Lids and bands for pressure canning

Hi, there, and welcome!

Ordering your book. My husband is very interested in canning tomatoes/sauces, etc. I grew up with an extended family that canned but also preached the "dangers" about the safety of canning, tomatoes specifically, so really want to learn more there.

A few years ago, I taught myself how to can (very safe and sugary!) lovely jams and the most beautiful quart jars of peaches, plums and pears. A friend refused to open a particularly lovely quart jar of pears I gifted one year because she wanted to display it in her kitchen instead. Eight years on, they are a little yellow with a little sediment on the bottom and the liquid has evaporated a little, but still "county fair perfect" as she calls them. Already have a small, newish book that offers recipes and techniques on how to successfully can jams without using white sugar, so looking forward to more jam making when I can get my hands on enough fruit.  Would like to extend my skills to some more practical pantry shelf canned items.

Any tips on where to find jars, lids and rings, other than the obvious?  Our local discount store sold them when we first moved here, but now they are a bit harder to find. Jars and lids can sometimes be had at tag sales, but the rings, of course, have to be new.

Really looking forward to reading all the postings here.

PS. Reread this and see I meant to say the LIDS have to be new.

Molly Gordon wrote:Hi, there, and welcome!

Ordering your book. My husband is very interested in canning tomatoes/sauces, etc. I grew up with an extended family that canned but also preached the "dangers" about the safety of canning, tomatoes specifically, so really want to learn more there.

A few years ago, I taught myself how to can (very safe and sugary!) lovely jams and the most beautiful quart jars of peaches, plums and pears. A friend refused to open a particularly lovely quart jar of pears I gifted one year because she wanted to display it in her kitchen instead. Eight years on, they are a little yellow with a little sediment on the bottom and the liquid has evaporated a little, but still "county fair perfect" as she calls them. Already have a small, newish book that offers recipes and techniques on how to successfully can jams without using white sugar, so looking forward to more jam making when I can get my hands on enough fruit.  Would like to extend my skills to some more practical pantry shelf canned items.

Any tips on where to find jars, lids and rings, other than the obvious?  Our local discount store sold them when we first moved here, but now they are a bit harder to find. Jars and lids can sometimes be had at tag sales, but the rings, of course, have to be new.

Really looking forward to reading all the postings here.

Go you!!! Home canned food makes such lovely decorations - especially fruits.
I think the best way to find canning supplies is to put the word out that you're looking for them. There are quite a few older people with canning stuff stored away and would love to give them to someone to use. You wouldn't want to use lids that have been stored a long time but the jars and bands would be fine.

Here's what I do regarding lids/bands...
For the foods that I'm *sure* are going to stay in our home and not be given a way as gifts I use reusable lids. There are two brands available in the US, Tattler and Harvest Guard. I've used both of them equally well and have been using them for about 10 years. They're definitely an upfront investment and the process to use them is a little different than metal lids so be sure to follow the instructions. But they will save you tons of money over time. I save the metal lids to use for things I'll probably give away as gifts.

For the bands, I store my filled jars without the bands so that I can reuse them. When I need to buy a new box of lids/bands or jars, I don't use the bands for processing the jars. Instead I use old bands for the jars while processing them.  I put the new bands aside to use on a jar for gifting so I always have nice bands for gifts.

Molly: I buy lids from Fillmore Container Com
I also get lots of rings from yard sales, as well as jars. I generally leave the rings on the jars after canning, but I noticed the other day I'm not coming out even, I have more reg mouth jars than bands these days. Guess I'll have to swipe some off filled jars. That's a hazard of shopping the yard sales!

And I'm with Angi, Tattler lids are used only on things that will not leave the house. I can't afford to lose them.

I didn't know reusable lids were a thing. Thanks!

There are also some sites offering "stainless steel" lids and bands. Hubby ordered some from China as a gift for me, but I haven't tried using them (they arrived after I was done canning). Unlike the Tattler lids which I have used a little, the lids have an integral rubber seal, so I don't think the lids will be good for more than a couple of uses, unless I experiment with using the Tattler rubber seals with them (which are replaceable).

