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 https://www.target.com/p/ball-16oz-12pk-glass-regular-mouth-mason-jar-with-lid-and-band/-/A-12794405 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.
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:
- Store marmelade
- Jared pickles
- Nutella
- 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.
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.
I don’t can foods so I’m not familiar with the process but it seems like a waste to throw away the one jars to buy new ones. 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.
It definitely is a waste, but companies have spent millions of euros in packaging design to make it that way so you buy more.
It depends on the jar quite a bit. I’ve reused jam jars without issue (for jam). Many of them are quite thick and the lids sturdy. I wouldn’t be using pasta ones though. I agree they’re flimsy.
We produce the vast majority of our own food. Classico jars are awesome until they changed the tread pattern so we can’t use the new ones with mason style lids. I have around 200 of these and use them regularly. Have been for over a decade on some. Those companies are full of shit and want you to buy more. The odd one will bust in the pressure canner but that is no different than mason or Bernardin jars that we buy off the shelf in Canada. I have never had one bust on a water bath in around 10-15 years of using them for various goods. We’ve even used them quite a lot for goods we sell from our homestead.
Classico jars are awesome until they changed the tread pattern so we can’t use the new ones with mason style lids.
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!)
They did. At least in Canada the 750ml jar. We don’t buy pasta sauce anymore but lots of folks give us jars instead of throwing them out.
I guess if the Canadian jar is actually different (really 750ml, not a slightly-overfilled 24oz) then the US-market complaints wouldn’t apply. Sorry Canadians apparently didn’t care quite as much.
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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.
@JustEnoughDucks Err I have a heap that are new and unused (still in their box) that am about to have to go through the effort of putting online to sell. - The only thing - they are in the UK - I’m not sure if Beligum allows for low value items to be delivered without Customs from outside the EU. (Its a pain sending anything to Spain post Brexit. ) - Of course if you ever in the UK …
You can buy new lids and reuse old jars.
Yes but at the same time i reuse old jars from time to time and there seems to be a million different sizes
Ah, sorry, I meant old canning jars. Usually you can find them at secondhand stores, flea markets, garage sales, and local online groups. Be careful with jars from things you buy at the store since the glass can be much thinner.
I get the impression that Weck or Le Parfait “glass lid with rubber gasket and metal bail” European-style canning jars are an inherently higher-cost design than Mason-style “two-piece metal lid” ones. At least in terms of up-front costs, anyway, since those jars are completely reusable whereas with mason jars you have to keep buying new lids every time.
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.
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.
Bormioli has the “American style” jars, made in Italy and at a reasonable price
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.
wow these prices are fucked. you can reuse glass indefinitely, lids are fine too, just clean them. when lids corrode you can replace them separately because these come in just a couple of standard diameters. for example 0.5L and 1L jars have (one of two types of) 82mm lids, and 0.3L jars have 66mm lids. these come in 50 packs and cost (first offer i’ve found, not specifically going for cheapest option) close to 7 and 6 euro per respectively. 50 pack of 0.3L jars is 23 euro here
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.
They should have localised versions of their shop too.
Good luck! I’ve never used weck style but hear it’s more common over there? I make sure to harass anyone I’ve given my canned foods to to give me back the jars and rings if they ever want more gifts! Those that give back get more, those that don’t are sad!
Have you tried ikea ?
I’ve never seen canning jars of any kind at IKEA, either in-store in the US or in their international catalog online. They have lots of jars for random storage, but none for canning.
