Inventory-Jars-reg or wide-food

[feather]

Last night, you know, Friday night we had a very exciting activity, INVENTORY the canning jars in the pantry (canned food and dry goods), dishwasher, fridge, prepped jars for canning. We are so much fun.

Including all the places we use jars, we have about 500 jars, mostly filled.

Large mouth jars are about 50%.

Reg mouth jars are about 50%

10% of the jars are 4 oz, 1/2 pints, pint and 1/2, 1/2 gallon--these are the odd ones.

45% of the jars are quarts.

45% of the jars are pints.

1% oddities, grape leaves, pimento peppers, homemade vinegar, frozen pesto

15% is meat or meat based meals.

16% is sweet jams, sauces, pear butter, fruit.

16% sweet and dill pickles.

52% tomatoes, tomato sauces, salsa, green beans, legumes, sauerkraut, corn, sweet potatoes.

Is that how it goes for you too? OR more or less meat or veggies?

We are considering getting tattler lids.

I was also reading about 4ever recaps--a knock off of tattler but they didn't appear to be dependable.

If we use tattler lids w/gaskets, you tighten them, then back off 1/4 inch, then water bath can or pressure can, take them out, tighten the rings, leave for 24 hours, remove the rings. Is that correct? Do the rings rust in the 24 hours they are left on?

We are finding prices for a case of lids at about 75$ for tattlers w/gaskets. (nitrile)

Reusable canning lids on sale for regular-$1.59 and wide-$2.59 in all brands, kerr, ball, and mainstay.

Any advice on lids? Where to buy, or better pricing, or whether you like the tattler lids? Thank you in advance.

[Ozarks Tom]

We use Tattlers quite often and like them. Mainly for foods with lots of acid like tomatoes. If you try to use them like regular lids the failure rate will be high. No, the rings won't rust overnight. We pull the rings wash & dry them, then let them air dry just to make sure all the moisture is gone before storing them.

We've gone to wide mouth jars completely now, easier to fill and empty. Even easier to wash. We probably have a couple hundred regular mouth from before we standardized so having the Tattler regular size lids comes in handy.

I've mentioned here before, but it's worth mentioning again. We bought 12 cases of quart jars from Walmart online, and found they were $2 cheaper per case than in the store, and no charge shipping.

[horseyrider]

LOL! feather, your first mistake was counting your jars. Never count your jars. The only correct answer to "How many jars do you have?" is "Not nearly enough."

Why not pick up a dozen or so of the Tattlers before you buy a bunch, and decide whether or not you like them? Farm and Fleet carries them now.

[feather]

horseyrider, we had to count! We are counters.

Farm & Fleet has the wide mouth tattlers for $7.99, a good deal.

[paquebot]

No way would I ever begin to take inventory of jars. Best I can do is make an estimate of opening size. I'm going to guess about 60% regular 70mm, 30% wide mouth 86mm, and 10% #63 63mm. Overall numbers would be roughly 600 to 700 and everything from quarter-pint to half-gallon.

Martin

[Skandi]

I have 100ml 225ml (both with 38mm lids) 385ml then everything up to 1000ml but all the larger ones take 58mm lids. I know i have about 98 of the 385's and 50 of the 225's but not all of them are in use.
Of course these are not the type of jars you are all talking about.

I have no meat or un pickled vegetables, I would say it's abouy 40% jams 40% pickles and 20% tomato products now.

[Deleted]

Oh, man... You guys are way ahead of me.

I'd better kick it into gear.

BTW, I have tattler lids, just haven't used them. I fear the learning curve.

Ozarks Tom, next time you guys are canning, let me know so I can come watch and learn.

[feather]

Aug 4, 2018 23:52:41 GMT Skandi said:

I have 100ml 225ml (both with 38mm lids) 385ml then everything up to 1000ml but all the larger ones take 58mm lids. I know i have about 98 of the 385's and 50 of the 225's but not all of them are in use.
Of course these are not the type of jars you are all talking about.

