I bake a lot of bread (and then freeze much of it) and always grumble when I let my bread consumption outpace my bread production because spending even a couple of bucks on a baguette at the store would be one thing if it were good, but usually it's not and so I'm spending money on something that I can and do make but didn't make, and when I make it it's better and cheaper. And yes that was all once sentence.
So I got a kick out of this Slate article that analyzes various items and recommends whether readers should buy them or make them.
The author's conclusion regarding jam?
"Make it, but only when the fruit is free or close to it."
Got it.
I would say I have about a dozen jars of jam left. And a few jars of straight-up fruit, including one quart of black raspberries that I can't bear to eat because — ! — then it'll be, like, July before I can have black raspberries again.
I've been having steel-cut oats with jam for breakfast every morning for months now. This is not a complaint. Just an observation.