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Kathryn
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| Posted: April 05 2011 at 9:09pm | IP Logged
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I'm referring more to the smaller jelly and baby food jars. Do you keep them? I find myself in the baby food jar business again and I always keep them for "something" and a yr or 2 goes by and I usually then donate them. Can I reuse them if I do make some of my own baby food? I think we did use some of the slightly bigger jars one year when we made strawberry jelly and salsa (that's 2 separate recipes and foods...not one  ).
What else can I do with these?
Where can I store them...safely? They seem to take up so much cabinet space. May be I have too many already. 
Do you keep lids and jars separate?
One year I even bought a book on painting glass jars and all this glass paint and was going to decorate them and give them away as gifts. Well, that project never happened. I think that was when my oldest was a baby. She's now old enough to paint her own...hmmmmm...
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 05 2011 at 9:22pm | IP Logged
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you shouldn't reuse commercial jars and lids for home canning.
I have small oil candles made from baby food jars.. punched a hole in the lid and ran a wich through it.. and put an all metal straight pin through the wick to hold it on top of the lid. I use these in jack o lanterns and luminarias.. they're great.. don't blow out near as easy as candles.
If you have a bunch of things.. maybe bolts and nails and screws or want to seperate buttons or beads or such.. that would be a good use.. if you use them for food storage containers in the fridge or for sending with a packed lunch..
if you have something you want to use them for but need to save up enough.. I would store them with lids on in a box.. the box will stack neatly and you won't have jars skittering all over the place when they get bumped.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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Kathryn
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| Posted: April 05 2011 at 10:32pm | IP Logged
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So I can use them for food storage but not canning? I think I sterilized them all when we did that but we just did it the 2 separate occasions. This might have even been before I was really even on the internet to look up such a thing. Can you imagine?! Life without looking something up on the internet?!?!
I prob. could put some to use on hubby's workbench in the garage and even upstairs in the craft area for all those little pieces that just multiply.
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Kathryn in TX
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 05 2011 at 11:19pm | IP Logged
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my understanding is that the jars aren't safe for home canning.. but it may just be that they're not tested for it. It isn't safe to reuse the lids.. the seals may fail but not completely so that it could look sealed but have had bacteria (or spores in the case of botulism) survive in them.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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SallyT
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| Posted: April 06 2011 at 10:21am | IP Logged
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We use as many jars as we can for glassware. Little jam jars make wonderful juice tumblers or glasses for younger children. Bigger wide-mouth jars, like the spaghetti-sauce ones that are basically mason jars, are great for lemonade, iced tea, water, and even beer for bigger people.
I'll store leftover peas, beans, etc from dinner in the fridge in a glass jar with lid. I run them through the dishwasher, and they're fine for that.
We also use them for storing miscellaneous small household things (nails, etc), for paint water when kids are painting, for mixing craft paints or, for one project, food coloring and glue . . . the uses are endless. I hate to throw jars away, or even recycle them in the usual sense, because they are so handy. And we're always breaking them -- that's why we started using them for glassware, because we'd already broken so many of our actual glasses. And I do like *glass* glasses on the dinner table instead of plastic.
I also use narrow ones for vases.
Have fun with your jars!
Sally
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RyaneM
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| Posted: April 06 2011 at 11:16am | IP Logged
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SallyT wrote:
We use as many jars as we can for glassware. Little jam jars make wonderful juice tumblers or glasses for younger children. Bigger wide-mouth jars, like the spaghetti-sauce ones that are basically mason jars, are great for lemonade, iced tea, water, and even beer for bigger people.
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This is what we do too. My little ones drink out of jam jars/ small mason jars all the time.
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JennGM
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| Posted: April 06 2011 at 11:44am | IP Logged
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We use them for paint jars and specimens...can never have enough jars to catch insects.
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seeker
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| Posted: April 06 2011 at 4:25pm | IP Logged
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We don't have any of the baby food sized, but I use the bigger ones (pickle, peanut butter, etc.) to pour our cooking grease into. I keep the jar closed and under the sink until it's filled up and then toss it... don't know if that's the best thing to do, but I know (now... my parents never taught me this - my husband did) not to pour the grease down the sink.
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Kathryn
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| Posted: April 06 2011 at 10:02pm | IP Logged
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seeker wrote:
| I use the bigger ones (pickle, peanut butter, etc.) to pour our cooking grease into. |
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We actually do that too!
I think I'll start using some for drinking jars as well.
My father-in-law used to have a baby jar for each grandchild and would save his loose change in them. One of my SIL's would paint the lid for each baby and about once or twice a year he'd come with each child's jar.
I also thought about using them to fill with m & m's or jelly beans and have the kids give out as gifts for Easter to their homeschool teachers, neighbors.
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: April 07 2011 at 12:05am | IP Logged
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I can with commercial jars and used lids! If it doesn't seal right then you know when you are opening it or before!
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 07 2011 at 12:21am | IP Logged
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Actually you can't tell if a food has botulism in it from sight or smell. It's considered an unsafe practice, just like many ways that used to be fine.. as methods and knowledge increases they're reclassified as not safe.. I grew up with jam sealed with parafin wax but that's not considered safe now either. 
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juststartn
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| Posted: April 11 2011 at 9:03pm | IP Logged
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You could make a magnetic spice rack out of them--put magnets on the bottoms of the jars, scuff up, prime, and paint the lids, and write/paint the spice name on it. Then use them on a hang-up magnetic board (maybe install it on the inside of the pantry or cabinet door?)....
I finally donated mine to the local elementary school teachers. They were very happy to get them.
Rachel
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 11 2011 at 9:08pm | IP Logged
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you can nail (screw, glue, etc) the lids to the board and then just twist off the bottle too.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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MaryMary
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| Posted: April 16 2011 at 8:19am | IP Logged
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I found a crafty way to use baby food jars here.
Would be a beautiful way to decorate for Easter!
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| Posted: April 16 2011 at 12:44pm | IP Logged
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We use all sizes of jars for all sorts of things - including food. We've not had an issue with botulism - is that only for long-term storage (ie canning) that it is a problem? Or any food?
I ask because I am moving away from all things plastic and we've been using jars of assorted sizes for packing lunches and other away-from-home meals; I will also prepare dry mixes and store them in the freezer.
I can't imagine going back to plastic - that breaks easily, melts and otherwise leeches into our food, etc. I'd prefer to take my risks with botulism, but I also want to better understand the situation.
Thank you!
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: April 26 2011 at 3:51pm | IP Logged
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How and where to you store the glass jars you keep? I would like to start using them in place of plastic, like CatholicMommy mentions above, but storage is a problem.
I also wanted to say, regarding babyfood jars, I remember my friend's dad, when I was in 2nd grade, had a neat way to use them. He had attached (screwed?) the lids into a board and the jars hung down from it. Then he filled them with screws, nails, etc and hung it in his workshop. I bet you could do something creative like that for things like paper clips, tacks, etc.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 26 2011 at 4:26pm | IP Logged
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I use canning jars and those get stored upside down in boxes on shelves in the garage. Not sure how you'd store ones in the house.. other than the same way you store drinking glasses.. generally upside down so that they don't get dust inside them.. and arranged somewhat by size or most used.
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Topic: Using and Storing Glass Jars
