# Canning Jars



## UncleJoe

I went to an estate auction yesterday and picked up 73 canning jars that was a mix of qt. and pt. with both the wide mouth and regular mouth. There was also 24 - 2 qt. jars. The entire lot was $5.00. It was a great deal but what in the world do you do with 1/2 gallon jars? :dunno: They don't fit in the water bath or the pressure canner. Anyone have any experience with these monsters?


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## Jason

I do, but not for food. We have these metal spout gizmos floating around that go onto a Mason jar for pouring oil into an engine. The idea is you fill up your quart or half gallon jar of oil from your bulk container, screw on the cap/spout thing, and you're good to go. We still use them (not sure if we have 1 or 2 but I can remember having 2) once in a while. I think the patent on them is from the 1920's or 30's. WAAAY before plastic bottles. 

Uncle Joe, I'm sure that was no help to you whatsoever, but it gave me a chance to share an interesting anecdote.


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## bunkerbob

I use the small mouth half gallon jars for long term storage. My vacuum sealer came with a device to use on small mouth Mason style jars, just fill jar, put in oxygen absorber if available and put on canning lid and vacuum seal. I put on the ring to further prevent lid from comming off. Most canning books don't recommend that you use half gallon jars for regular canninng because of their size.


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## NaeKid

1/2 gallon jars???

Well, I can think of a few things. Restaurants have their food delivered in jars like that filled with ketchup, mustard, pickles, mayonaise, pickled-peppers, etc (I have quite a few empty jars left over from my days of running a restaurant).

I cut a slot in the lid and every night I drop my spare-change into the jars. When I get bored, I will roll the coin up and head over to the bank. I have about 10 years worth of coins collected in some jars in my bedroom right now - it might be time to roll them and see how much I have collected.

Last time that I "spent" the money in my coin-jars, I bought a blue Pontiac Turbo Firefly ..


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## UncleJoe

NaeKid said:


> 1/2 gallon jars???
> (I have quite a few empty jars left over from my days of running a restaurant).


How many do you want? 

I'll use a few of them for bob's idea. I dehydrated a lot of peaches this summer and now I'm doing apples which I put in plastic bags for storage. I like the idea of vacuum sealing it in jars. I can use 1 for storing next years garden seeds.
Jason, sounds like you could use a few spares. You wouldn't want your "gizmo's laying around with nothing to do.


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## NaeKid

UncleJoe said:


> How many do you want?


I see what you did there ... :dunno:

I still have a case of empties left in my basement that I was thinking of sending to be crushed and recycled into other glass-items. Honestly, other than using them as piggy-banks, I haven't had any need of them ..

Hmm .. would SailAway want them to put toy sailboats inside :2thumb:


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## northernontario

NaeKid said:


> Last time that I "spent" the money in my coin-jars, I bought a blue Pontiac Turbo Firefly ..


That's like what... $75 in spare change? (wait... was the gas tank full or not? That makes or breaks the good deal.  )


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## Kaytastrophy

*Uncle Joe*

Why not try using those half gallon jars to keep your sugars in or for rice
or if you dehydrate your own vegetables use them to keep those. I
use them for all of these things because my canners are too small to
can my wet foods in them.


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## *Andi

The half gallon jars are great ... I use them for milking all the time ... (you don't milk ... ) fine... tea, kool aid and lots of other things. 

Think out side the box ...


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## UncleJoe

I ended up using quite a few of them. I've filled them with sugar, salt, dried fruit, dried veggies and DE. Still have some left though.


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## Clarice

I use mine for storing pasta, rice etc. Also have to put some of my garlic dill pickles in these jars for my nephew, he can't get enough.


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## Emerald

I guess I think outside the box too--I use them like the Amish do, I can juice in them, that is what they are for(or at least that is what the Amish ladies told me) and I have a huge canner and pressure canner and I also use them for my sugar and beans and other assorted baking goods and I have the wide mouth lid sealer on my foodsaver so I have mainly the wide mouth ones. I hunt them down at thrift stores and yard sales.
They are also great for honey and maple syrup.
The best thing is that they keep the pantry moths out. not all of the plastic jugs will.


