I know, it can be hard to get the numbers to work on home canning. I usually find myself using the less quantifiable stuff to justify it: gained knowledge & independence, better ingredients like veg & fruit homegrown organically (leaving aside the sizable amount of SUGAR that goes into jams. Yikes!), and pride. It's also a good way of preserving garden harvest that might otherwise have gone bad if left fresh. I'm looking at my husband right now, who has a serious chile pepper plant hoarding problem. :) We've planted numerous fruit trees on our property over the years. They're not full size yet, but once their fruiting ability takes off, the harvest is likely to be sick! We'll have to can just to use as much of it as possible, or watch much of it rot on the ground. So, ha! This is how I make canning worth it in my head! Thanks for the great post.