Jars?

[Ted]

I'm one of those people who save everthing and I have quite a large number of jars from store bought products.
Do you think it possible to reuse the glass ones with pop-up lids for canning?

[Batch]

I have always been told you can reuse canning jars. But, you should replace the lid. You can reuse rings on two piece lids.

I imagine that the thought is that the cost of the lids is low enough not to warrant the risk of food spoilage. I don't know if you can find lids for the jars that you have or not though.

[hunter63]

Batch you are correct, some jars have the correct threads for the lids and rings, some don't.
Some times the difference has been in the past, choosing the product to purchase, choose the correct tops.......'course there is sometimes a price factor.

We always buy new lids, reuse the rings.....Jars have been in use for 30+ years, some inherited ones, likely longer.

We have cut back on the amount of canning done in the last couple of years, as well as garden size.
Sometimes I had a bad time trying to eat stuff that had been around for ? years, so now our turn over is from year to year.
Words you never want to hear, "Smell this, does it smell alright to you?"
Answer, "Not anymore!"

[Rick]

The key is being able to acquire a vacuum seal. The rings just keep the lid centered and in place until they seal so if the shoe fits, can it. Just be sure and check to ensure it sealed. If not then store it in the fridge. You can reuse the rings but not the lids.

[Ken]

Ted,

you may not believe this, but just yesterday I was thinking about asking if anyone here saved jars and bottles like I do. Glass mayo jars, glass soda and wine bottles, glass jelly jars, metal coffee cans, and those neat plastic tubes that Snausages Snawsomes (the dogs love 'em, but only get one every couple of weeks - like any other junk food) come in. I've saved tons of them.

My beer can collection doesn't count, 'cause I'll never use them.

I mostly use the coffee cans and the Snawsomes tubes, but I'm certain that I'll have a use for the rest of 'em someday.

Another thing I save is small boxes and large (1/6th. or 1/8th size) paper bags. I've stopped saving the plastic ones 'cause I have thousands of 'em. I just recycle them now.

[Winnie]

Well since you asked.... A few uses for used jars.
1) you can re-use the jars for making jams or if the lid is plastic coated on the inside chutney and pickles.
2) Storage.
3) My favourite is my dads trick. screw the lids to the underside of a shelf in your workshop, fill jar with all those bits and bobs you men have lurking, screw jars onto lids and Bob's your uncle, a tidy workshop with those bits visible in the jars! No more rummaging looking for that screw or nut. Dad also stuck a small label on the jars with contents written on them, but he was a neat freak.

[Rick]

My favourite is my dads trick.

That's funny. My dad did a similar thing. He took a 2X2 piece of pine as long as the space between the floor joists (this was in the basement) and attached it so the 2X2 could rotate. He then affixed jar lids as you described and used the jars to keep track of "bits and bobs".

[Winnie]

Great minds think alike Rick! They were obviously two fine men.

[crashdive123]

My dad did that too, as did I for many years.

[Batch]

My Dad had something similar. He used Gerber baby food jars. But he had several jars in a row and you would spin them to look at the next row.

[LowKey]

You can get new lids for things like spaghetti jars
I found these quickly but there are other online sources for these things.
http://www.canningsupply.com/product...nning_jar_lids

You want to make sure the jars you re-use don't have chipped rims.
Also, you can't use them for pressure canning. They break too easily. In fact they break more often than you want when waterbath canning. I put in some empty canning jars to keep them upright and from bouncing around last fall when doing a test. I do that with regular canning jars too.

Don't use anything larger than 1qt size.

[Ted]

Thanks for the replies folks! I just hate buying anything if I don't have too! (yes I'm a major cheap a**)

Thanks LowKey, I wouldn't want anything to break, good info!

[LowKey]

Yeah, it's another one of those areas that feels like a USDA scam. Gotta use the new lids every canning session. Buy buy buy.

Those old rubber seals worked for a couple generations but these metal lids are supposedly 'better'. Even if they do contain BPA. Lovely.
http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/faq/42.php
(Jardin is now the holding company for all Kerr and Ball products.)

BTW, you can get the reusable rubber seals. It's just hard to find the bailed jars and glass lids anymore, especially ones that aren't chipped or questionable in other ways.