Posted on 04/01/2021 9:26:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Want to know how the US economy is doing?
Forget fancy indicators like the GDP, industrial production and home sales.
If you really want to know how consumers feel about our financial situation, just look at mason jar sales.
It's true. Throughout history, when people grew worried about their own self-preservation, they eased their fears with food preservation. In wartime, Americans gardened and canned to not only proclaim their patriotism but to ease food rationing. The Energy Crisis of the '70s led to the "Great Canning Lid Shortage of 1975." And in 2020 - a year wracked by COVID-19 fears, political strife, product shortages and economic uncertainty - neophytes have started gardening and canning with a fervor that would do Ma Ingalls proud.
"I call it 'Sourdough 2.0' -- it was the next craze of what people are doing in the kitchen because they have extra time," says Marie Bregg, who says sales on her online store, Mason Jar Merchant, are up "1,000 times" what they were in previous years.
This utter can-demonium has translated into canning-supply shortages, which started last spring but have persevered. No. 1 on the Home Canner's most-wanted list: canning lids. While mason jars and lid rings can be used repeatedly, the flat metal lids with the rubber ring are engineered to seal one time only. After that, there's no guarantee they'll still work, which could mean quarts of spoiled food or, worse, food poisoning.
As a result, brand-new Ball and Kerr lids - viewed as the gold standard - have become as hot of a commodity as toilet paper was last spring.
The Forum checked numerous big-box and grocery stores throughout Fargo-Moorhead, only to find no lids were available. Online, Walmart featured lids from a third-party seller, but the price had shoppers flipping their lids: $17.98 for a 12-pack of lids and rings. (Normally, a 12-pack would cost $3 or $4.)
"It's outrageous," said Carol Kronbeck, a lifelong home-canner.
Kronbeck estimates she cans 90 jars of pickles, salsa, jelly, spaghetti sauce and tomatoes every fall after husband, Jack, a retired farmer, brings her the bounty of their large garden near Hawley, Minn. "You could hardly find lids all summer because so many had started gardening who had never canned before. I'm just glad I got all my pickles done," Kronbeck says. "I ended up having to freeze everything, even tomatoes and green beans."
Sue B. Balcom, who manages the Bismarck Farmer's Market, sells her canned goods through her Root Sellers business and is the guest contributor to "Main Street Eats," on Prairie Public Radio, says she ran out of inventory sooner than usual last fall because she couldn't find more lids and jars.
"It's irritating, to say the least," she says. "The shelves were wiped clean. It had slowed down by the end of September to a point where I was scrounging for jars. I told people, when it's gone, it's gone."
An up side to the "can-demic" is that Balcom says her sales are 50% higher in the past year than in previous years. Even so, she's frustrated by hoarders who are snatching up all the canning supplies simply so they can sell them at inflated prices. "If you're hoarding lids, stop it," she says.
Why is this happening?
Small groceries in rural areas are also experiencing a shortage. Donna Scholl, grocery manager of Valley General Store in Halstad, Minn., says jars and lids have both been in short supply since May of last year, and lids are still a no-show. For a while in the summer, the store did receive packs of jars with rings and lids. People seemed to buy them, even if they already had jars, just so they could get new lids.
The demand grew especially brisk in the fall, when people from as far as 40 miles away were calling the store to look for lids. Last week, Scholl was checking with her warehouse, but there wasn't a canning lid in sight. "Not even an off brand," she says. "There wasn't even an estimated delivery time."
Scholl says she believes the shortage stems from workforce shortages and factory shut-downs related to the pandemic. Many manufacturers have switched their production emphasis to focus on their best-selling items, but it hasn't yet bumped up availability of canning supplies.
Bregg thinks the shortage is the result of “a perfect storm” of conditions: COVID-weary folks turning to home-gardening and canning to alleviate grocery bills and fears of future food shortages; Pinterest-surfing millennials who find they now have time to try homespun pursuits like canning salsa, and pandemic-related slow-downs at every level of the supply chain.
Newell Brands, the maker of Ball as well as popular mason jar brand Kerr, produces the largest quantity of mason jars in the U.S. In early October, the publicly traded company told CNN this unprecedented demand has resulted in supply constraints, extended lead times and recently limited product availability at stores and online.
At the time, a spokesperson also told the news network it was "increasing glass production, finding new lid manufacturers, and expanding facilities in an effort to replenish stock." The official Ball site issued a statement about fraudulent sites, reminding people to buy only through authorized third-party retailers and that “appropriate legal action is being taken to have these sites removed.”
Bregg, who has been interviewed by several national news organizations on the shortage, says she doesn't have an answer on when the shortage will end. "Suppliers don’t see supply chain normalizing until maybe the end of this year. The supply chain got screwed up. They ordered more supplies last year than in 10 years' time. There's a lot of fulfillment to make up for just to reach the normal level. "
Bregg, who was born in America but lives in Vancouver, B.C., says she's been able to fill online orders for canning supplies by buying up Bernardin jars and lids. Bernardin is the Canadian equivalent to Ball and Kerr. "They are definitely more expensive than you would normally pay, but that's because we bought them at retail," she says.
