I too live in Iowa and I agree that most stores have only jars and lids packaged together and not any of the flats that one can use with the sealing rings that one already has from previous canning. I have a sister in law who needed the flats and i was able to obtain some for her at an Ace Hardware store in a town near here. HyVee said they had them at a nearby store when I checked on line but when I went to the store to get some they told me they had not had any boxes of flats all year. The Ace Hardware personnel were very nice and sold me six boxes as my sister in law had requested. The brand on the box is one with which I am not familiar but I have no reason to believe that they would not be satisfactory for regular canning. If you have an Ace store near you I suggest you give them a call to see if they have them in stock or can obtain them for you. Some other internet sites listed them but I could not believe the prices they were asking. I paid $3.59 for each box of twelve flats. I thought that was reasonable enough.