Scoring Some Old Jars
On my way back from taking my sister to the airport, I stopped in to a reuse store and scored some cool old mason jars. Not only did I find some different older jars but the price was right too! I purchased several 500mL or pint jars for 33 cents each and a bunch of 1L or quart jars for 50 cents each. Yeah!
Matt and I are always on the hunt for neat old jars…something with a different shape, colour, or company name on it. We like all kinds of old things from antique furniture to books but recently we’ve added collecting reuseable jars to our list. The value of the jars isn’t important to us (as we know some people collect mason jars and are willing to pay a lot of money for them); what we look for is usability and affordability. Isn’t it true that we always want something that we can’t have or that is a more challenging to find. Last year, it was all the different plaid and holiday lids…this year, its old jars. What will it be next?
Admittedly, I love the idea of seeing all of these different and interesting jars filled with our own homemade preserves and lined neatly on the shelves. It’s nice to have pretty jars and labels to show off all of your hard work. Shouldn’t the jars look as good as the food tastes? So, for us, the jars have become as diverse as the food we put in them…and like that the choices are endless.
Here a just some of the old jars that I found yesterday…
And, some that were given to us by friends (Ben, Annie, The Kundas, and Mardi)…
And, some different jars we found in China Town on Spidna (downtown Toronto)…
Many of the jars we purchase are either regular or wide mouth jars that we can use in the hot water bath or pressure canner. I carry the rings around in my pursue to make sure that they are the right size. Sometimes it can be deceiving. We also buy the older jars with glass tops when the price is right because they are excellent for storing grains, rice, herbs, candied peels and ginger, and your preserves that are full of liquor.
A big thanks to all my friends and family for saving jars for us…we really appreciate it!
Putting Up With The Turnbulls 
What an awesome score of old jars.
Wow, those jar lids in that last photo are so beautiful. this reminds me that my husband’s acquaintance has lots of old jars just waiting for us to pick up. Hope they’re as cool as these! All your canned goodies sound and look delicious!
Great find. I love to have unique jars. It’s more interesting to the eye to have a variety of shapes going on. I found a stash of old jars this past weekend at a yard sale for 28 cents a jar.
I too love old jars what a good find. Those with the glass lids are beautiful. DEB