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## TechAdmin

I use mine to make sun tea.


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## Herbalpagan

I use mine to store beans, dried veggies, herbs, powdered drink mixes (to keep damp from getting to them), sugar,pasta and all sorts of things. I also used one to make elderberry tincture and when it was done I turned it into syrup and put in smaller jars.
They are a very practical item!


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## UncleJoe

Emerald said:


> They are also great for honey and maple syrup.


I prefer the qt jars for honey. I just got a 5 gallon pail and filled 2 jars to reliquify it when it's needed. Less energy needed in the smaller jars.

Dean, Sun Tea. Great idea!


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## gypsysue

Half gallon jars are great and hard to come by. I have a few. Some have dehydrated veggies or fruit in them, a couple have dried herbs. 

Too bad we don't all live closer to each other! Those of you with extra, I'd be finding something around here to barter with you for those jars!


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## BuggingIn

That was an awesome score! I'd have been over the moon to get just the half gallon jars. Between dry food storage and goat's milk, I don't have nearly as many of the half gallons as I'd like.


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## sherldoe

Oh, I'd love to have some of these larger jars. They are so hard to come by. They will make excellent containers for all types of dry staples, flour, wheat berries, cornmeal, matches, and on and on. All y9u need to insure long term storage is a few oxygen absorbers. They can be kept in the pantry for long/short term storage also


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## PamsPride

I love, love, LOVE half gallon jars!! I use them for my spaghetti sauce, grape juice, and apple juice. I can also use them for my fresh goats milk! I have like 4 dozen of them and it never seems like enough! I have been buying at least a dozen of them a year now. I would love to have 200 half gallon jars! 52 for spaghetti sauce, 52 for grape juice, 52 for apple juice...then fill the extras with more of those three items or milk or dehydrated foods or honey or syrup.... Oh how I dream about an abundance of half gallon jars!


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## Dixie

I found that Ingle's grocery store carries them here. I have vacuum sealed cereal, beans, rice, nuts and potato flakes in them. I store them in the box they came in and they seem to take up less space on my shelves.


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## *Andi

Dixie said:


> I found that Ingle's grocery store carries them here.


:2thumb:I saw some the other day also, they were next to a large display of bacon greese jars. (which did make me look twice).

I thought cool, till I found the hand crank coffee grinders ... then for some reason it gave me a chill.


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## exsheeple

About canning jars....how do I get the rust stains off? Any simple ideas on how to do this? I thought I read somewhere about soaking them in vinegar water overnight......


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## Emerald

exsheeple said:


> About canning jars....how do I get the rust stains off? Any simple ideas on how to do this? I thought I read somewhere about soaking them in vinegar water overnight......


I soak them in vinegar water overnight and any leftover stains I just take a bit of baking soda on a washcloth and rub the stains off.. works like a charm. The baking soda trick works on coffee mugs that have tea and coffee stain on them too.
I have also used it to remove rust stains on my stainless steel silverware.


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## LilRedHen

exsheeple said:


> About canning jars....how do I get the rust stains off? Any simple ideas on how to do this? I thought I read somewhere about soaking them in vinegar water overnight......


I use a steel wool soap pad on the awful stains that won't soak off. Works like a charm.


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## UncleJoe

Since this came back up....  
Went to another auction Saturday. Got 3 "box lots" of jars. A total of 65 jars; about half with rings. A mix of qt. and pt. $4.25.


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## PamsPride

That is another awesome find!!


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## UncleJoe

There are jars at almost every estate auction we go to and I rarely have anyone bid against me for them unless they are the old blue ones. I don't bid on those since it's usually someone looking for that elusive rare jar and they run the price up. Only thing I care about is functionality.


