Where to find glass jars?

babychick

You could try popping an ad in your local shop - asking people to call you if they have some. Also try lurking by the recycling centre and asking people before they drop them in the bins (often boxes left by the bins when they are full?)

babyshoes

When we did this last year, we ended up with loads of value honey and mint sauce, as those we would actually use. Honey is still going (decanted it into a stupidly large mayo jar) and mint sauce went into plastic tub, got finished quite quickly.

If you buy jam / lemon curd you could make tarts. Don't bake the lemon curd in the pastry though, bake blind and add afterwards. Haven't tried the value lemon curd, but notmal lemon curd is yummy on toast!

marmiterulesok

Hi,
I agree with you about not chucking the contents of any value-priced jam/product just to use the jar.It seems such a waste.I would never consider doing that.

You could maybe buy the same flavour of value-priced jam and then decant it into a larger container or jar.I think this would keep well,and let's face it,most shop bought jams are full of preservatives.Buy one that you would like to eat,of course.Don't buy lemon curd,as unless it's HM,it's nasty stuff!

I don't mind spending money on quality jars-I know I'll have them for years.I usually ask for the jar back when I give jam to friends;I don't think they mind.I understand your reluctance,considering the quantity you plan to use.Sometimes I take the empty jam jars from work,we get through a lot of jam.They're often 'Bonne Maman' ones-nice.Nobody misses them!

HTH

gailey_2

Thanks everyone the honeys slightly more expensive than jams ect.

Will skip lemon curd so thinking

marmalade
mixed jam
straw jam

maybe mint sauce if we buy more lamb.

Would be chance to stockpile on few things I guess as well as collect jars.

silligilli

I bought 22p lemon curd this week for a cookie recipe but I wouldn't recommend it to eat on toast - it's like sweet yellow glue, not really lemony. I found asking friends, relatives and neighbours the best way to collect jars, I soon had so many I couldn't store them all.

morg_monster

I bought the mint sauce at the weekend for some of my preserving as the jars were small and my chilli jam looks very cute in them! You can still smell mint from the lids but its not strong at all. I put blackberry jam in some of them too. I kept a few jars of the sauce in a pot, but I'm afraid I did pour most of them down the sink. :-(

What about the curry sauce jars? They are only 9p at sainsburys. Would they work for chutneys maybe - I presume the left over taste/smell in the lids would be too strong for jam! Maybe you could buy new lids? I have bought 2 jars of curry sauce to test out how strong the smell is and experiment with perhaps using bicarb to try and get rid of it (but haven't tried it out yet).

oh also I asked on freecycle for jars and had zero responses. I think most people probably recycle them or use them themselves! Also the bottle bank idea is a good one but you probably won't get the lids which is a pain.

Good luck!

midnightraven3

you can buy pretty gingham lids at lakeland

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/twist-off-lids/F/keyword/lids/product/3812_3817

but i bought these polka dot ones

http://www.jamjarshop.com/shop/product.asp?catid=3&pid=20

£1.95 for 12

Usagi_2

I am pretty sure I got pickled beetroot once when I needed jars in a hurry, quicker to tip out of the jars than jam and the price worked out better (I think).
We did eat most of the 6 jars, put them in a bigger bowl in the fridge and ate through it with salads, sarnies etc.

gailey_2

midnightraven3 wrote: »

you can buy pretty gingham lids at lakeland

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/twist-off-lids/F/keyword/lids/product/3812_3817

but i bought these polka dot ones

http://www.jamjarshop.com/shop/product.asp?catid=3&pid=20

£1.95 for 12

Will the lakeland lids fit the value jars thats what made me unsure.

If i liner inside of lid with wax liner would that help eradicate what was in there.

purpleheather2810

When we first started making jams, chutneys, etc, we didn't have enough jars either. We just used whatever we could get and used the nicest jars for giving as presents. For your own personal use you can use any old jars as long they're clean...