Wednesday, July 9, 2014

A Few Life Hacks for Canning Jars

I was talking to my husband this morning, wondering why anybody would buy these (theoretically affiliate link)

when there are things we regularly purchase that are the size of regular mouth canning jars. He said that he thought most people did not know these things would fit. Well, I thought I would tell you so that you will know from now on.

examples of regularly purchased products that fit canning jars
Canning jars with these lids on them. I am currently storing
dried basil in the one on the left and the 2 on the right contain
my pepper sauce.
The smaller size peanut butter jars fit perfectly on regular mouth canning jars. Most mayonnaise lids do, too, but Bama Mayonnaise does not for some reason.

I haven't yet found a lid that fits perfectly on wide mouth canning jars, but I have something that works really well. I will try to explain it to you.

That jar on the left in the picture is the type of coconut oil I regularly buy. Its lid is just slightly too large for the large mouth canning jars.

Here is what I did to fix that.

Take a large mouth canning ring and the lid you want to use. 

Snap the lid over the top of the canning ring. 

Press hard. It's tight, but the fit is good. 

Here's what it looks like when you have them connected. 
Then you just use it as you would any lid. It fits perfectly! I love finding ways to use everyday things!
It is better for the environment. And it's better for my pocket book.




9 comments:

  1. Awesome! I generally just reuse the jars themselves (the non-plastic ones) but never thought of keeping the plastic jar lids. It never ceases to amaze me, what I learn new every day!

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  2. Fabulous ideas. I'd never considered any of them!

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  3. I just leave the metal bands and lids on my jars. I did just see that Ball has released some colored bands and I was looking at them at the hardware store thinking about how many bands I own and what would possibly possess me to buy more. It would have to be something other than a nice blue color. Still...someone must be buying them. I will add that the shaker lid from the Parmesan cheese can fits on a narrow mouth canning jar, too. If you have need for a lid like that. http://bld-in-mt.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-parmesannooch-shaker.html

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    1. It's actually best to remove the ring from the jar once they are canned. Sometimes they tend to rust easier and if for some reason you loose the seal if you don't have the ring on it you can tell right away.
      Just a thought
      Sci

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    2. I know that some people leave the metal bands on their jars. I decided that I wouldn't have to buy as many bands if I re-used them. I also found it difficult to keep tabs on used lids, so I just started recycling them. And I use the peanut butter lids for storage uses.

      Thanks for the tip about Parmesan lids. I don't use as much Parmesan as I do peanut butter, but the next time I finish one of those containers, I will save that lid, too.

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  4. If you have some of those lids that they sell for the large mouth jars, you might have noticed that when you are shaking the jar it will leak on you. You can just pop in a used canning lid and it will hold it too.

    I never even thought about using the ring for lids. I'm definitely going to try that!
    Thanks,
    Sci

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    Replies
    1. I actually haven't bought any of the lids. I have just been searching through what I owned to see if I could come up with something that worked. If they leak. well, even worse!

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