Reusable Canning Lids

Traditional canning lids have pretty well disappeared from the shelves in my area and most areas from what I read. Finally time to break out the reusable canning lids fro my preps. I have been experimenting with them this garden season. Definitely a little learning curve on using them but after a lifetime of using the other lids I guess I have officially taught an old dog new tricks. The Harvest Guard reusable canning lids remnd me of the old 2 piece glass lids that my grandmother used when I was a child. Everything old is new again I guess. They all sealed so that is what is important!

 

I would imagine that you would pop them off just like we always did with the regualr lids. You pry one edge up just a little and it pops off when the seal breaks. If they are pure flexable plastic they would be reusable where the metal with the THIN rubber seal in useless because the rubber will have no give to be used a second time. THIS is just a guess and may be wrong. I am ocassionally full of crap you know.

 

Canning lids are cheap. The seal of canning lids is a one-time shot.

 

The only reason that I might get some reusable canning lids would be connected to the board that we are on. IF there are no canning lids because the stores are all closed down I would like to have some that I could reuse. After the fall the ability to safely save and store the things that you grew in the summer to feed you through the winter will be critical.

When I was a kid my parents had hundreds of different sized canning jars. Those jars and the pressurecooker are still with me though I don't can much anymore. My wifes family canned even more than mine did. They even canned meat. We mostly just canned our garden vegitables and meatless soup. We added the meat when we ate it if we wanted meat in the soup.

Very few people these days know anything at all about canning. I think that canning goes back to a time when money wasn't as free flowing as it is now and when more people had their roots in the farms. I don't can as much as my parents did and my daughter does none of it.

If things go down she will starve to death. She was always a pain in the ass to feed and hated nearly anything that didn't come from MacDonalds or crap fastfood out of the freezer. She was 12 years old before she would eat meat that wasn't from a restraunt as a hamburger or a hotdog. I like to cook and eat fresh cooked meals. My wife got tired of the endless fights and just cooked two different meals every night. I gave up and ate good and she lived on crap. She actually didn't really COOK for the kid. It was the same two or three things night after night for her. I should have just let her starve until she could cook for herself.

 

This is a thread that I am interested in . I have zero experience using reusable canning lids and am eager to learn . We have always used the one time use lids . For instance is there a brand that stands out above the rest in the reusable field ? This is a week point in my preparations and want to remedy that week point by purchasing some reusable lids . When the planet has finished the collapse in which we have entered , buying canning lids of any type may be history . We may already be in the last months of finalizing our preps .

 

Yeppers, we used Ball jars and Ball lids. The only thing that we bought new each year was the flat lids. When we used a jar we washed it and put the outer ring on it and put it back in the box.

We canned 50 or so quarts of the BEST fresh vegitabke soup you ever ate. Everything in it was garden fresh picked. We cooked on a wood fire in huge old cast iron wash pots and then canned it up. The men would go out early and pick the first day. Then we shucked, shelled, peeled and cleaned every thing so that we could can starting early the next day. We would haul a propane gas kitchen stove out under the trees and start canning. We cooked on a wood fire but canning needs good control of the temperature that would be hard to get with a wood fire. We had several large canners and could do two at a time. That was anywhere from 12 to 16 quarts canned each cooking.

I always liked canning. the entire familly worked together and had a lot of fun. It was hot and there were usually at least a couple of water fights among the men. The women have NO sence of humor about having water dumped on their heads. My Uncle was chased down the hill the one time he tried to include his wife in the water works!! She had a huge laddle and would whack him every time he slowed down with it.

 

I own over 1400 canning jars. I grew up on a farm and my mother and grandmother both canned. I learned from the masters

I continue to can even though all my children are gone now but they grew up on canned goods. I can meat, soups, vegetables, jams, jellies, fruit and pie fillings. That is just how we eat and always have.

When covid reared it's ugly head and the shortages began everyone ran out an bought lids and cleaned them out. To this day there is a shortage of lids in the stores and new jars.

If you are fortunate enough to have stockpiled lids like I did then you were okay. After a year and a half my stock pile is getting low. To continue to can I will have to use reusable lids in the future as my stash of Ball lids are used up.

There are 2 companies that manufacture reusable lids. Tattler and Harvest Guard. Both are small family owned US small companies. The last I looked if you order Harvest Guard lids there is a 3 week waiting period for them to ship. Not sure about Tattler. These lids have been around since the 70's.

 

I just ordered some harvest guard reusable lids . I don't frequent stores much so on line ordering usually gets me my item quicker than if I waited for another trip to a store . I was just thinking , for those that incorporate bartering as part of their survival strategy , canning lids would be a prized item . Personally " I hope " to have no need for bartering but realize some put much emphases on this .