[DelaWhere]

I would start now looking for canning jars...

The sales for them were up 40% this past year - I sort of expect to see prices go up and supplies to go down this summer during the canning season.

Many times you can pick them up free if you start asking around, and yard/garage sales can also be productive sources as most people don’t know what they are good for. Just look for the Kerr, Ball or Golden Harvest ones, but do not buy any of the fancy old ones - with a wire bail to hold down a solid glass lid with a rubber gasket. They are not recommended as you cannot tell if what you can is really sealed and holding a vacuum. Just be sure you check for cracks and for any chips in the top rim as they will fail.

I would suggest hoarding dome lids and jars - You will find them priced all over the place. We have a Big Lots store that for the past several years have had pint jars for $6.50 a dozen - the same jars will be found for $12.95 at other stores. The lids can run from .99 at Big Lots for their sale to $2.49 at some other stores. If they are stored in a dry location, they are good for years before you use them. The bands are not a big problem, as they come with new jars and you can reuse them over and over.

[nw_arizona_granny]

I would start now looking for canning jars...<<<

Yes!!!

Start with Free Cycle and then Craigs [sp?]

Also place an ad in the paper now, that you want to buy jars and pay attention, as I got a lot of ‘dropped’ apples and other leads on free or almost free food from the folks who had the jars and was not going to can in them.

My ad in the ad in the Portland paper was something like this,

Wanted canning jars and source of fruits or will take fallen fruit.

I got jar calls, but others called and wanted the fruit picked before it fell and a few had good buys on it.

I canned till I dropped and one night Bill had to finish it.

[ozarkgirl]

After that post I have to plug freecycle again. Yesterday morning I picked up 30 pint jars and the tongs that pulls them out of the hot water for free! She also gave me some pots for gardening.

[CottonBall]

The sales for them were up 40% this past year - I sort of expect to see prices go up and supplies to go down this summer during the canning season.

I've been buying some now and then to store some dry stuff for long-term. I'm a bit concerned about doing some wet canning. Again, I need a grandma or grandpa around to show me this stuff! My grandma in Kansas was great at this stuff - she was a farm girl. She could've taught me a lot if I didn't live so far away from her. My grandma (nonna) in Italy was a bit different. Odd, really.