Canning recipes aren't all of equal value. There are commercial products (good quality canned tomatoes when you can't grow and preserve your own) that represent better value than what you could preserve at home. Others (the apricot chutney from the Bell book, which my friends devour straight from the jar) can't be purchased at any price or at least not one that most of us would be willing to pay.

Asking if canning is economical is rather like asking if buying a McDonalds hamburger is more economical than purchasing a small, tender sirloin steak and grilling it at home over charcoal with sweet red onions. Yes, it's cheaper. No, it's not good value for money.

Apparently it's a great substitute for sugar in canning fruits. My partner cans pomegranate jelly for gifts using raw sugar (better than the white stuff), since he is suspicious of anything but sugar. But, I know the concentrates work well as sweeteners for canning, because I buy the St. Dalfour brand of preserves (maybe I'll can myself someday, but until then, these are incredibly delicious). I found them because I was trying to eliminate so many over-processed foods, and I was reading labels of everything I buy (I still do that). Not only did this turn out the most delicious preserves I've ever tasted, but there's not a single unhealthy ingredient in them. I've recently found some other brands that use similar ingredients, so just look in your store. I'm sure if these things can be made commercially, they can be made at home as well with your own fresh fruit.

As to your sugar/insulin level concerns, I made sugar free strawberry jam last month, with fresh strawberries, lemon juice, and Knox gelatin. I did add a few packets of Splenda, and the results were AMAZING. Almost any jam/jelly/preserve can be made low sugar or sugar free.

Also, who in their right mind spends $16 on 2 quarts of strawberries? I went to a pick your own, and spent an equal amount on an overflowing gallon bucket of them, and have great memories of a fun time with my daughter-and it only took me an hour.

And for those who are non-canners, like a previous poster, I washed, sliced and froze half of my berries for later use in Ziploc freezer bags.

It can be done cheaply, you just have to do a little research and footwork first.

...if you need food through a time period down the road where you foresee possible financial difficulty.

I was raised in a home that canned every food imaginable. Dad's business was cyclical and because he was giving all his goddamn money to a cult we canned.

The goods were appreciated months after the hard work and when money is in short supply. I FAR prefer home-canned fruits and vegetables over the shit at Walmart.

We canned homemade apple sauces, jams, jellies, pickles, meats, peaches, pears, the most delicious apple butter imaginable, beans, and so on. Goddamn hard work, this.

Also, freezing casseroles and homemade bulk items in a large freezer is a fantastic way to feed your face like a king or queen through tough times.

I lean to the hippie, and that is what is wrong with going to "Greengrocer" or whatever that is, and buying their $$$ stuff there. Even in NYC I imagine you can join community gardens or a CSA. I have a small plot in the backyard of my house in Minneapolis, but most of it I can eat immediately. Canning? It's too work now, but I think at some point it will be a useful skill. The freezer is my alternative now.

We have community gardens here in Minneapolis, and many CSA's and also many houses with backyards. Of course, that is the difference living in a 'livable' city as opposed to an over-priced, over-urbanized, difficult city like NYC.

Well, yeah, if you decide to buy gold-plated ingredients, you won't save any money on canning. I doubt anyone is surprised by this. The key, as pointed out, is to get the ingredients cheaply. For three dollars worth of seed and another few dollars worth of organic fertilizer, I grow and can enough tomatoes to last all year. You don't have to do that very long before you pay off even new canning jars, and it's pretty easy to get them used. For another buck or so worth of seed (plus some more money in olive oil, cheese, pine nuts, etc... which I can't produce myself) I make enough pesto to last all year.

Some folks have said that canning is pointless because you can just freeze stuff. I guess they have bigger freezers than I do - I can't freeze 30+ pints of tomato products and still have room for anything else. Plus frozen stuff won't last as long as canned - you end up throwing stuff out that's freezer-burnt.

I agree that jam is never going to be a big money saver, because you just can't use that much of it. Still, it can be worthwhile because you can make preserves that are higher quality than the store... if you can find them at all. Strawberry rhubarb? Can't be found at our local store. Apple butter? You can sometimes get it, but it's generally not all that good.

I don't think there's anything wrong with making fancy, expensive canned goods because you want to. But knocking canning as a money-waster is kind of silly - you certainly can save money if you do it right.

I think the problem with this article is that Ms. Karnasiewicz is letting perfect be the enemy of good. There is no reason, even in NYC, that one should pay $8/quart for berries. If they cost that much, don't buy them to can them. Buy them to eat. Canning is what you do to have an overabundance last a very long time. $8/quart is not an overabundance.

Here's a better idea. if you have the time to can, then you have the time to jump on a train and head out to LI or up the Hudson valley and find a farmer's market that is local and has cheaper, more in-season produce. Can that.

Or, grow it yourself. Honestly, you don't need 20 acres of property. Last summer, I grew 6 tomato plants in a 10'x2' raised bed. Sure, they were a little close together, but I froze 6 dozen tomatoes, on top of the excess that my partner and I, and our friends, couldn't eat and ended up letting rot (on accident). A NYC fire escape with some long planters should hold 3-4 tomato plants, which you can eat now or can/freeze for later.

Canning, gardening and alot of other DIY projects are about making due with what you have, not going broke trying to acquire what you don't have.