Other options include ordering no-name brands off places like Amazon, which typically come from Chinese companies. However, standards vary greatly from factory to factory, so there's no guarantee of quality, Bregg says.
Another option is a lid that is truly reusable, such as the Tattler brand. Although they are more expensive than the one-time-use lid, "you can tell when a Tattler seals, let me tell you," says Sue Balcom. "It takes a lot of strength to break those seals."
We went to buy some canning jars fro Walmart, to have them shipped to us. Good thing I didn’t just automatically hit the check out button without looking. Shipping was several dollars more than the product
Saint Vincent DePaul store always had boxes of canning jars and lids. Maybe not now but it would be worth a looksee.
Wow, the lady in the article cans 90 jars per year.
I’m more like 24. And that’s plenty.
Tomatoes and Green beans.
Plus a ferment some pickles and peppers.
90 jars.
Who wants to bet that some DC bureaucrat made the decision that the LID COMPANY was NOT ESSENTIAL????
IF you can get them off in the first cycle of usage !!!!!
If there was only a way they could be manufactured in the US rather than China. Last year I order a dozen lids. After missing the shipping date several times, Amazon gave me a automatic refund. I was able to by a case of 12 1qt wide mouth jars and a set of 24 lids and rings a few months ago locally but they dried up again. I was also able to get a set of plastic lids. I mostly do sauerkraut so the plastic lids are better since they don’t rust.
Many years ago I became interested in canning when we visited my wife’s relatives who can just as the family always has. Most all county and state fairs have competitions for canning, baking, candies, all kind of crafts, and vegetables. Usually extremely cheap for free to enter. I have over 300 ribbons hanging in my kitchen from several local counties + the California State Fair. If interested go to your fair’s website and find something called Exhibitors Handbook, or something like that. It’ll give you the process for entering
I have a closet full of the standard and wide mouth sizes. And just FYI, the generic ones at WalMart work just as well and are made in America.
L
These are the days of convenience foods, where almost everything can get microwaved.
Microwave is the technology of future cooking, as long as there is reliable electricity.
Home canned goods are a relic of past skills of many generations,
but people are learning that home canning is one of the best way of food reliability and home storage.
As stated by one of the titles of my favorite book :" Too Many Tomatoes, or What to Do When Your Garden Explodes" ,
home canning is the best way to save your seasonal gardening surplus, or even any surplus from the Farmers Market.
Among those who want to remain self-sufficient, home canning is a valued skill which is only dependent on availability of canning supplies and lids.
This is not a 'fad' or a 'bubble' which will eventually burst, home canning skills will outlast us all.
Plan ahead and you will never be disappointed or surprised by shortages.
Check out some of the Farm , Seed, and Garden stores; sometimes the smaller stores that get overlooked.
Last I knew, my Tractor Supply had several shelves full of various sizes (with lids).
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2553889.m570.l1313&_nkw=canning+lids&_sacat=0
Plenty of Ball, Kerr and Tattler brand lids at COVID prices of course.
Not near as bad as OSB though.
Pre-COVID, $9 per sheet.
COVID price, $38 per sheet.
Our cabin has roof rafters, purlins and tin on it and is LOUD when it rains. I was wanting to pull the used/repurposed tin, deck the roof with OSB and put new tin on it this Spring but it will have to wait.
Last year when I couldn’t find any lids, I switched to dehydrating.
“...just easier to buy what I want canned.”
I agree to an extent. BUT, we MUST have my own homemade Salsa, Pickle Relish, V-8 Juice and Bloody Mary Mix. ;) If push comes to shove, all of those items could be frozen.
I did NOT have a good gardening season last year, so the pantry is looking a little bare. Redoubling my efforts this growing season. It’s going to be Tomato & Pepper Heaven around here! :)
We keep winter squashes and potatoes in cardboard boxes in the 55 degree basement all winter, and I’ll freeze shredded zucchini (for bread, muffins and Zucchini Pancakes) and good old green beans.
‘The Chairman’ gave me the OK to use what is usually a food plot for turkeys & quail to grow more potatoes and winter squash this season.
Yes, but did you see the small print? All limited supplies (Only 1 Left! Only 4 Left!) and the price is 2x the norm.
Price gouging, for sure. But, Supply and Demand rule the day, as always. ;)
My ‘Inner Evil Canner’ is just WAITING for a few years into the future when all of these would-be canners and gardeners are going to be selling their unused supplies at Garage Sales for CHEAP! ;)
I broke down and bought some Asparagus today - I won’t have any in my patch for another 4 weeks or so. The price was right. ;)
“If you’re going to be self sufficient, you’ve got to be self sufficient.”
Those of us that can sew, bake bread from scratch and grow vegetables are going to RULE this Brave New World! Mark my words! ;)
I did the same thing and caught it before I pressed the final ‘Place Order.’ They wanted $10 shipping for a case of 12 jars with lids and rings...which was already $15! When canning jars are costing you about $2 EACH - your Bottom Line is not being met.
Though - if I actually PAID myself the $45 an hour which is my standard Consulting Fee, I’d never break even - EVER, LOL!
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