Home Canning Lids Showing Up

[Thundarstick]

I'm posting this in response to the "reusing canning lids" hoping more will see this if it's not mixed into another thread body.

New canning lis are showing up in retail stores! The catch, they are in limited numbers and you have to beat the scalpers to them! It's the same game that was, is being played with. 22 ammo. Scalpers buying them at retail and selling them at xxx times retail. I bought a case of regular Ball lids and a case of lids with rings at my local Wal-Mart yesterday morning. I was there when they opened the doors and took them off the pallet before they hit the shelves. Most stores will only sell at face to face store pickup. Someone mentioned jars. Around here you can buy all the jars with lids and rings a home canner would need, the lids and rings are what's scarce, but there coming!

[farmerjim]

I bought 4 doz quart wide mouth jars and 5 dozen lids at Walmart last week. There were no rings to be found.

[remy3424]

I see jars with lids and have seen rings with lids, but not just the lids yet.

[MaryB]

Rings last forever, even when rusty they still work! I have a box full of them!

[gbrown]

Rings last forever, even when rusty they still work! I have a box full of them!

2nd that!

[WebMonkey]

my wife got a case of ring/lid combo boxes in the mail just the other day.

mainstay/walmart brand.

no price hike.

good luck

[GoodOlBoy]

Flats (lids) are sometimes hard to come by around here. Mostly because the pimply face tiktok phone staring zombies that do the ordering don't want them "gathering dust" on the store shelves. Seriously got told that to my face. "I wish you boomers wouldn't keep asking for them, I'm not ordering them just for them to be gathering dust on the shelves!"

Anyway, yes rings last forever. A vinegar bath can and will remove rust on the rings, then wash them in good hot soapy water and you are ready to go again. Jars can often be had for free or even for 5¢ or 10¢ at garage sales and thrift shops. Just make sure you don't have chips or cracks anywhere. When reusing things like wide mouth pasta sauce jars we keep the metal lids for them and use those over the top of the flats instead of regular rings. Once they cool upside down (as usual) I take the metal lid off long enough to check the seal, then put it back on finger tight. I've even known jelly makers who only leave the ring on long enough to get a seal, then it is pulled off and used on the next jar, and so on and so forth. I don't like doing that because then when you open the jelly you don't have a ring on it to make sure it seals back up good in the fridge, but each to their own.

Our local HEB store carries ball brand wide mouth lids (aka flats) for $3.06 per 12 and regular flats for a hair cheaper. If they don't have them the manager WILL order them if you are nice, but firm about it. It's best to get ahead of it and buy/order them before or after the spring and fall canning seasons.

Quite a few years back we were at a walmart looking at after Christmas sale stuff, and we found these two packs of Ball wide mouth quart jars with flats, rings, labels, decorations, and wood tampers for making homemade cookie gift sets (IE you add all the dry ingredients in, seal it off, give it as a gift with the recipe to bake the cookies). They were marked down to 50¢ a set. On a hunch I grabbed an employee and asked to see the manager because there was a whole lot of them. He made me a deal and we took them at 25¢ a set. Took three buggies and part of another one to get them all to the car. At 12.5¢ a jar, flat, and ring it was cheaper than flats by themselves. We checked a bunch of other walmarts (east Texas road trip!) and the best we did was a buck a set at the others, we still grabbed them up, but three or four other stores got us a total of maybe a buggy full altogether. Lemme tell you, that was a heck of alot of quarts of purplehull peas, Mexican carrot and pepper mix, s'getti sauce, etc. I usually prefer to do most of my canning in wide mouth pints, but I couldn't argue the price!


Purplehulls with a few snaps from a couple years ago.

Nothing planted so far this year, but I need to get back to canning. I enjoy it.

God Bless

Richard

[MaryB]

my wife got a case of ring/lid combo boxes in the mail just the other day.

mainstay/walmart brand.

no price hike.

good luck

I had horrible luck with those. Jars had rough tops and wouldn't seal, lids missing sealing compound...

[bluebird66]

I order my lids through Amazon.

[remy3424]

Just looked at Walmart's site and Amazon, these are priced like they are primers! I will not be canning at these prices, they should be back at the normal retailers shortly.

[Thundarstick]

Just looked at Walmart's site and Amazon, these are priced like they are primers! I will not be canning at these prices, they should be back at the normal retailers shortly.

Those are NOT being sold by Wal-Mart! These sellers are the scalpers you have to beat to the punch!

[remy3424]

I see their "store brand" lids, but not Ball brand...at the store, in their site.

[Thundarstick]

I just did a quick search of the local Walmarts near by and one shows Ball regular mouth lids in sock for pickup only. If I where there when they open the doors at 7am I bet I'd get them. I have my needs filled, so another savy customer or a scalper will get them at just over $3.00 a dozen.

[remy3424]

"pimply face tiktok phone staring zombies" wow, someone was having a bad day! I think canning supplies would be considered a seasonal item at most retailers. They will back on the shelves soon enough.

[Ironboolit]

While traveling I found a case of ball regular lids at Walmart. The lids appear to be a little thinner. Has ball change what they’re making their lids out of?

[Three44s]

My wife searched and searched and ended up buying 12 dozen 12 pack Ball lids in wide mouth and the same in regular mouth and had to pay $100/ 144 lids through Amazon.

Add insult to injury they goofed up and sent 2X of the wide mouth lids and no regular mouth.

Highway robbery!

Three44s