Canning jars | Nifty Thrifty Nest

I know buying in bulk can be intimating. It’s not really that bad though. And it can say you a lot of money. Sugar, Beans, Baking soda, Flour……. I like buying bulk items from Costco. There are lots of places you can buy bulk supplies, especially baking supplies.

Store bulk items….

Option One: Some people leave the bulk items in the original containers. I have heard of people putting bay leaves in the original containers to help keep out bugs. But what about moisture?

Option Two: I have heard of people storing sugar and flour in 5 gallon food-grade buckets. Good idea. But I don’t have any buckets. And I don’t feel like going out and buying some.

Option Three: Storing the flour and sugar in smaller containers. I have 3 beautiful wooden canisters on my kitchen counter. I got them as a wedding gift. But I can’t fit everything in these canisters. So, I store the rest in glass jars. It makes it easier to refill my counter canisters. Plus, the jars a lot lighter and easier to lift than a 5 gallon bucket. (I don’t have any 5 gallon food-grade containers. Jars are free!)

Side note…Not all mason jars are canning friendly. For example, the Classico sauce jars are mason jars. But they don’t always work with the canning lids. Some do. Some don’t. It’s a real pain when you suddenly find the lids won’t work in the middle of canning. I have toasted too many fingers this way. So I am picky with my canning jars. I try to use Classico jars for my bulk storage instead. If I have a canning jar with a crack, I also use it for storage. If I tried to use a cracked jar for canning, I would risk it breaking from the temperature changes. It’s not fun digging pieces of glass out of the pressure cooker. (See the hair line crack in this jar?)

Filling…. I like using a flannel to fill each jar. Next I have to go find a lid that fits. I don’t like storing the lids of the jars just in case they get stuck.

Save those lids… I know that you can’t reuse canning lids a second time for canning. You risk not getting a proper seal. But you can reuse the canning lids for storage. Just relabel the lid with a new label from tape. Reuse. Reduce. Recycle!