A pot reduces. How many jars will this batch really fill?
Raw volume in, your measured cook-down loss, jars out at your fill size — whole jars only, leftovers stated — and the batch cost divided over what actually made it into glass. Everything stays in your browser.
The pot
The run
The numbers here are yours to check. This page does arithmetic on what you type — it cannot see your recipe, your equipment or your batch.
For anything you will eat or sell as food, double-check it against your own process and your local rules. This page does maths, not food safety.
Want it to remember?
In MadeKeeper the pot is a batch: ingredients and jars consume from your pantry, your measured loss rides the recipe, the jar count fills the batch with one tap, and every jar carries its true cost to the market table. See for cottage food makers or poke around the live demo. $19/mo for the whole back office, kept for as long as you stay. The shop stays free for cost a piece and one fair — no product cap. The tax packet, Etsy and Square, and more fairs are the $19.
The pot math for soups, sauces and jam
Soup, sauce and jam makers all run the same three sums at the stove: what the simmer takes, what the batch fills, what a jar costs. The math below is the same math the calculator runs — with the one number nobody can give you marked as yours.
How do I know my cook-down loss?
Measure it once and own it forever: note the volume that goes in, simmer as you always do, measure what comes out. A brothy soup might lose 10-15% to a gentle reduce; a marinara can lose a third; jam gives up 30-50% getting to set; a demi-glace surrenders most of the pot on purpose. There is no honest default that covers all of those — which is exactly why the loss box is yours, and why this page names the number it used in the answer.
Why whole jars only?
Because a part-filled jar is not sellable inventory — it is lunch. The calculator floors the count and tells you what is left in the pot, rather than promising the 12.4 jars that arithmetic-without-honesty would. If the leftover consistently annoys you, that is useful data: nudge the batch size up or the fill size down until a pot divides clean.
What should go in the batch cost?
Everything the batch consumed: the produce and stock, the jars and lids, the labels. Divided over the jars that actually filled, that is your true cost per jar — the number your market price stands on. Your hours belong in the PRICE, not this cost; blending them hides whether the batch made money at all.
Can I sell home-canned soups and sauces?
This is the question to answer before the first market, and it is your state's to answer — not this page's. Most cottage food laws cover baked goods and jams but NOT most soups and low-acid sauces, which typically need a licensed or inspected kitchen; acidified sauces have their own process rules. Your market manager or county extension office knows the local answer in one phone call. This page does the pot math; the kitchen rules are real homework and they are yours.