Canning Gear – Second Hand!

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canninghaul

If you think you want to get in to canning your own jams, jellies and salsas, or if that’s your bag already, try checking out second-hand stores! I got the entire haul above for $21. That’s 20 jars, plus a giant canning pot complete with jar lifter inside! Each jar was only $0.29 at Value Village. I’m never buying new again!

All the jars are currently running through my dishwasher, along with the ring halves of the lids.

I’ve written about canning a few times, all those posts are here.

!IMPORTANT CANNING INFO!

If you are going to buy jars second-hand, never use the flat half of the lid to can your jams. The disc part only seals once, and if you’re buying used, you don’t know what it was used for before it became yours. After it’s been opened it won’t seal properly again. If you want to keep dry goods (rice, spices, paperclips), feel free to use them, but never use them to can again. I save mine so I can store stuff in jars if I want to, but I make sure to mark all used ones with an X in Sharpie so I don’t mix them up with the fresh lids.

All I need is a pack or two of lids and I’m ready for the summer canning season! P already complains about the number of jars we have in our pantry…. he’ll thank me when they’re full of plum sauce and mango chutney though.

canninghaulpattern

There was only on of my very favourite pattern – the quilted diamonds. Any jam that goes in the few of those jars that I have stays here.

I already had a pot I use for the boiling-the-jars part of canning, but this one is huge, plus it has the lifter. My old canning pot may turn into a dye pot sometime soon, so it isn’t a waste! Not that a pot that size for $12.99 is a waste either way.

Do you can? You should!

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  • Michele Bernstein

    I only jam, but I also use the jars for chocolate truffle sauce and bourbon caramel sauce (not processed in a water bath). No one ever says no to those!  My least favorite jars are the roundish 8 ounce ones because they take up too much room in the canner. Those get given away with no expectation of return.

    Do you have a gas stove? I only have electric, and the canner is kind of wobbly on the big burner.

  • rycrafty

     I have a regular electric stove, and I discovered soon after posting this that the giant pot doesn’t fit nicely on any of the burners. Sigh. The front right burner is not quite that big, but it could have worked if the stove wasn’t right up against a cabinet on that side. The other big burner is the back left, and the knobs to turn the burners on get in the way. I’m still keeping it though, because I WANT to use it!