A little inventory, math, and inventory math told me that while I’m pretty well positioned on canning lids, it might be a good idea to lay in a few more jars. A couple dozen cases of 12, at least. So, since Saturday is my somewhat-usual shopping day I decided to hit a few places around town and find the cheapest price on cases of pint jars. I stopped after my second attempt:
Uhm…okay. I’ll take them all. So that works out to about $0.83 for one new pint jar, ring, and lid. I’m good with that.
I like the pint jars for their single-serving proportions. I do keep quarts around, of course, but the majority of the jars I have are pints.
I’m sure there are other brands out there but the stakes are too high for me to tkae my chances on Johnny-come-lately brands or, worse, made in China stuff. Ball and Kerr, in that order. Nothing else.
So I managed to put a pretty good chunk of my jar needs into the green. Thats good. I need to get down in the basement and do a thorough inventory of jars, lids, and bands. They are something I usually don’t track because a simple look at the shelves tells me there’s “a lot” of them, but I suppose I should be more precise.
Anyway, it seemed like a good deal and that it might not be a bad idea to take advantage of it. So..I did.
I keep track of my inventory by burying it or shoving it into a huge mess of stockpiled items. Then, forgetting about it, I panic later and buy more. By not keeping track, I buy more than I need. When something is more readily identified, I have less of an impulse to buy more. Self-mind-humpery, to increase motivation. Out of sight, out of mind. Of course, that worked better when I had decades to prep. Anyone starting now would be better off more organized. Well, if you can. Today it seems you can only prep with whatever you can find, which ain’t much. I was in a Family Dollar and the first gas can I’ve seen in months was a crappy plastic three quarter gallon can. “Only” $16. I feel sorry for the new guys. Although perhaps it is good they have fewer choices. Instead of Perfect Prepping, they can do a repeat of 1970’s Dirty Hippies, live in a tent and just start farming on some crappy land, as they have no money to buy any store bought preps ( if you have money, now, you have nothing to buy, so it’s the same difference ).
I am a bit OCD about my inventories, so I do keep a list of jars and lids on-hand. I have a few “spaces” for some more new jar sets, and I’m always trying to pick up lids (sort of like ammo – it’s a consumable).
Already having problems finding lids.
I’ve seen plenty of jars around, though mostly more than those.
I’d like to have more lids, but I haven’t seen any yet this year.
I’m thinking I should get more jars too. Lids have been available this year, hooray! And jars too. So I pick up a few boxes every time I shop. The Golden Harvest lids are owned by the same company as Ball, and say Made in USA on them, so I’m hoping they work as well as Ball. Can’t predict how much canning I’ll do compared to normal years.
Good play Commander. The next mission objective to go along with the usage of home canned food in jars is a safe and secure transport module container. Deep into a collapse when tinned and pouched food is expended, or not dug out for usage at all then the only portable rations besides dog jerky and hard tack Jim Dakin bread for field use or forward deployment scenarios will be packing out canned jars of your favorite delicacies. Some folks purposed buckets with plywood layer between stacked and somewhat wrapped stored jars of food. Perhaps a harddig / pelican case with cut foam spaces for a tactical rugged canning jar carrier can be MacGyver rigged. We will devolve to carpentry fabricated wood crates for ration transport by donkey carts to our secondary fall back hideouts so plan accordingly. Stay frosty.
Any thought about contacting the manager and asking for a cash discount on all of them? The sign says manager discount,so he must want them gone.
I’m new to this, just started two years ago, the minute lockdowns hit, I knew. For years I had a nagging feeling I should prepare. I was already growing vegetables and herbs. In 2020 I got ducks for eggs and meat, and rabbits for meat. Planted fruit trees, berry bushes and built an unheated greenhouse. I plan to grow a LOT of extra veggies this year. Last year I bought Ball canning jars with lids, this year the same exact set of jars is 2.5 times the price for Ball jars & lids. I don’t need jars was just looking at the price now. I just bought a bunch of lids. Those, at least, were affordable. Without lids the jars are useless so it seems to be a good thing to stock up on! Even mainstream media is talking about food shortages and inflation. Heck with that, we have two little daughters and plan to ensure they have good healthy food – no matter what! We have friends who are expert hunters but have no eggs and no garden. May need to trade with them.