Saturday, April 18, 2015

Canning Jars -New v Used

If you can't tell, I'm on a canning kick.  I came across cheap chicken and it snowballed.  Strawberries and rhubarb are in season here, but I haven't gotten to those yet.

I was probably down to about 3 dozen empty jars in my stash.  Over the last few years they've just been chipped, cracked or given away.  When I started looking into buying new ones, I remembered that they can be expensive.  
Last weekend, I hit a few yard sales and thrift stores looking but didn't have much luck.  I already have plenty of rings and flats aren't terribly expensive, usually $1.49 a dozen.  So, I thought I was doing okay to pay about .40-.50 cents each.  I think I picked up 7 quart jars in all.  However, after the cost of driving around and the new flats I realized that I didn't save any money 
buying them used this time.  


I tried craigslist and found one listing, but that's another story and doesn't need to be told.  Let's just say this  -People are crazy and I didn't get any jars on craigslist.  Buying used you have to be careful to check for cracks or nicks.  Also, you don't know how many times they've already 
been processed and they do have a lifespan.  

I can get Wal-Mart brand jars 12pints/$7 or 12quarts/$7.50.  Coming to about .63 each for quarts and .58 each for pints.  So, unless you're getting them for closer to .25 each used.  New could be better in the long run.

If you do get lucky and hit the motherload of jars, inspect them carefully and do the math.  Is anyone canning yet?? I'd love to hear what's cooking!  :)

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