Cost per jar: what a homemade tallow balm costs

What the sum counts

The grams of each ingredient per jar, a loss allowance for what stays on the pot, the price you paid for each in whatever unit the shop sold it, the jar and lid, the label, a box if you use one, and your time if you want it counted. The prices on the page when it opens are examples; type your own, and nothing you type is stored. If you render your own fat, the render planner turns a suet price into a tallow price, and the recipe calculator gives the grams for any jar.

Is it cheaper to make tallow balm?

The base, yes, every time. Rendered tallow, a carrier oil and an antioxidant come to a couple of dollars a jar at the example prices, and that is the honest answer to the question. What a finished jar pays for is the rest, which the sum leaves out on purpose: suet chosen from cattle you did not have to find, a render done low and slow every week, botanicals weighed at studied doses, a batch tested before it ships, and a texture that arrives the way it left. Make the base; buy the doses if you want them measured, in the Kit or a finished jar.

Questions we hear

How much does it cost to make tallow balm?

At the example prices, with jojoba as the carrier, the base runs about two dollars for a dense 2 oz jar before the jar and label; the calculator does it at yours. Essential oils and actives are what move the number.

How much tallow do I need for a 2 oz jar?

About 48 g for a dense jar at four parts tallow to one part oil, 56 g of balm in all. A pound of tallow makes about nine jars.

Does the cost include the essential oil?

Only if you type grams and a price. At the body ceiling of 1%, a 2 oz jar takes about 0.56 g, roughly twelve drops, so lavender or sweet orange at typical prices adds well under a dollar a jar; rose or sandalwood is another story.

Should I count my time?

If you make jars to give away, probably not. If you are deciding whether to make or buy, yes: an hour for a dozen jars is a fair first batch, and the field is there for it.