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## partdeux

Recently went to estate sale... couldn't believe what they were asking for the jars. plain everyday ball jars $2 EACH, and commercial food jars $1 EACH. I said those ball jars available in the stores complete with lids and everything for $10/12. She said, they are antique ball jars and worth a lot more... not to me


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## Emerald

When my parents bought this house it had a box of the old glass lidded bail wired canning jars in clears and the greens and blue colors. I asked mom what she ever did with them and she told me that she thought she left them here? So looking around the spider filled Michigan basement(if you live here you know what I mean lol) and sure nuff there is about 10 or 12 of them in a box down there.. I have the rubber rings(hubs bought me the new fancy (not canning) type and I got rings for those) so will have to talk hubby into bringing them up and killing the wildlife so I can scrub them and start using them for my herbs or baking supplies. Plus in the box next to them are 8 1/2 gallon mason jars... teach me not to check the spooky spider haven that is called my basement!


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## marlas1too

in have both sealers for regular and wide mouth jars and for the 2 quart jars i would seal just about anything and with an oxygen packs i would seal corn meal,flour,home made soup starter,candy just about anything i wanted to put updry


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## Davarm

One thing I use the 1/2 gallon jars for are pickles, sweet and dill. If you like the extra-large pickles, the large jars are just the item to pack them in. 

Another use is to pack fresh tomatoes in. If you want to keep ripe tomatoes for 6 or 8 months(but not much longer), you can pack them in the large jars and pour boiling salt water over them and top them with a good tight lid. The 1/2 gallon jars work well for this.


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## kilagal

Ace Hardware carries the 1/2 gallon jars. Even in wide mouth. 
I seldom buy new jars. Most of my jars come from yard sales. And I don't pay much for them. Our Salvation army store sells them for 25 cents each or 5 for $l. But on Tuesdays if you are over 55 you can also get another 25% off from that price. And it doesn't matter the size of the jar for that price.
I once bought some jars at a yard sale that someone had canned fish in. And it left a film on the jars. I brought them home and soaked them in very hot water and Biz Laundry stuff and they came out like new jars.


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## weedygarden

*cragslist*

A couple years ago I scored on craigslist with jars. They were left in a home that went into an estate, and eventually, the house was purchased by a family who just wanted the jars gone.

I filled my car--trunk, back seat and back seat floorboards, and squeezed the last ones into the front seat, including the floorboards.

Not all the jars were Masons or Ball type jars, some were quart mayonaisse jars, maybe half of each. There were a few pint jars.

They were mostly wrapped in newspapers (old) and then packed into boxes. I unloaded the boxes into my garage and began going through them, one box at a time. I took them to my deck outside my kitchen, unpacked them, and then washed them. It was such a big job that I still have some that I have not gone through yet. I had a 6 foot tall shelf filled with some of them and then moved them to the basement after I filled them.

I took a couple boxes of real canning jars to a cousin who is a single mom with 4 children. I gave several to my daughter.

I bought lots of new lids and began loading them with bulk spices, grains, etc, and using my sealer to seal them.

I have honestly never counted them. There were so many that I began to be overwhelmed by them, but they really helped me get my odd lots of food storage organized. I go to large Asian groceries and buy different kinds of rice, beans and etc. We also have some gluten free grains and flours.

Craigslist--such a good place. I still occassionally see people with canning jars to give away, but I am good for now!


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## lazydaisy67

Emerald said:


> I guess I think outside the box too--I use them like the Amish do, I can juice in them, that is what they are for(or at least that is what the Amish ladies told me) and I have a huge canner and pressure canner and I also use them for my sugar and beans and other assorted baking goods and I have the wide mouth lid sealer on my foodsaver so I have mainly the wide mouth ones. I hunt them down at thrift stores and yard sales.
> They are also great for honey and maple syrup.
> The best thing is that they keep the pantry moths out. not all of the plastic jugs will.


THIS is what I've been trying to find out!!! How in the world can a person "befriend" an Amish lady and have her teach everything she knows? My experience with the Amish in Iowa is that they really would rather NOT talk to the "english" let alone have them in their homes for a cooking/canning class, lol.


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## Emerald

lazydaisy67 said:


> THIS is what I've been trying to find out!!! How in the world can a person "befriend" an Amish lady and have her teach everything she knows? My experience with the Amish in Iowa is that they really would rather NOT talk to the "english" let alone have them in their homes for a cooking/canning class, lol.


