adjusting these prices accordingly and then comparing to My Cost, the analysis would indicate in an organic apples to apples comparison, I would theoretically have saved $6.42 CDN ($4.64 USD) by buying all garden type canned product types in the store. As with all the other analysis, this savings will fluctuate from year to year depending on what it is that I am canning each year and subsequently comparing.
Although the convenience meals never fluctuated from Regular vs My Cost to Organic vs My Cost because there was not an organic option for the convenience meals I canned, adding the 74.8% savings percentage to the regular price per millilitre did equate to a savings of $1,073.70 CDN ($775.70 USD) over purchasing in the store.
Does Home Canning Save Me Money - Final Thoughts
At first glance it would seem that I could save myself a bunch of money by buying all my canned product types in the store. But in so doing, I am also buying a less healthy option that although I may save some money short term I have to question what the long term affects of the extra stuff one gets in each can, things like Calcium Chloride or Polysorbate 80, to name a few. Sure, buying organic can eliminate some, or all, of these extra items in each can but because some countries do not have the same organic standards as we do, the organic label may just be a marketing tool. Unfortunately, buying organic is not always possible or easy. If it were, as my assumptive analysis shows, I could have realized an overall savings of $1,067.28 CDN ($771.06 USD), albeit majority of which is in convenience meals. Still though, only saving $6.42 CDN ($4.64 USD) by buying things in the store just does not support not doing it myself. By growing my own food and canning it myself, I know exactly what is in each jar.
Money being spent on food, especially in todays markets, boils down to feeding the family as cheap as possible. I get it! But for me, enjoyment aside, the potential money being saved initially is being spent long term in future health costs, self esteem and security, to name a few. But here's the kicker! Although the purpose of this blog was to determine if home canning saves me money, I think one has to look at the whole picture, the entire process from start of garden to final Canned Product Type on the pantry shelf. It really is a seamless circle.
Not only does the garden supply all sorts of fresh eats through out the growing season, the food preservation that occurs from the extra the garden produces will help to feed the family throughout the winter. In the process it will save visits to the grocery store, ensure healthy eating and yes, save money. As I discussed in Does Gardening Save Me Money - A Year In Review - 2024 Edition, I realized a savings of $1,882.13 CDN ($1,326.78 USD) over conventionally grown produce purchased from the store, $3,608.52 CDN ($2,543.76 USD) if I purchased organic produce and $1,100.41 CDN ($775.72 USD) was realized over buying at $3.00 per pound at the farmers market. However, these savings, although sizeable, are only part of a totally seamless operation.
As the analysis conducted in this blog indicates, I could have saved $1,347.24 CDN ($941.20 USD) by buying conventionally canned garden product types in the store, and that by buying organic when available I could have saved $495.64 CDN ($346.26 USD) by buying it in the store. When the cost of canning is applied to the savings realized from growing my own produce, the data would indicate that I saved $534.89 CDN ($386.44 USD) over conventional produce and canned product types. And that, when organic is purchased when available, I would have realized a $3,112.88 CDN ($2,248.92 USD) overall savings. Besides the stocked pantry I have at the end of the season, the obvious healthier choices and knowing where my food comes from, that is a lot of money.
Granted, home canning may not be the most cost effective and easiest way to preserve the garden harvest. But when I consider all the factors including cost of entry and storage requirements, there is no better way in my books, save maybe annual root cellaring, to put healthy options on the pantry shelf that will store for years.
I hope you found this of interest, that it gives you some food for thought and that it helps to encourage you to grow and preserve your own food, however big or small. If you did enjoy it, please consider joining the My Boreal Homestead Life community. By supplying your email address at the bottom of the page and hitting "sign up" or by clicking Join the community, you will ensure you get an email notification when I post new blogs to the My Boreal Homestead Life site.
Thank you for joining me on the front porch of My Boreal Homestead Life as we explore this Homegrown, Homestead life, In a Modern World.
Additional Resources:
- Is Home Canning Really Worth it? Does it Save Money to Can at Home? - Melissa K Norris
- Is Home Canning Worth It? Shocking Cost Comparison! - Little Mountain Ranch
- Can you save money by preserving food at home? - University of Georgia
- Canning Water...Yes, Water! - Reusing odd shaped jars
- Recycle canning lids, upcycle canning lids and repurpose canning lids....but can I reuse canning lids for home canning?
