Pickling Jars 28 August 2009 at 11:29PM in Old style MoneySaving 24 replies 17.2K views

Spooky_Pooky

We have a huge glut of beetroot which I thought I would pickle - but I'm horrified by the price of pickling jars - I wondered if anyone had any thrifty advice. I make a lot of jam and tend to buy tesco value jam / lemon curd or similar and throw it away and use the jars as its cheaper than buying them from lakeland, I wondered if there might be a similar economy that could be made on larger pickling jars?

Any advice much appreciated!

looby-loo_2

Hi, I don't buy jars, I collect them all year. The trouble is I do mostly scratch cooking so I don't have that many so I ask friends, but remember to sk them to keep the lids.

For pickling I use large pasta sauce jars. Warm the jars and lids to sterilise them and put the beetroot in as hot as possible and the safety button on the lid will usually pop down and seal. Remember to tap the jar to release the air bubbles so they keep better.

auntymabel

In my pickle making days I used to buy Sarson's pickling vinegar in large jars which were ideal for keeping pickles in. Don't know if you can still get these.

Butterfly_Brain

I use coffee jars with screw on lids have done for years and it is recycling too so cheap for me and good for the planet

gpjuicer

do you need to put anything between the jam/pickle and the lids? Im sure I read somewhere you need to put waxed lids on or something?

Buddingblonde

Try asking on freecycle

mouseymousey99

I bought 4 kilner jars from John Lewis (£2 each) they are now full of green tomato chutney. When we've eaten that I'll make something else. Looked at it as an investment and hope they are going to be around for a couple of years. Lakeland are v expensive (in my humble) nice though.
Kept the vinegar bottles too, and looking out for onions to pickle.

tandraig

I also re-use pasta sauce jars if they got wide necks - narrow neck ones not so good. a local greengrocers sells jars @ 3 for a pound which i had to take advantage of last year as was given 3 dozen eggs!!!!!!!!!! but - yes they can be investment - every one i gave pickled eggs to had strict instructions to return the jars - if they wanted more freebies!! and they did!
i use milton liquid to sterilise them and put a couple of layers of cling film under the lids - which you cant put in milton so i boil them for couple of mins
i just checked one jar i had left from last year - looks fine - no sign of mould or anything so that must work.
and yes they have to be dry before you put anything in them!!!!

Patchwork_Quilt

I asked around friends who raided their recycling boxes for me. I'm not sure it would be a good idea to have bottles that had just been chucked in there but some people tend to save them in the house before they go out and it's these ones I've been given

babyshoes

We were in Sainsburys today, and happened to notice the pickling vinegar, which is available in a handy, wide necked jar perfect for making pickles in... I guess you would use about half the jar for pickling a jar full of beetroot, so would only need one other large jar to do the rest in.

Mamae

gpjuicer wrote: »

do you need to put anything between the jam/pickle and the lids? Im sure I read somewhere you need to put waxed lids on or something?

I am new to this pickling lark! but did read that chutneys should not be put in jars with metal lids as the vinegar reacts to it. Do you have to invest in proper pickling jars for chutneys?