Canning supplies still scarce

[Mike Nolan]

I've been to several stores in the last few days, and while most of them had some canning jars, with half pints and pints easier to find than quarts, additional lids and bands are pretty scarce.

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[rottiedogs]

I was in the canning section of our Meijer on Saturday and they had no quart jars at all. There was a decent amount of pints but 1/2 pints were not as plentiful. They had quite a few regular bands and lids but wide mouth was a much lesser quantity. They had a good amount of pectin and labels too.

[BakerAunt]

I also have noted the shortage of canning lids. In some cases they are not to be had unless you buy them in packages of 12 WITH the jars. I am still working off the stock I bought three years ago. Even then, I had to buy some lids with the rings, even though I have plenty of rings.

Our local Ace hardware had 4 and 8 oz. jam jars. I did not see any quart jars. I was unable to find jars at Walmart when we went over a month ago, but I did find labels there and bought a pack.

I was able to get the special pectin that I need for my jam maker. I went ahead and bought two containers, although I only needed to open one. I checked the date, and it will last through next year's jam season.

[Mike Nolan]

There are canning lids available on the Internet, but they're not brands I've heard of and I don't know if I'd trust them.

[BakerAunt]

Here's a cartoon about too many tomatoes and canning:

https://www.gocomics.com/breaking-cat-news/2021/09/05

The readers' comments show that a lot of people have canned or are canning these days.

Like Mike, I do not trust off-brand canning lids. So far, I have only used Ball, and I have rarely had any failures to seal.

[Mike Nolan]

I concluded that the two seal failures I had last week were both due to operator error. I managed to get two lids stuck together on one jar, and the other had too much headroom.

[Mike Nolan]

Nobody seems to know when Ball canning lids will be back in stock in local stores (you can get them on Amazon but the prices are ridiculous), so I went ahead and ordered 200 of the Konblimc lids on Amazon, at about a dime each. I'll do some tests of them and report back, but they seem to fit my regular jars properly. I think they're made in China.

[skeptic7]

I saw plenty of canning supplies this summer, but not so much in the fall. I also notice a lot of "off" brands of jars and rings on display. What I also can't find is the square pint, 1 1/2 pint and quart plastic freezer containers. I have been keeping an eye out for them the last month but can't find any. I don't remember seeing many this summer either. I like the pint containers for pumpkin puree and I find them a generally useful size for one person.

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