Mason jar storage?

We canned a lot more last year than normal and plan on canning even more this year and in the future. Do you guys have any tips on storing full and empty jars?

400 or 500 jars takes up a lot of space. We have them scattered all over the place in different closets and bins.

Keith

I put them where they were when they were full. In the pantry. LLL

I built and bought shelving in the basement. There’s hundreds of jars down there....venison, three types of beans, spaghetti sauce, tomato juice, carrots, potatoes, pickled beets, grape juice, apple sauce, and peas.

At my old house, I had a closet under the stairs used for storage. We built a series of shelves from floor to ceiling along the wall between the 4x4 studs to hold jars, and added a wood lip to keep the jars from falling off the shelves. It worked great for holding quarts or double stacked pints, and made use of wasted space. We easily stored several hundred quarts.

after use, wash them clean and put the old lid back on to keep bugs and dust out while stored. when time to reuse them, a hot rinse is usually all thats needed.

my grandmother on the old homstead had what she called the root celler was a hole in the ground with a roof covered with dirt with a trap type door and a set of stairs was dirt walls and dirt floor with alot of wooden shelfs for all the canning jars and a huge potastoe bin had to use a flashlight or a kerosene lanturn to find anything worked for over 50 plus years

If you have the room, I would watch for some big box store going out of business and by there shelving because they can hold the weight and take up a lot less room. JMO

Dark n cool spot

Empty jars go in Rubbermaid type totes in the garage. You can stack them high, even on the floor. Full jars go in an old pie safe. We had a root cellar as a kid that we kept a ton of full jars in.

I grew up in a house with a large pantry. Canning jars were in there along with stands of lard, air dried sausage, and cured ham. I still remember a gallon jar of apple vinegar was the door stop.

I started canning water in my empty jars using the old lid. It keeps them cleam and you also have emergency water if you ever need it

good shelves you build in the basement put a little strip around the perimeter of the shelf so that they can't be slid off easily.

store them up side down when empty

the rings if you take a 5 inch stick of wood and drill a hole in the middle put it on a length of cordage and you can slip it through the bands turn the stick and hang a large batch of rings

The mason jar shortage is directly related to the Moonshiners.

cool dark place out of sun light

We store empty jars in totes with a layer of cardboard between layers of jars to avoid chipping. I converted a bedroom closet into a second pantry that will hold several hundred full jars and canning supplies.

Like others basement shelves. We store all of ours upside down to keep dust out. Seems like a daily rotation of canned food going upstairs to be eaten and clean jars going back down to the shelves.

We store 300 to 400 empty jars on the same shelves that full jars occupy in the climate controlled basement. The only difference being we stack them back into boxes and place on top of each other. These shelves are very strong and are strap banded to the stud walls to prevent tipping over.

Chris

On a related note, I have found canning lids back in stock on two separate occasions. Picked up 34 dozen Kerr regular sized lids at $2.18 a dozen at Walmart and 14 dozen wide mouth sized Ball lids at $3.19 a dozen at Menard's with their 11% off sale.

Chris

I always save the boxes the jars come in. And that's the best way to store either full or empty jars.

Thanks everyone. You gave me some good ideas.

Keith

My Brother turned me on to these...Not cheap but last. Two sizes Pint an Quart. Can stack anywhere.




Just checked Amazon for these and the price has sky rocketed...I know he did not pay that much. I will try to get a source from him.

Here is a better source.

https://www.rootsandharvest.com/pro...-qr6L7wIVQ6GGCh001w0gEAQYASABEgK06_D_BwE

I ordered four dozen lids on line and it cost me $16.00 plus shipping. There was some off brands cheaper. I have been checking Menards and Fleet farm weekly and the shelfs are clean. An employee said they rarely ever get any in these days.

Mouth down in totes with 30 pack beer shelf dividers separating levels. Or
beer box cardboard for in between bases and mouths. Packed, stacked, and wholesale.

I fill them up with change and hide them thats why there is a shortage