I have no meat or un pickled vegetables, I would say it's abouy 40% jams 40% pickles and 20% tomato products now.

Skandi, your jars, are they glass jars with some kind of metal/plastic/glass lid? If that's what you have then they are just different sizes than we have here.

Do you have no meat or unpickled veggies because you don't pressure can or are their different cultural or legal reasons?

[Skandi]

Aug 5, 2018 14:31:16 GMT feather said:

Skandi, your jars, are they glass jars with some kind of metal/plastic/glass lid? If that's what you have then they are just different sizes than we have here.

Do you have no meat or unpickled veggies because you don't pressure can or are their different cultural or legal reasons?

Single piece lids is the difference. look like

And yes nothing that needs pressure. We don't use any tinned veg other than one jar of potatoes at Christmas and tomatoes (which I don't normally have enough of to preserve, but this year I do!) , I've tried a few different brands of tinned meat and I cannot stand the taste, I don't really like the sausages in glass jars either. Since no one does meat here there's no way to see if it tastes different when done at home.

[feather]

horseyrider, Thanks for the tip. We picked up some tattlers for the tomato harvest for this year, at Farm&Fleet (and in case anyone is interested, they do sell them online).

The tattlers are not to be heated over 250 degrees F and not for canning anything with more than 15% alcohol in the jars. With water bath canning and pressure canning, those are acceptable temperatures and I can't think of anything that might have much alcohol in them that might need canning.

I ran out of pints so we picked up a couple cases of wide mouth pints too, on sale. I'm at the point where I have hopefully enough quarts ready for tomatoes, 8 half pints and quarter pints jars left, and the leftovers of the 2 cases of pints. I've never gotten so close to having them all filled before this year.

[horseyrider]

Aug 6, 2018 21:24:46 GMT feather said:

horseyrider , Thanks for the tip. We picked up some tattlers for the tomato harvest for this year, at Farm&Fleet (and in case anyone is interested, they do sell them online).

The tattlers are not to be heated over 250 degrees F and not for canning anything with more than 15% alcohol in the jars. With water bath canning and pressure canning, those are acceptable temperatures and I can't think of anything that might have much alcohol in them that might need canning.

I ran out of pints so we picked up a couple cases of wide mouth pints too, on sale. I'm at the point where I have hopefully enough quarts ready for tomatoes, 8 half pints and quarter pints jars left, and the leftovers of the 2 cases of pints. I've never gotten so close to having them all filled before this year.

Isn't that an uneasy feeling, coming upon the end of the stash of empty jars? Are there ever enough jars?

To make matters worse, I collect old canning jars. I'm totally geeked out by early closures. The kitchen technology of yesterday lights me up.

You're nudging me close to counting, and I'm not a counter. 

[feather]

Aug 6, 2018 23:34:56 GMT horseyrider said:

You're nudging me close to counting, and I'm not a counter. 

For a few years I worked in quality assurance, so I'd be counting discrepancies, counting on consistencies, counting hours against dollars, counting minutes of activities........so it kind of crept into our life. Then DH started working in quality in his field and he started counting. There was so much book keeping. lol

We are at 500+ jars, and 5 tomatoes so far. Thank God we aren't counting beans this year, it takes 117 beans for a quart jar.

And let's just not get into his pedometer step count compared to mine! Join the counting fun.

[paquebot]

Every time I go by the local thrift store, I just know that there are a lot of jars calling my name. This year is going to be the first in a long time that I will not be buying more. Cleaned out their wide-mouth pints last year @ 15¢. Also got a box of Tatlers for 90¢. Despite not being home for 2 months, big supply of empties show that we're eating well.

Martin

[feather]

Aug 4, 2018 22:12:33 GMT horseyrider said:

LOL! feather , your first mistake was counting your jars. Never count your jars. The only correct answer to "How many jars do you have?" is "Not nearly enough."

