If you garden it’s most definitely worth the time. If you purchase fresh from a farmers market for health reasons (non-gmo, organic, etc.) it’s still cheaper than buying those items canned or frozen at the store. Start with water bath and high acid foods until you establish a canning routine, then move onto pressure canning and low acid foods. Check with your county extension to see if there are any pressure canning classes. Youtube probably has some great vids as well. As for jars, Walmart price rules around here.
With a chamber sealer you can also do liquids or powders with out messing up the vacuum pump. I will marinate meat in a bag all day because it will suck the liquid into the meat.
What I have is a vacmaster and it cost about $550 on amazon. Because it is a chamber sealer the bags are not the expensive bags for the other sealers. They cost about 8-10 cents each which is less than the cost of canning jar lids.
In addition I picked up a power inverter for about $35 dollars for my freezer. It allows me to run two freezers from my car battery if the power goes out.
I still can but it is when I make broth during the winter. This way the heat from canning heats my house and adds humidity to the air in the winter.
Thanks lots for the advice!