However, so far as the bands are concerned, it is hopefully a one time only expense, and no worry about shortages. I was lucky once and got a whole bag of miscellaneous bands at Value Village that looked virtually new. Considering I get gifted many canning jars (and seem to manage to fill them all), not having to pay commercial prices for the bands is an asset.

Like Pearl, I prefer to keep the band with the jar, as many times I open a jar but don't use all the contents, so then I'm stuck with a jar and not way to hold its lid on. I tried the "remove the band" system, and found it was annoying.

Jay Angler wrote:
Like Pearl, I prefer to keep the band with the jar, as many times I open a jar but don't use all the contents, so then I'm stuck with a jar and not way to hold its lid on. I tried the "remove the band" system, and found it was annoying.

And if you give the jar to someone who doesn't can, they won't have a random band around to put on it if they want to close it.

Just to clarify, I always make sure to put a new band on the jar before giving it away, for this very reason. I also keep a few bands in my  kitchen to use if we don't use a full jar of whatever we've opened. I really is just a matter of preference as to whether you store the jars with or without the bands. I can easily have over 1000 filled jars in my pantry and I don't want to have to keep that many bands on hand.

Angi Schneider wrote:  I can easily have over 1000 filled jars in my pantry and I don't want to have to keep that many bands on hand.

Oh. Wow. Impressive!

Many thanks to you and Pearl for the source names and links of jars, lids and rings suppliers. We have moved from west to east coast to a very lovely rural area high up in the mountains. Trust me, no one is giving up their jars here!  They are literally handed down generation to generation. Had no idea there were manufacturers or distributors who sold to the general public other than Ball, etc.

The names you both listed are new to me. I'm quite excited to see different jar sizes again. Thought those had gone away as people fell out of canning. Not sure why, but sometimes canning jar gifts can look so much more special when put in not widely seen jar sizes. When resourcing online before, all I came up with were highly overpriced name brand jars put on amazon by people jumping on the covid food panic money train, or the traditional jar mfg's who were sold out immediately and then not sure when they would be restocking. Thanks also for the reminder on reusable lids. Was aware of these but have never used and forgot about them. Good tips and info on them.

Also a big fan of using canning jars for craft and art supply storage so it would be nice to have access to the same size jars for maximum storage space. I have a lovely antique attorney law book wood and glass bookcase still to be sorted out since our move. It will hold art and craft supplies because something that has kept me going through the covid years is giving pretty (and useful) gifts for any and all reason.  Can't wait to get back into canning, both for our practical use, but also to add to my gifting selections. To me nothing is more fun than gifting even a small jam jar and dressing it up with bits and bobs of old, interesting small pieces of metal and garage sale old, faded to ivory crochet pieces (as I don't!) and craft copper wire and maybe some lovely dried leaves or acorns from nature. Would love to show you some examples........but I haven't been canning lately!

And..this may sound weird...but is So true. Thanks, Angi, for solving my annual birthday gift dilemma of what to give my husband. Your book will arrive in a week or so and I'll wait to see what kind of pressure canner you recommend in it to buy him for his birthday in September. By then, tomatoes, peppers and onions, etc. will be prolific in the garden, my gifts of your book and the canner ready for him to can his own spaghetti sauce he's been talking about doing...done and done!              Book a great gift idea for other relatives, come to think of it.

Molly Gordon wrote:

And..this may sound weird...but is So true. Thanks, Angi, for solving my annual birthday gift dilemma of what to give my husband. Your book will arrive in a week or so and I'll wait to see what kind of pressure canner you recommend in it to buy him for his birthday in September. By then, tomatoes, peppers and onions, etc. will be prolific in the garden, my gifts of your book and the canner ready for him to can his own spaghetti sauce he's been talking about doing...done and done!              Book a great gift idea for other relatives, come to think of it.

Awww, this makes my day! Thank you so much for sharing...no weirdness here, I totally understand. Also, I've used the generic jars that Walmart sell and they are just fine. So you might look there also.

I have a picture on page 4 https://permies.com/wiki/105851/pep-food-prep-preservation/Pickle-vinegar-brine-PEP-BB
these are from a company called Tattle the gasket is supposed to last 10 years and the plastic forever so while a bit pricey up front totally worth it to not have to keep buying new.