Why not pick up a dozen or so of the Tattlers before you buy a bunch, and decide whether or not you like them? Farm and Fleet carries them now.

horseyrider,  we did try them and liked them. Then F&F had a sale and a grand opening, and if you opened a credit card with them (ours had lapsed), another 20 some percent off the price of anything you buy on your first purchase with the credit card. So the investment of around 70 dollars for 10 packs of regular tattlers and another 70 dollars for 10 packs of wide mouth tattlers. Since they didn't have the wide mouth in stock, they charged us and then would contact us when they came in. They came in this week, so we waited a good long time but got them at a good price. That's 200 tattlers to work with for now. I really appreciate your tip and DH is pleased we saved money on them too.

[feather]

Is there a best practice for how to remove the tattlers lids/gaskets from the jars. I used the round end of a can opener, and I don't think it bent the lid.

[horseyrider]

feather, I use a can opener for my metal lids like you describe. I don't know for sure how they'd work for Tattlers, but I bet Wendy would know. I have a collection of antique openers for jars back in the day when they used glass lids with rubber rings. I thought I might experiment with those, too.

How are you liking your Tattlers in day to day use? I'm still wanting to use them, but I get squidgy when canning time comes. I tried canning some water and ended up with about 60% success. How's it been going for you? And, are you finding any differences in efficacy between water bath and pressure canning?

[feather]

horseyrider, thank you.
Um, I've had near 100% success with tattlers, I love them, both for water bath and for pressure canning.
I did 100 qts of tomatoes water bath, they all held and continue to hold. I used them for pressure canning beans, all are holding. I even accidentally used two gaskets under a tattler, and that sealed and held too!

I use this method. I can as normal, finger tighten the lids, then back off 1/4th of an inch (eyeball measuring 1/4th inch around the edge). Waterbath (or pressure can), then I take them out when they are done, and use hot pads and tighten the lids fully. Let them cool, then remove the rings. For me it's been nearly fool proof. I'm really liking them a lot.

Thanks for asking.

[horseyrider]

Awesome, girl! I'l try that with the beans; it's an easy, inexpensive recipe and trial subject. And your explanation is far clearer than anyone's that I've read so far.

Thanks, feather!

[midtnmama]

Aug 4, 2018 16:46:08 GMT feather said:

Last night, you know, Friday night we had a very exciting activity, INVENTORY the canning jars in the pantry (canned food and dry goods), dishwasher, fridge, prepped jars for canning. We are so much fun.

Including all the places we use jars, we have about 500 jars, mostly filled.

Large mouth jars are about 50%.

Reg mouth jars are about 50%

10% of the jars are 4 oz, 1/2 pints, pint and 1/2, 1/2 gallon--these are the odd ones.

45% of the jars are quarts.

45% of the jars are pints.

1% oddities, grape leaves, pimento peppers, homemade vinegar, frozen pesto

15% is meat or meat based meals.

16% is sweet jams, sauces, pear butter, fruit.

16% sweet and dill pickles.

52% tomatoes, tomato sauces, salsa, green beans, legumes, sauerkraut, corn, sweet potatoes.

Is that how it goes for you too? OR more or less meat or veggies?

We are considering getting tattler lids.

I was also reading about 4ever recaps--a knock off of tattler but they didn't appear to be dependable.

If we use tattler lids w/gaskets, you tighten them, then back off 1/4 inch, then water bath can or pressure can, take them out, tighten the rings, leave for 24 hours, remove the rings. Is that correct? Do the rings rust in the 24 hours they are left on?

We are finding prices for a case of lids at about 75$ for tattlers w/gaskets. (nitrile)

Reusable canning lids on sale for regular-$1.59 and wide-$2.59 in all brands, kerr, ball, and mainstay.

Any advice on lids? Where to buy, or better pricing, or whether you like the tattler lids? Thank you in advance.