# A question about canning jars



## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

DW and I are going to can some chicken here in a bit. In with our mason jars there are a few wide mouth mayo jars. I know that's what they are because a couple still have the labels on them. 

My question is this: I've always read that you need to use quality mason jars, like Ball or Atlas. Has anyone ever reused mayo jars or the like for canning? Do they hold up to the temps/pressure generated by a pressure canner? We have plenty of regular mason jars but they're standard mouth and DW wants to use wide mouth for the chicken fillets.

Thanks for the help!!


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## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

Some will say yes and some will say no.
My one friend says they are better than Mason because the older mayo jars are thicker. My other friend says not to use them for more than 10 pounds of pressure. 
I have never used them.


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## BasecampUSA (Dec 26, 2010)

Jason said:


> DW and I are going to can some chicken here in a bit. In with our mason jars there are a few wide mouth mayo jars. I know that's what they are because a couple still have the labels on them.
> 
> My question is this: I've always read that you need to use quality mason jars, like Ball or Atlas. Has anyone ever reused mayo jars or the like for canning? Do they hold up to the temps/pressure generated by a pressure canner? We have plenty of regular mason jars but they're standard mouth and DW wants to use wide mouth for the chicken fillets.
> 
> Thanks for the help!!


We have canned for decades, and have found that old mayo jars don't hold up well for home canning. A lot of the _spaghetti sauce jars _(750ml - not quite a quart) hold up well with regular mason lids and rings...

Just personal experience... results may vary for others...

- BC


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Thanks!


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

We don't an grandma never did either. They would tend ta break an grandma said it wasn't worth the hassel.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Personally I won't. If the jar breaks, you lose whatever was in it. I ran out of wide-mouth jars when I was canning 40# of boneless chicken breast last summer so I used the regular. It can be a pain to get out of the narrow opening but it beats throwing it away if a jar breaks.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

This was all kind of what I was expecting to hear. I think I ended up using one mayo jar and 1 regular mouth mason in the 5 quarts of boneless chicken breast fillets that are canning right now. I'll report back with the results. I just took the canner off the burner before I sat down to type this but I'll report back later in the canning meat thread (maybe even with a pic or two) to let everyone know how we made out. 

I'm really excited about being able to store meat of all things with no need to refridgerate it.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

I've used mayo jars for water bath canning, but for pressure canning I stick to official canning jars.

Seems like a lot of jars nowdays won't fit the canning screw-bands, and maybe they do that on purpose. The threads are grooved different, or the necks are slightly different diameters.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

The jars all made it. I'm going to write up a more detailed post in the canning meat thread, where it belongs.


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## unclebob (May 14, 2010)

Those jars work for hot bath canning but not pressure canning.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I don't use mayo jars due to the fact that I have had them break on me but I have used them for my dry goods as the lids and rings fit well and hold a nice tight seal. Like for my seed collections or my herbs and spices and other kitchen stuff but I have also used them out in the shed for holding screws and nuts and bolts and stuff. 
But if you let family and friends know that you are canning you might end up with tons of free ones... I let folks know and I ended up finding cases of jars on my deck or in my car at family functions and now have tons of jars-some old ones are so ornate compared to the ones we can buy now. Most of the really pretty ones are used for holding stuff on my counters.
Yard sales and estate sales and the flea market tend to be gold mines for jars.
I just dip them all in boiling water for about a minute and if they are cracked they usually break when you take them out of the water and put them on the counter.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Thanks for the tips, Emerald. We have a bunch of jars now but I'm always on the look out for more. One thing we do not have a lot of is the wide mouth jars, which is why I asked about the mayo jars. I'll tell DW about the boiling water thing-not sure if she knows this already or not, but I certainly didn't.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

real mason jars are't really that expensive, why bother with seconds? you can still get mason jars on craigslist for a couple bucks a dozen.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

lotsoflead said:


> real mason jars are't really that expensive, why bother with seconds? you can still get mason jars on craigslist for a couple bucks a dozen.


