I checked online and Sainsbury's basics jam costs 29p a jar. That's pretty cheap! Though I suspect it might be more in a physical shop, and not all stock it. More to the point, did you manage to make something that tastes equally nasty? That would be harder to do... 
It's that price in physical shops.
My jam does NOT taste equally nasty. Like fboab & Cudzo, I like fruit in my jam, so mine consists of fruit, plus sugar. And that is it.
I think my point about the price has been missed. I wasn't really trying to match the basics jam on price. I was commenting on what I think is an insane pricing structure.
My fruit cost me work, but no money. I paid about 2p per jar for tops & labels, & paid for plain sugar. Everything else was free or recycled, & not costed. And even so, it cost about the same as Sainsburys sell a jar, with a screw top, containing a lot of sugar (some as fructose syrup) & a significant proportion of fruit. Each of those ingredients alone would cost more to buy retail than the entire Sainsburys product. It makes me wonder about the retail markups & how they differ.
How can Sainsburys get a single jar of jam (with screw top & label) on a shelf for less than the price of one jar, or screw top, in a multi-pack? Or the price of 300 grams of sugar in a kilo bag? It's a more complex product, sold in a smaller size, in far more expensive & complicated packaging than the sugar. Why isn't it more expensive?
Basics fruit & vegetables are often good, in my experience. They're more variable in size, appearance, & flavour than the standard stuff. The risk of a duff carrot, or whatever, is greater, but so is the chance of two or three superb tasting but misshapen apples or oranges in a bag.
Ruthie - I left the cheap jam on the shelf in the shop.
