My sealer stays on my countertop. I keep my breakfast berries (3 containers), my salad stuff (4 containers) and lots of other things in vacuum containers, and I'm always sealing stuff in bags. I put frozen fries & veggies in a large 1 gallon bag, and vacuum/reseal them whenever I take out a portion. I use the buhjeebus out of it.
We always take ours out an put it back, as we only use it during harvest and moose season. My son has a monster machine that cost him well over $1000, as he butchers several moose and caribou every year and they have 4 large freezers to support their keto diet system.
I was happy to find these lids for my preserving jars that I’ve not been able to find to buy since 2019 I found these on Amazon U.S. with FREE postage to Australia …..very rare find and another bonus is they are about the same price as they were …pre pandemic ….4 dozen for $55 .including postage I’d seen them before on Amazon U.S . but the postage was the deciding point to NOT BUY them ( would have doubled price of lids) When I seen these were FREE post I jumped on them ….I actually ordered two lots As I’ve been told Ball Mason has sold their jar making business so unless someone takes over making them our jars will become useless for preserving if we can’t get lids. I’ve confirmed that they have sold / ceased production by goggling
Kate--that seems like a ridiculous price. On the USA Amazon site, these are available, and it says they are reusable...
That is cheap @Beth Gallagher I didn’t see then …but what was the postage cost to Australia ? I can’t get them at all in Australia all the stockists have “ out of stock” in their websites Can you add a link for me of the BALL brand lids and I’ll check the postage I’ve heard they are re usable ..but when you read online or watch YouTube they all say NO don’t re- use I might just try when the fruit is ready
Here's the link, Kate... CLICK HERE! The regular Ball lids are not reusable, but the generic ones state that they are in the description. However, I read this after scrolling the page so I think they are trying to fool people... One Time Use？ If you are vacuum sealing them like on a jar of freeze-dried food, then they can be reused. You are not using any heat to melt the seal and provided the lid hasn't been damaged or bent out of shape it can be reused(after a good washing of course) for vacuum sealing again. So they aren't really "reusable" as far as heat canning.
Some folks reuse them, but they have to be undamaged, i.e., no tweeks from opening the jars. That is tough to do. To reuse them, those that do boil the lids for 20 minutes to restore the rubber seal. It is said by those folks that they work best on pressure-canned stuff, as the pressure differential is higher then. Not recommended by the manufacturer, but if you can't get them...it is better than going Chinese.
Thanks @Beth Gallagher I clicked on you click here and it took me to the USA site but however it messed me about and wanted me to change country to Australia ..which I did the price changed to $106 .93 for 8 dozen If I tried ordering from your link I’d think it would cost me more in bank / converting the Aussie $$ to US
That’s what I’d read as well @Don Alaska to boil them ,I’d thought about it last year when I was fuming about not being able to buy more lids …..and by the time I’d finished the apricots I was sick to death of dealing with them day after day I didn’t get around to experimenting with them …then if it was a failure it would be allot of wasted time. I’ve actually bought a different brand of screw on lid I’m intending using this / next year depending when the fruits ready ( normally the last week of Dec or early January) it all depends on how hot it is ….and the way things are looking at this stage we won’t even get a summer ….it’s way into spring here …and we rarely get any sunny days it’s more like winter STILL… I will post more about other brand of lids soon
I’ve bought some of there’s brand as well …as the ball mason caps I ordered a few days ago The Bormioli Rocco lids ARE reusable and fit the jars really well ( they are screw on)
The BM lids you posted on here are now $46 .54 @Beth Gallagher I did my maths and they are about the same price as the ones I ordered taking postage into account and the $$ exchange , it’s about 64 cents for our $$$
two years ago , finding jars and especially lids was close to impossible here. People were going to rummage sales and putting wanted to buy ads on craigslist. When stores finally had them, canning season was pretty much over. The lids concerned me. I found some on amazon but they were not the size I needed. They were called 'regular' in the description. I do have enough, being a prepper. But as I use them I want to replace them. I bought some 'reusable' lids, on amazon, that said they came with the rings. but when they arrived, the 'rings' were the rubber between the lid and the glass, not the screw on to hold the lids in place while canning. The times, they are a changin'. That price seems a bit high to me.