I've not had any luck with craigslist.
And the canning shelves at the Walmart and two Meijers in the area, plus our rural Krogers, have all been practically cleared out of Mason jars in just the past week alone. All pint jars gone, and most quart. I find that interesting because winter isn't the typical canning season.... methinks the masses are getting wise.


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## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

I just checked out Craigslist and a guy wants $5 a dozen for his quart jars. He thinks he has 250 jars. He is switching to all pints. He put the add on Jan 14th and has had no bites on them. I offered him $3 a dozen and he did not like that offer at all. The lowest he said he would go is $4 a dozen. I asked him if I bought them all would he at least consider $3.50 a dozen. He said he would have to count them and see how many he has for sure and that he would call me back. I am thinking him saying he would count and call me back was a way to blow me off....so I am not holding my breath. I am NOT paying $4 or $5 a dozen since I already have a bunch of empty canning jars that I am not even sure if I am going to be able to fill this fall. Plus it is a 45 minute drive away...but of course EVERYTHING is that far of a drive for me! LOL!


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Lotsoflead: I agree completely. The only reason I asked was we have all standard mouth jars and we were looking to use wide mouth ones, which our mayo jars are. Real Mason jars, I'm sure, are the right way to go hands down.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

I got 4 dozen at Big Lots if you have one---I called and they have lots and still many cases in the stock rooms.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

We have 2 Big Lots nearby but I never get there very often. I didn't even realize that they carried jars and stuff.


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## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

The guy did actually call back and said he would not go lower than $4. I told him I just could not go that high so he said that he was going to take them to the flea market and ask $6 a dozen for them. Oh well, maybe next time!


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

You ought to go and see if they sell or not.


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## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

Jason said:


> You ought to go and see if they sell or not.


I am not aware of any flea markets down in the area this guy was from. I think he was just blowing smoke because he could not get his price. I don't know of anyone that is getting more than $3 a dozen for used jars. He said no one else has called on them so I am sure other people feel the same way about the price.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

I have used mayo jars in the past ... and to be honest, I have had both (mayo and mason) to break at one point or the other. :gaah:

When my grandma pasted over ... I ended up with her jars. (no one else wanted them :dunno and she had some great jars ... in which she used for canning. (mayo , mason and some very interesting 'others'.)

I have a glass hershey's jar that had chow chow in it... A teddy bear qrt. jar that had beans in it. (I have not been able to find this one, in my search.) and many others ...

It like PamsPride said, some do/will and others will not.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

goshengirl said:


> I've not had any luck with craigslist.
> And the canning shelves at the Walmart and two Meijers in the area, plus our rural Krogers, have all been practically cleared out of Mason jars in just the past week alone. All pint jars gone, and most quart. I find that interesting because winter isn't the typical canning season.... methinks the masses are getting wise.


I have been in retail...some stores have storage for those items and they store till summer...

Big lots told me today they have plenty in the stock room and when I bought my 4 dozen, they had pallets loaded on the sales floor---go figure!! they must have bought lots of them.

But, call first, because the city GH was in today, Big LOts didn't have any(or she didn't want to check!!!)


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

JayJay said:


> I have been in retail...some stores have storage for those items and they store till summer...


Normally I would have figured it to be something that doesn't get stocked quickly since it's not an in-season item. But it's just weird that within a week's time the places that I frequent that are typically well-stocked are out of all pint canning jars, and most quart canning jars. But I'm noticing other things, too. Like how our local Walmart JUST started carrying 25 lb bags of wheat berries, and within 24 hours they're out of stock, too. Also this past week I asked the Kroger bakery folks for their empty white buckets (for the past 6 weeks or so I'd been able to get several every time I went in) - and for the first time she tells me someone else already picked up everything they had. It's just stuff like that that makes me think the prepper population in my area is increasing, at least somewhat.

Big Lots is a good idea - I'll check them out.


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