hmmmm - rough estimate here

last year I canned 450+ jars
probably had about 5 dozen empty jars - mostly quarts
recently bought about 6-7 dozen jars - pints and jelly jars

If you consider some of the 450 jars were reused during the year - for instance the orange marmalade I made in January was gone by June - I'm guessing I have somewhere in the vicinity for 525-550 jars.

Yes, me, too. Probably 500 to 550. Maybe a few more.

I only have a couple hundred :)

Kriswrite,

I have 24.

More soon I'm sure :)

I have never counted mine up, but I know I have had 450 to 500 jars filled and still had bins of them in the cellar. LOL.

We probably have close to 1200 give or take 100 or so but wife and I have been canning for over 45 years now and we can a lot annually.

I honestly wouldn't buy a bunch up front until you see how your first year of canning and gardening goes and which sizes and types work best for you. Acquire them as you go along. Otherwise you can end up with boxes of jars you can't or don't want to use.

Will you need mostly quarts or pints or half pints? Will you need mostly regular mouth or mostly wide mouth. Only experience can answer those questions for you.

Dave

Family of one I have 2-300 it eases the price for me a lot to grab a box whenever I see some cheap so you don't have to buy them all at once

Because I sell my jams at a Farmers Market, I have about 2000 filled and 2500 empty. The nice thing is that most of my customers return the jars from the jams they bought so I have to buy fewer and fewer each year.

When I started canning for my family, in 1975, I easily filled 6 dozen jars with jam, and maybe 30 dozen with vegetables. In the years since, I tend to freeze most of my vegetables so all that is canned are pickled vegetables and tomato products.

If you are new to canning, start off with a couple dozen jars and see how quickly they do, or do not, fill up. Even if you do not get them on sale, they are reusable for years and years (some of my jars have the 1976 Bicentenial logo on them) and are a relatively cheap investment over time.

Nancy

I have probably around 400-500, but I've been canning and buying jars for over 40 years. I didn't start out with a ton of jars because, like Dave said, you want to find out what sizes you need. I have more pints and half pints than quarts since its always been just two of us. I also freeze a lot.

I think everyone has good advice about starting slowly, I'll fill all I have and go from there.
I do not freeze much. After losing a lot of food several times when hurricanes caused prolonged electricity loss, I gave that up.

All my dogs smile when they reminisce about the last hurricane when I was without electricity for 10 days, they ate steaks and ribs and nice meaty spaghetti sauce for days.

as has been said, we've never counted ours. We probably have 300 or so filled. And another 150 in the pantry. I don't even want to speculate how many are in the attic and basement. I buy them whenever i come accross used jars at a garage sale or estate sale. I also do a lot of cleanout work and once or twice a year i'll stumble onto a box or two of jars.

Several years ago I was cleaning up a rental for a friend of the family and getting it ready to rent. I went outside and out of curiosity (i'm a scavenger at heart) I opened up a celar door that had about 3 inches of dirt covering the bottom 6 inches of it and weeds had grown over it. I grabbed my flashlight out of the truck and looked inside and there were probably over 1000 jars most having peaches and rhubarb and beets in them. I boxed them up and took them home to the compost. After culling all the jars with rust stains and chipped lips, I bet we stored close to 700 or so.

Every year we send relatives home with a brown paper sack full of goodies and the nurse who takes care of my grandmother started selling salsa out of the pantry for 6-8$ a jar to our egg customers. I was upset at first because i REALLY like my salsa... but at that price i can afford to make extra this year.

sorry back on track!

to summerize, 24 is a great starting number. My family has been canning produce for as far back as anyone in my family can remember so we have all the pressure canners and hot bath setups from way back which I'm sure you will learn much more about as you go along, it's not rocket science but there are some strict rules you need to follow to not end up in a box. Look for jars this spring and summer if you go to any sales, and if you are lucky you might stumble accross a few great deals, Craigslist is great also. There may be some other things to look out for but We have always stayed away from thin glass (you will be able to tell the difference) and anything with residue that can't be soaked off like scale and rust. Also I know a lot of people use what they have, and i know i'm lucky to have access to as much as i do; but I do not use any jars with flea bites or knicks in the lip where the canning lid goes. I more often than not have found that it's a week point and it's better in my opinion to get a different jar than risk what you are trying to preserve.

anywho, good luck!

Tlowery

You sound like real people and I love the story about the cellar peaches.
I'll be careful of what I buy, and follow the rules. I'm going to end up in a box sooner or later, but I'm going to try my best to see that it doesn't happen because I took up canning.

Ugh - still having problems logging in - anybody else?

I haven't counted how many I have, was buying all I could find at yard sales (mostly pints and quarts) and then jelly jars at every sale/with every coupon at Ace and Walmart. But I've got 5 shelves full of cases usually stacked 2 deep for short jars, 1 deep for quarts (or jelly jars on top of quarts).

Nancedar - how do you get your customers to return jars? I have a hard enough time getting them back from family (friends, neighbors, teachers I just figure they're part of a gift). If I start selling as part of a CSA, I'd like to see if I could get them back - figure it's easier when people are coming back for more produce, might be tough if it takes them months to finish a jar, or if they finish it after the growing season ends. Thanks

ajsmama - one of the women who sells jam at our local farmers market, she gives a discount (I think it's 50 cents) for every jelly jar you return. If you're a good customer, she'll even give you a discount for every pint and every quart jar you bring to her - I think this discount is a quarter.

ajsmama - I put a sticker right on the jars I sell, "Return jar and band and get a free cookie!" One man brought me 4 cases of his mother's canning jars when she could no longer use them. He got a whole pie for that gesture.