Well my grandma was born in Germany and her hubby(grandpa) was Irish but when they both got older and grandpa couldn't do most of the handyman work he would take grandma and me and head out to the big Amish farms north of Trufant MI and Gram would chatter on to all the ladies in German and gramps would talking to them to about coming and fixing stuff. Many of the Amish ladies would come to the green house I used to work at when they had problems with their plants and have to pick up new. Since I was the "plant lady" in the greenhouse I often got asked my advice on many things plant related and I picked their brains in return.. 
Most of the Amish around here do not go out of their way to chat you up but are not unfriendly in the least.. 
but the Amish ladies that told me about the canning jars(1/2 gallon ones) were for juice were down in Shippsawanna and wondered why an "English" was buying a dozen of the wide mouth ones.. lol When I told them about my pantry moth problem they also advised me to put fresh(or good dried) bay leaves in my cupboards and even right in my flour! It works.. other than the bag of wild bird food a couple years ago being brought into the house infested(from the store) I haven't seen any.. but I still put all my stuff in glass as bay leaves do not keep mice away.


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## Jezcruzen

What can you do with half-gallon jars? Two words - PICKLED EGGS!:beercheer:


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## stayingthegame

marlas1too said:


> in have both sealers for regular and wide mouth jars and for the 2 quart jars i would seal just about anything and with an oxygen packs i would seal corn meal,flour,home made soup starter,candy just about anything i wanted to put updry


have a food saver but no instructions. I know how to use it for the bags but was wondering about the jar canning piece. do you still use the metal "ball" lid? with or without the ring?


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## partdeux

stayingthegame said:


> have a food saver but no instructions. I know how to use it for the bags but was wondering about the jar canning piece. do you still use the metal "ball" lid? with or without the ring?


you do not use a ring and the lid has to be heated for the seal to work. You put the hot lid on the jar, put the sealing cap over it and start the vacuum only process. Make sure the tubes are in TIGHT. Press down on the lid fairly firmly while it's sealing.


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## LilRedHen

*Half Gallon canning jars*



UncleJoe said:


> I went to an estate auction yesterday and picked up 73 canning jars that was a mix of qt. and pt. with both the wide mouth and regular mouth. There was also 24 - 2 qt. jars. The entire lot was $5.00. It was a great deal but what in the world do you do with 1/2 gallon jars? :dunno: They don't fit in the water bath or the pressure canner. Anyone have any experience with these monsters?


I was given a pickup truck bed load of canning jars. By estimation, I have 6 or 7 dozen half-gallon jars, not counting boxes and boxes of both regular and wide mouth quarts and a few pints. It's like Christmas! I remembered this thread and have reread it to get more ideas about what to store in them. I guess I'll be washing jars for a while Now I'm going to the thread that lists canning times for the half gallons, since I have a monster pressure canner that they will fit in.

Thank you all for the new information that I pick up here everyday. I don't feel like I know enough to help anyone, but I receive a lot of inspiration and knowledge.


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## Emerald

LilRedHen said:


> I was given a pickup truck bed load of canning jars. By estimation, I have 6 or 7 dozen half-gallon jars, not counting boxes and boxes of both regular and wide mouth quarts and a few pints. It's like Christmas! I remembered this thread and have reread it to get more ideas about what to store in them. I guess I'll be washing jars for a while Now I'm going to the thread that lists canning times for the half gallons, since I have a monster pressure canner that they will fit in.
> 
> Thank you all for the new information that I pick up here everyday. I don't feel like I know enough to help anyone, but I receive a lot of inspiration and knowledge.


You never know what information you have in your head that may be just what someone else needs to know! even if is one of the disaster type stories... I know I've pulled some real goofy moves and if it keeps others from doing the same then it is a good thing.. and I am so jealous of the 1/2 gallon jars.. I pack quite a lot into them myself..


