In case anyone is interested.
 

Reply I received regarding my query on storing canning jar lids.

We suggest purchasing new lids each canning season and storing any lids that may not be used in a cool, dry place away from ultraviolet light. It is important to store lids away from sunlight and excessive heat. It is also important to rotate your supply of lids, using the leftover lids from the previous season first. As long as the lids were stored properly, as listed above, and are undamaged (no scratches, corrosion, etc.), they should be okay to use.



Thank you for contacting us.



Sincerely,

Jarden Home Brands

Re: In case anyone is interested.
 

I would agree with them.... can't see how you would expect any other answer from someone selling lids and concerned with sales/liability.

That said, I've used lids 8-9 years old with very little problem, except they do tend to be stuck together some coming out the box....but have no more seal failures than brand new ones....both being very low failure rates.

Assuming lids were no longer available, I'd use whatever I could find.....including re-using lids if I could get them off undamaged and sterilize them ( something I've never tried )

Re: In case anyone is interested.
 

Andy
It works if you are careful..

Know people that have recycled
lids many times...

Re: In case anyone is interested.
 

So I've heard.....but as cheap as new ones are now, I wouldn't bother ( even I have limits to cheapness....ahahahaa ).

BUT SHTF, and no lids for sale.....I'd sure be trying it out.


I actually have a case of "Tattler" brand lids ( which are a hard, thick plastic lid ) that uses a separate rubber ring....both are designed to be reused many times....the rubber ring is the weak link in the chain...it would dry rot, or fall apart from many uses at some point....which is why they probably never caught on ( plus being more expensive ) and the company shut down......it was a similar idea to the old zinc/porcelin one piece caps you see some times from the old days, that used that separate rubber ring....the one piece metal lids just put them out of business......

Re: In case anyone is interested.
 

The lids cost more than the food in the jar, like 15 cents each, minimum. A can of food, bought at the store is 30 cents, so essentially we are paying 1/2 that amount just for the LID!!! I have wasted hours trying to find cheaper lids and its hopeless. The ones with gray rubber are not as good. The red rubber ones are better. I try to be careful opening the jars, and so far have had no sealing failures with reused red rubber lids. Obviously, I wash and sterilize any lids I'm going to reuse. Having worked in factories that did metal stamping, plating, etc, in charge of cost accounting, I can tell you these cost maybe 3 or 4 cents max to produce, and the rest is profit. Too bad there is no place to buy them bulk. Its the 12 to a box, low volume nature, and lack of competition that makes them so expensive.

Re: In case anyone is interested.
 

One family I knew by dating a daughter in it.

10 kids , 5 boys 5 girls

Old style country family.
Owned land held in the family from a Spanish land grant
They trucked farmed and other jobs to get by.

They had to watch every cent that came in, so
saving everything was normal for them.
Never seen better penny pinchers than them.

That family was HUGE! :yes:

When you start looking at the kids of kids of kids.
When the father and mother died they were
great-great grand maw and pop. (Called Big Daddy and Big Momma)

Over 100 by the time they died.

Biggest family I have ever seen....

Would have been part of it ,
except for the military style dear john
letter I got...

Thank God for that. Looking back!


:biggrin:

Re: In case anyone is interested.
 

I've reused lids countless times with no issues whatsoever.

Make sure they are perfectly dry before storing as they rust.

Vegetable oil revitalizes the seal (wipe on with a paper towel).

Visually inspect lids prior to use. Even warped or creased lids have further use, just don't can with them.

Re: In case anyone is interested.
 

Given that heat, light, and moisture seem to be the factors that age the new lids, is there any reason they couldn't be vacuum bagged up like any other perishable? Throw in an O2/silica pack and they should keep for decades.

Right?

Re: In case anyone is interested.
 

Still 12/box, but bulk price ( 60 boxes ) gets down to 12 cents/lid where I buy them.

Goodmans

Re: In case anyone is interested.
 

My mom, rest her hell bound soul, would laugh at me if I talked about buying new lids for the canning jars. We used old lids, rusted lids, bent lids if they worked. As long as they kept a seal. There weren't no money to buy a new lid for a canning jar, much less a new canning jar. If you broke a jar you got a beating. If you wasted food you got a beating.

If I said mom, "ain't that lid dirty", she'd say "child stick your hand in that boiling hot water and see how dirty your hand is". Of course rust poisoning might be what's wrong with me today.:rofl: