Easy no-cook Strawberry Freezer Jam

Our local grocery store had an amazing deal on strawberries: 

8lbs for $2.99

So of course I couldn't resist, and bought 3 flats (or 24 lbs)

I've always wanted to make freezer jam, and lasts year's halapeno jam was not a big hit around here. After talking to some friends, I decided to use Ball's RealFruit Instant Pectin. 

This instant pectin uses about half the sugar as some of the other brands, and the biggest plus: no cooking involved. This means, no vitamins or flavor lost. And these strawberries are super sweet. 

I used the recipe from the Ball's container, but doubled it for each batch, as I will be making about 30 half pints. Each double recipe uses about 2 lbs of strawberries. The first thing to do is take out the top and clean them. I then dried them off a bit, before putting them in my Blendtec Blender and mashing them up. Much better than using a potato masher!

Then mix 1 1/3 cup of sugar with 4 Tbsp of Instant Pectin, and add the mashed strawberries to it. Now the most time consuming part: stir for 3 minutes. 

 You can store your jam in any airtight container, but I prefer to use the disposable kind (like glad or ziplock). I found a 6 pack Kroger brand for $1.97.

Just transfer the jam to the containers, making sure to keep about 1/2" at the top, allowing for expansion.  The double recipe will fill four 8oz containers.

 Put on the top, and they're ready for the freezer. Each batch only takes about 15 minutes.

Cost for 30- 8oz containers:
Strawberries: $5.98
Pectin: $10 (about 2 bottles at $5.15 each)
Containers: $10
Sugar: 10 cups = 4.5 lbs - $2.88

Total= $28.86 - or less than $1 per 8oz container!!!

And a video tutorial