[ladytoysdream]

What kind of prices are you seeing now for new canning jars and the lids / flats in your area ?

I was in a store yesterday and noticed they had the standard mouth lids for $ 1.50 each. I have a good stockpile ahead so did not get any. Now I am wondering if I should go back and get some.

Garage sales are starting up locally so I am actively looking for canning items. Today I picked up a water bath canner and a nice good size heavy steel pot. Didn't really need them but they only wanted a $ 1 for the pair, so they went on the back of my truck
I'll have some kind of sale this summer here and they will be in it.

 

[Spirit Deer]

$1.50 seems high. A dozen quart jars at the store is about $12 and that includes the lids and rings.

 

[ladytoysdream]

Well I wasn't sure, is why I decided to hold off.
But then the hardware store I went into later, wanted $ 2.29 for standard lids

 

[Spirit Deer]

I'm sorry, I misread. I thought your post said the jars were $1.50 each. $1.50 for a dozen lids sounds reasonable.

 

[MsMarieH]

they aren't in season yet here, so the prices are still a little high... My Farm and Fleet has lids for $1.39 a dozen and quart jars for $8.79 a dozen.

 

[ladytoysdream]

Well I was in a farm store this morning, and they had boxes of flats/lids for $ 2.99 of the standard mouth size.

What is in our local stores now would be stock from last summer is my best guess.

So I went back to the store I was in yesterday that had them for $ 1.50 a dz for flats/lids. I quizzed the cashier when the new stock would be in. Middle of the summer. So I asked if they knew if the price would be going up. She asked the manager and they did not have a answer for me. But it would be a good possible. I already had the only full case on the shelf, plus the odd leftover ones in my cart. I didn't want to spend the money on something I don't currently need. But I am worried of a price increase. I bit the bullet and bought the case +. ( case = 60 boxes )
Just call me paranoid.

 

[itlw8]

I have no idea o prices but I do remembe in the 70 people were all o a sudden living off the earth learning about solar heat, trying to save gas. Kinda like now, Too bad we did not learn our lesson in the 70s anyway there was a shortage of canning jars and lids

Plus they stopped making the one my grandma used so she needed all new jars. 69 I think

 

[frugalfranny]

This might help answer...........

http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/stockpiling/139452-whats-fair-price-case-ball-canning-jars.html

Our prices have gone up a LOT since last year.......good thing I won't be needing much!

Even our TS are higher than the stores!

 

[ladytoysdream]

I actually have some of the *69* size lids/flats and the collars. Found them at a garage sale last summer.
I don't have the jars to match them, but I know where some are. If the lady lets me finish cleaning her cellar this spring. Years ago, instant coffee came in them. The lids are no longer made.

The 69 lid is the next size smaller than the regular mouth.

I figure I don't have much control over the price of gas.
But I can so something with keeping the cost of food down for this household. I'll just have to talk hubby into making the garden bigger.

 

[ladytoysdream]

I rarely buy new canning jars. I bought maybe 6 dz quarts, new last fall when I had some grapes to process into juice. I was selling off some of the odds and ends for jars, I wasn't going to use for myself. I had a ad on craigslist and a lady at the end of season, just couldn't find any jars, so I took pity on her and sold her a few dozen of my new ones. And I was not impressed to learn that some of the new ones are made in China. Which turns me really off to buying any more new jars.

 

[Spirit Deer]

I hadn't thought about the 'made in China' angle, which is odd because I've been on a tear lately about all kinds of imports and my general unhappiness about the quality and safety of same. But now that you mention it, I have about three dozen wide-mouth quarts I don't have room for in the new cabinets I installed especially for canning supplies. I was saying to my husband just last night I might just put them back out in the garage. Now, thanks to your post, I'm definitely going to hang onto them. They are all old jars so most likely made in the US. I've been trying to declutter this place and the spare jars were on the hit list, but since I may want some for unsealed pantry storage, and since I do break one once in a while, I think they'll be staying.

I have two or three of what must be the 69 size jars. I've found that some plastic lids from other things fit them, like the lids with pour spout from some dry coffee creamers. Don't know if that helps at all, for anyone looking for them.

 

[hippytreehugger4ever]

Have you considered Tattler lids? Their reusable for I think 20 years and don't have that plastic lining that can leach chemicals in your food. You can find them through Lehman's.

 

[Spirit Deer]

I'm set for years with the lids. I picked up dozens at a garage sale for fifty cents a dozen.

 

[frugalfranny]

I, too, hadn't thought about the China angle..........will check a box that I haven't opened to see where they were made. :yikes:

They have already poisoned us with drywall and bad drugs............do we need more poisoning with canning jars??? :thud:

 

[ladytoysdream]

tattler lids

They are too pricey for me. In the past I had done some research on them. I just did some research to bring me current again.
This is their website.
TATTLER Reusable Canning Jar Lids Home Page
He claims BPA free.
You would use a metal collar with them you already own.
You are supposed to be able to reuse the lids many times.
BUT the part I don't understand. The rubber rings.
I don't think they would withstand many uses. You would be
buying new ones of those at some point in time, it would seem like.

I myself have no experience with them at all.
I am just throwing out my thoughts on them.

Years ago, when I canned with the old wire bail jars and used the rubber rings, I know it was supposed to be a one time usage.
The rubber would have a memory and stay in the position it was canned, it would seem like.

Again...your mileage may vary from mine...........

 

[Spirit Deer]

The zinc caps with rubber rings aren't recommended for use anymore by the extension services. I wonder what they think of any reusable lids. Interesting concept though.

 

[thefrug]

They do say the rubber rings will be the ones you need to replace with the Tattler lids. BUT, they last a long time IF you use a butter knife ( READ DULL HERE PEOPLE) to GENTLY pry off the lid below the rubber seal. The rubber seals aren't thin little things. They'll last longer than one use like the standard flats you have to buy over and over. And the prices will be going up. Wait and see.
These are the lids I plan on using this year. I'll save the metal flats for gifts of foods that I plan on giving this year.
I just bought 10 cases of jars off of craigslist for $5 a case. They were all in great shape and in the original boxes for storage.

 

[ladytoysdream]

They do say the rubber rings will be the ones you need to replace with the Tattler lids. BUT, they last a long time IF you use a butter knife ( READ DULL HERE PEOPLE) to GENTLY pry off the lid below the rubber seal. The rubber seals aren't thin little things.

Thank you for the additional information. I am guessing to break the seal you would be between the glass rim and the rubber ? Not the lid and the rubber. So bottom side of the rubber probably.

As I mentioned, the cost factor for these lids, will not work for me with the budget we have. If I was a young mom just starting out canning, I probably would try some of these tattlers.

I picked up 19 jars the other day for $ 2.00 at a garage sale. And 2 other ones in a RM thrift for .25 each. I pick them up whenever I can Sometime in May, I am supposed to be picking up a pickup up load out of a lady's cellar who no longer does any canning. I got her sister's jars last summer. About 400 of them. Free works for me

 

[NicJean]

I'm jealous - free, 2.00 for cases of jars? Wow! I've had to buy new - and prices keep rising. I think about three years ago I got both wide mouth and regular jars for 6-7 dollars a case (12). Last year I bought some, price over 8/case, but I did have coupons, too.
We bit the bullet and bought sleeves of lids from Lehman's - sooo cheap per lid!