Tartan

Oh my, that’s sounds scary!

SewingSew

There is definitely a canning supply shortage for several reasons. While people have been staying at home, they have been using jars to make candles and do other crafts. And many people are planting gardens and, maybe for the first time, trying to can their harvest. Fortunately, we have many canning tools and supplies, but this year we planted a larger garden and when we tried to find more supplies, we had difficulty. The stores here in NH were out of jars and lids, and when we went online, we found the same shortage. And those who are selling supplies are breaking up a dozen jars and charging an unreasonable amount of money for them. I was able to find pectin last week, so that was exciting. Mustard seed has been another item that I have had trouble finding. Vinegar has also been in low supply in stores this month. And yes, lids--at least the two piece Ball type, have been hard to find. I ordered 4 dozen several weeks ago, and I'm still waiting for them to get here. I ordered a dozen 8 ounce jelly jars. They took awhile to get here, and when they did, they had one piece lids. According to what I read, the one piece lids that many are selling are not recommended for safety reasons. There seems to be a bait and switch thing going on too. The jelly jars I ordered were listed as Ball jars, but when they got here, they were an off-brand. My husband ordered 6 dozen quart size canning jars for me, and when they arrived we were disappointed. They looked like mayonnaise jars and they had one piece lids.
The potential for the water to run out while pressure canning is scary. The processing time for canning certain foods seems so long that you just know that the food is going to turn to mush. I personally use a water bath method when canning tomatoes. A couple of weeks ago I used my pressure canner to can tomatoes and peppers, but that is only because peppers are low-acid and the rule of thumb is to consider the lowest-acid food when canning mixed vegetables, and use that method and time for processing.

Stitchnripper

I was looking for plastic lids for mason jars (not for canning - just to make them into containers) and amazon seems to have a supply of lids and such. I don’t know if they are overpriced but they are available

SewingSew

I have noticed, in the last week, a change in what Amazon has available. Everything that I have ordered from them so far has taken more time than normal to get here.

tranum

Last Spring I noticed the garden supply had a 25# limit on seed potatoes so it dawned on me people are making big gardens & I better be buying canning flats. I’m glad I did because they’re not to be found now. Our grocery store said they got a notice no more lids are coming. A family member didn’t have a garden this year so she passed some lids to me & I’ll replace when they’re available to buy again so I squeaked by but I sure feel sorry for those who are in need.

P-BurgKay

I ended up buying my lids on Amazon. I really paid for them, but I have my canned tomato products. When they get into the grocery stores again I will stock up for next year. This year I canned for 3 of my children besides myself. So I was kept busy for awhile. love my canned tomatoes, tomato juice, soup and pasta sauce.

SewingSew

I just got the Ball lids in from Amazon that I had ordered several weeks ago. At the time I ordered them, I was surprised to see that they were available because, over the last several months, I had been seeing that many canning items were either unavailable or overpriced. So I had ordered 2 packages of 4 boxes that contained 12 lids each--to total 96 lids. These are the type that require a band when canning. I wanted to post my experience for those of you who are looking to buy lids. The 8 boxes were shipped in a plain opaque plastic bag with no cushion of any kind to protect them from getting crushed or bent, and anyone who cans knows that you wouldn't use a dented lid. Some of the boxes were crushed. I had ordered regular mouth "Ball" canning lids. They came in boxes that look like Ball wide mouth canning lids, except that a lot of the writing that I ordinarily see on the box is missing, which makes me wonder if they are true Ball lids. Also, the lids themselves do not have the dimple in the middle or the Ball logo on them. I have a large number of lids on canning jars in my pantry. I use them for dry storage as well and I use an attachment with my Vacuum Sealer to Vacuum Seal the jars to keep food fresher longer. So I looked at those for comparison, and while I do have some without the Ball logo that are just plain silver or gold, they all have the dimple in the middle. And that makes me wonder if they are Ball lids, because in the many many years I have been exposed to canning, I can never remember seeing lids without the dimple in the center until now. I also want to say that we have purchased generic canning lids before, but they have always had the dimple. I question whether these are actually Ball lids or whether they are counterfeit. They do flex when I put them on a jar, so I will try to use them and see what the results are. I am actually canning tomatoes tonight, so I will see if they work. I just wanted to let you all know what my experience was because some of you are ordering lids from Amazon. Just to be clear, I have been doing business with Amazon for almost as long as they have existed, and I love shopping there and have had great experiences with their customer service. I do, however, know that many vendors sell through through them, and that was true in this situation.