Where to buy Canning Jars?
Glass canning jars are absolutely ridiculous here in Belgium. I garden and I am going to scale up my gardening next year, so I need to get into canning and preserving again.
If you live in the US, you could get a 12 pack of standard mason jars in a store for target.com/p/ball-16oz-12pk-gl… under $15.
Here, any sort of glass jar is no cheaper than 20€ for 6 online and in stores it is often 5-10€ per jar, depending on size!! That is 300% more expensive on the cheap end here. It is not super sustainable to have to spend 200 euros on glass jars to can your extra fruit and vegetables.
Is there a secret to finding reasonably-priced glass canning jars that some people have found? I would reuse glass jars that I get from the store, but you are not supposed to reuse the lids because they degrade and will let in harmful bacteria and let things oxidize.
Ball 16oz 12pk Glass Regular Mouth Mason Jar with Lid and Band
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JoeKrogan
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •grue
in reply to JoeKrogan • • •cosmicrookie
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •flaschenland.de/
They should have localised versions of their shop too.
Flaschenland: Onlineshop für Flaschen, Gläser & Zubehör
flaschenland.deVaryk
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •I used to find them at secondhand shops, and I also reused the ones I got from the store.
if you have a pressure cooker you can sterilize them, and the lids aren't going to fail right away.
that said, i eventually did just buy a case of new jars because I wanted the right jars for the job and uniform materials.
GrumpyDuckling
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •huppakee
in reply to GrumpyDuckling • • •GrumpyDuckling
in reply to huppakee • • •experiencetheworld
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •Why buying new jars if you can reuse the old ones. In my family (or maybe in Germany in general) we use any kind of jar to make marmelade for example.
When you buy:
1. Store marmelade
2. Jared pickles
3. Nutella
4. Smothies
Or anything in a jar you put it in the dishwasher and use it again to make marmelade or whatever you wan't to put in a jar.
grue
in reply to experiencetheworld • • •Because jars that commercial food comes in are cost-optimized to the point that they're too fragile to reliably reuse for canning. (That's why, for example, the Classico pasta sauce manufacturer says not to reuse those jars, even though they appear to be normal Mason-style continuous-thread jars.)
Also, they usually use lug-style lids that a home canner can't easily deal with. Canning isn't just "put food in jars," you know. It's about creating an airtight seal in a sterile environment so that the food can be stored long-term without refrigeration. There are actual steps you have to follow to do it right.
experiencetheworld
in reply to grue • • •To tell someone what to do without knowing about the topic isn't something I wanted to do. I just wanted to bring up the idea that came to my mind.
JustEnoughDucks
in reply to experiencetheworld • • •Perhapsjustsniffit
in reply to grue • • •grue
in reply to Perhapsjustsniffit • • •Yeah, I remember when that happened a few years back. Enough people (including me) complained that they pretty quickly changed it back. 😁
(I only buy the extra-large 32oz jars from Costco these days, so I sure hope they didn't fuck it up again for the regular grocery-store 24oz size!)
Perhapsjustsniffit
in reply to grue • • •grue
in reply to Perhapsjustsniffit • • •Perhapsjustsniffit
in reply to grue • • •khannie
in reply to grue • • •fullsquare
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •huppakee
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •I guess it is because of transportation cost and economy of scales - moving empty jars around is the same amount of space and thus the cost of warehousing and shipping is probably quite similar and at the same time these factories can buy them by the shipping container and you have to pay all the intermediate sellers too. Also the vat you pay is roughly similar since the empty jar is as expensive as the filled jar. My advice (based more on budget friendlyness than sustainability) would be to find a brand that sells something you cannot grow but do like to eat and then buy a bunch of those in the same size.
Also maybe put up a note at work or the Albert Heijn statingthat you are looking for (unbranded) mason jars because of your love for gardening and who knows you might get in touch with someone like-minded or very lonely who happens to have a bunch of spares.
PonyOfWar
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •WECK-Gläser: Qualität und Tradition seit 1900
J. WECK GmbH u. Co. KGabeorch
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • •Buy European reshared this.
sniggleboots
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •Kringwinkels are a goldmine for stuff like this. We oftentimes get crates at a time, chockful of Weck jars, canning jars, and the ones with the rubber seal and metal wire closing mechanism. We can't get rid of them fast enough because (almost) no one will buy them, even at 50 cents.
If your local Kringwinkel doesn't seem to have any, ask the staff, chances are they're immediately recycling them rather than having them collect dust on the shelves.
grue
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •eutampieri
in reply to grue • • •JustEnoughDucks
in reply to grue • • •I have a few of those from 2nd hand stores, but they are getting harder to find. It definitely wouldn't triple the cost new though, maybe 50% more or something, but I only have 10 or so now.
There are a ton of 2nd hand jars with just glass+glads with no fastening mechanic and sloped lips so 3rd party clamps or clips don't work on them, so they can't be held shut. Only good for storing dry grains and stuff.
BastingChemina
in reply to grue • • •On the other hand the rubber is cheaper to replace than the metal lid, so in the long run the price balances out.
Jars like Le Parfait can last forever, especially now that they used stainless steel for the mechanism.
RebekahWSD
in reply to JustEnoughDucks • • •