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## bunkerbob

LilRedHen said:


> I was given a pickup truck bed load of canning jars. By estimation, I have 6 or 7 dozen half-gallon jars, not counting boxes and boxes of both regular and wide mouth quarts and a few pints. It's like Christmas! I remembered this thread and have reread it to get more ideas about what to store in them. I guess I'll be washing jars for a while Now I'm going to the thread that lists canning times for the half gallons, since I have a monster pressure canner that they will fit in.
> 
> Thank you all for the new information that I pick up here everyday. I don't feel like I know enough to help anyone, but I receive a lot of inspiration and knowledge.


I used these for spices, hard candy, not bulk items, vacuum sealed with my adaptor on the vacuum bag sealer.

BB


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## timmie

i had one of the guys bring me about 3 dozen wide mouth jars;he also asked if i would be interested in 1/2 gallon jars. yes yes thank you very much.also an old man i know used to make syrup.told me to go to his barn and get the jars he used for his syrup;imagine my surprise when they all turned out to be 3/4 gallon jugs.i got about 6 dozen of those and 12 dozen jars that i can use for waterbath canning.always put out the word that you want jars you will get more than you can handle at one time.most of the jars i get are from young people that are going through their parents things and don't know what to do with them other than give them away or throw them away.:dunno:


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## LilRedHen

bunkerbob said:


> I used these for spices, hard candy, not bulk items, vacuum sealed with my adaptor on the vacuum bag sealer.
> 
> BB


I have ordered the jar adaptors and they should arrive this week. I was also given a Foodsaver that I will have to pick up soon. I'll be like a kid with new toys, only the jars and Foodsaver will help tremendously with my food preps. I can hardly wait:woohoo:


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## timmie

*lilredhen*

you will really love the jar adapters. i recently got mine and used them to vacuum seal everything i have dehydrated. one word of caution ;it was posted somewhere else;make sure you get the little hose with the jar adapters.


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## LilRedHen

timmie said:


> you will really love the jar adapters. i recently got mine and used them to vacuum seal everything i have dehydrated. one word of caution ;it was posted somewhere else;make sure you get the little hose with the jar adapters.


I also ordered the little hose, as I knew that the Foodsaver that I am getting didn't have one with it. Thanks for the reminder, though! I don't have a good dehydrater. It is a Ronco about 20 years old. I drug it out last fall and tried a few things. NOT GOOD! I had read a lot on the threads here, but I don't know if it was me, what I was trying to dry or my dehydrater. I really don't have the extra money right now for an Excalibur. They are kind of pricey.


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## timmie

check out yard sales or ask people. my friend gave me a 4 tray nesco.i love that one ;but i also picked up another at a yard sale for a dollar. and thne found 2 more[ronco,i think] for a dollar each. anyway i have enough to get me by for a while;at least until i can save up enough money to buy the excalibur.


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## cybergranny

LilRedHen said:


> I also ordered the little hose, as I knew that the Foodsaver that I am getting didn't have one with it. Thanks for the reminder, though! I don't have a good dehydrater. It is a Ronco about 20 years old. I drug it out last fall and tried a few things. NOT GOOD! I had read a lot on the threads here, but I don't know if it was me, what I was trying to dry or my dehydrater. I really don't have the extra money right now for an Excalibur. They are kind of pricey.


Did you know you can get a refurbished one from Excalibur with full warranty at a substantial savings. That's how I got mine.


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## Rachel

Do you just call them up and ask them for the refurbs our do they put it on their site when they have them?


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## cybergranny

Rachel said:


> Do you just call them up and ask them for the refurbs our do they put it on their site when they have them?


They put them on the web site. Search refurbished. I suppose you could call.


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## Rachel

Thanks for the headsup! Amazon has it for the same price after you include shipping for the refurbs.


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## cqp33

partdeux said:


> you do not use a ring and the lid has to be heated for the seal to work. You put the hot lid on the jar, put the sealing cap over it and start the vacuum only process. Make sure the tubes are in TIGHT. Press down on the lid fairly firmly while it's sealing.


OK going with the "The only stupid question is the one not asked on this one, please forgive me!" Sorry if this has already been asked!
Does this take the place of the ring and stay on the jar?


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