Freezer Jam

Tuesday night after teaching Institute I ran to Walmart. I ran in with intentions to get the things on my list (and only those things) but as I rounded the first corner, lo and behold, there were the raspberries for 75 cents a container. Wow! I have been wishing I could make raspberry freezer jam but haven't had the heart to spend $3 a container. Of course they were on the extremely ripe side, and I had to dig for a while to get those that didn't have moldy spots on them. While I was there I also grabbed some 8 oz. plastic freezer jars (Jake and I can't go through it fast enough to use pint jars). I had a meeting on Wednesday morning, and the rest of my day was dedicated to my project. I decided to try Splenda instead of using sugar. For those of you who have sensitive taste buds, you may want to try regular sugar, but for the rest of you I highly recommend it! I should have made them late Tuesday night because the top flat got too warm and started molding a little. It wasn't a huge deal, but it certainly took more time to have to sift through and cut pieces off. The first batch took one-and-a-half flats and four hours versus the two-thirds flats and one hour for the other two. Normally it only takes about twenty minutes to make freezer jam, but I don't mind spending a little extra time to save money!
Jake made fabulous protein pancakes (oats, cottage cheese, egg whites, baking powder, and vanilla), then he tried his first bites of the jam.

Even though he isn't a fan of Splenda, he said he really liked it.
My mom always made raspberry freezer jam as I was growing up, so to me it tastes like home.

After dinner, Jake and I went to his grandparents' house to pick some plums. I read on the freezer pectin that it works well, so we thought we'd give it a try. We've made canned jelly with it before, but I like how much simpler freezer jam is. Plus, I prefer the texture of jam. We only did two batches since we weren't sure how it would all work...
Grandma Mary was a great help!
We decided to make it down the street at Jake's parents' house. I read online that you are supposed to leave the peels on, which made our job a lot faster. Jake and his brother, Brandon, cut the plums.
Lucky for us, Nyla had the great idea of using this chopper. It cut the pieces small enough without smashing them too much and it made for light work. It was perfect!
At Jake's request we used sugar instead of Splenda.
It was absolutely incredible!! I am so happy we made it! It was sweet, as usual, but with the bigger chunks it also has a tartness to it. If you wanna try it, I guess you'll have to come and visit! :) This will be our new freezer jam tradition!