As for family, they know that if they want more they have to return the jars, but it has taken me years to get across to them the need to be eco-friendly. One Christmas my dear friend gave me a case of lids. It was the perfect gift!

Nancy

Nan - that'll work and much less $ than a "deposit" (I often pick up jelly jars for 50 cents a piece at Goodwill, though they aren't showing up too often now - funny thing, just b4 I bought my last lot there, 2 young men were walking past the shelf, 1 asked the other what they were for, his friend told them he thought people "used to put jelly in them" - I don't know if he thought they were just prettier than Sumcker's jars and people would transfer them to use on the table, or if he knew that people "used to" make jam and can it!)

Yes, some family has returned jars b/c they know they'll get more, others have given me different jars (who knows whose they were originally), and some have kept them and either tossed, recycled, or reused them/gotten them mixed in with theirs (I have a couple of relatives who can, though I'm careful now not to accept anything BUT jam from them since I don't know what recipes they are following).

I've probably got 500+. I know there's at least 32 dozen EMPTY right now and still a fine selection on the canning shelf!

Some at mom's that I get back as she empties them. Maybe another 100 or so.
I have collected over many years.
Needs have changed as four kids moved out and we no longer need 2 quarts of green beans per meal!

At some point, I'll probably sell some of my quarts and downsize, but not just yet!! I'm canning as much as I am able this year....purely for "insurance".

Deanna

I don't know but I do know that I don't have 500 ...I have a decent garden and can lots of goodies but can't even imagine canning 500 jars just for the two of us..I'd start out with a few boxes as I needed them and keep my eyes out for yard sale jars and be sure and tell your friends to keep an eye out. Our Good will seems to think they are way more valuable that what most canners think they are.....Geeze

If you have a freecycle in your area, be the first to ask for jars this season.....I have gotten a few that way.

Oh, yeah ruthie, jelly jars are $1 each at our Goodwill so I wait til they're half price. The pints and quarts and even the Classico jars (with lids!) are $2. I tried telling them that I could buy those with spaghetti sauce IN them for $2.50 but they won't change their prices!

I've been buying the squatty quart jars of Classico at BJ's lately - rings fit but I hope they fit in the 10" canner. It's just that they've been less $ than the 24 oz jars at the grocery store lately, and with a 12-yr old DS I'm starting to find that 24 oz isn't quite enough.

I'm wondering how I could maybe make canners and jars tax deductible. They are a route to better health, right?

I am interested in how you store your jars, both filled and empty.

I think they could be considered a business expense if you sell like nancedar. Though I don't know how you account for the returns.

I store my jars with lids on if possible (I save some used lids, but not all and won't open a new box just for storage), plastic wrap over the top if not, in boxes (original if possible, from liquor store with dividers are best if I got them at yard sale). If they seem dusty on the outside (those darn shrink-wrapped flat cases!) I'll rinse them in the sink or run them through DW again (if I have a load of dishes ready anyway) before using. If they seem clean I'll just warm/sterilize them in the canner before filling (I like to sterilize the jelly jars, doesn't take long and that way I can process for less time, larger jars I just tend to warm since it takes longer to boil the greater volume of water and you can't reduce processing time even if jars are sterile).

Never noticed a problem with oily-feeling jars, mine are all Ball, Kerr, or GH though.

Filled jars go in a closed cabinet in the basement (I don't have that many filled at once but I can't stop buying jars if I see them at a good price LOL! - insurance for those that don't come back?) to keep away from sunlight and heat.

empties -

I keep all my jars - full and empty - on 2 metal storage racks in my basement. They are all in boxes - I have post it notes on them noting the contents. When the box is empty, the post it note disappears. As I empty jars, I fill them into the empty slots of the partially full boxes. I have an empty box that is my "catch bin" - as empty jars come out of the dishwasher, they go into the "catch bin" box. Then, for instance, when I go get a pint jar of marinara, when I pull the full jar out, I grab an empty pint jar from the catch basin box and put it in it's slot.

When I want to can something, I can just go to the basement, pull out a full box of empties. The empties are clean, so I can just warm them in my canning pot. Though if it's been a while and they've gotten dusty, I'll pop them in my dishwasher on the rinse and hold cycle.

One "advantage" to my system is that like items are always together. In each box is only marinara, or chicken, or applesauce. One "disadvantage" is that I could end up with a lot of boxes with only 1 or 2 full jars. That becomes and "issue" in Aug/Sept when canning is in full swing and I really need my empties. At that point, I'll combine some boxes - peaches and pears in the same box, or all the pickles in one box.

I don't know how many I have. I started out buying what I needed, as I needed them. Then I had a major score when I posted a request for canning jars on freecycle and received about 180 jars from one person. Even after culling some from the Freecycle bounty, added to what I had already purchased, I have more than enough for the two of us plus some for gifts and home canned food for my elderly parents. I doubt I'll ever have to buy jars again in my lifetime!

Canning will be much cheaper this second year because I don't need to buy anything! Lowe's had a big clearance at the end of summer last year and I stocked up on pectin and lids, plus I have now acquired all of the equipment and tools needed.

Goodwill and Salvation Army price their jars too high. At least around here.

I live in a century-old farmhouse and the pantry was designed for the food storage needs for a large family. Houses in my part of the country don't have cellars or basements. I'm lucky because I can store all my production plus the empty jars in the room next to the kitchen. It is climate controlled and the floor-to-ceiling cabinets with doors keep my food jars away from the light.

The neat thing is that I am now buying almost no canned goods at all. We're growing all of the fruit and vegetables ourselves that I'm canning.