Hello, my name is Bob and I am a Jar Saver....

[Hopz]

I save jars... can't seem to help it. When I empty a pickle jar or olives, or just about anything, I wash it and put it in a safe place.

Am I alone? What do you do with your empty jars? I use mine to mix and store salad dressing. I put unused portions from a can of black olives in them- keep way longer then tupperware. Large jars get homemade pickles...
Then there is the stash in the garage.

What do you do with yours?

Do I need a 12 step program?

 

[Shunka]

I thought I was the only one with this affliction!!! I know that I picked up this habit from my grandmother, whom also never met a jar she didn't like!!!! Shoot, even neighbors have started saving jars to give to me (I'm in deep trouble here, lol!).

 

[Half Baked]

Well, I'm not a jar saver but before my 12 steps, I'd save all the plastic containers that food or spices came in. I don't have that many leftovers and the containers were filling up a whole cabinet....90% of the time, I couldn't find the correct lid, anyway.

Now I have a small set of Gladmate or whatever that is called and it suits me perfectly.

It still hurts to throw out good and useable plastics, but I have remained strong. Of course I have to drink while cooking now so my tossing the containers isn't as painful.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Oh Bob - I can SO relate - lol!!!! Although luckily my addiction is only for small to tiny jars.

The tiny ones (like the jars dice pimientos & preserved caviar come in) I use for leftover canned anchovies. I just pop them in & cover them with some extra-virgin olive oil & into the fridge. They last very well this way without getting too "fishy".

Slightly larger ones (like marinated artichoke hearts come in) I use for leftover chipotle chilis in adobe sauce (unless I'm freezing them), leftover canned caponata, leftover canned Indian curry pastes - in fact, literally anything & everything that came in a small can that I'm not ready to freeze yet.

As for a non-food use? The small jars are wonderful for disinfecting the umbilical cord stumps of newborn foals. I half-fill the jars with iodine & dip/splash the stump. This is a very important ritual with newborn foals, as the umbilical cord is a major entryway for infection until it seals, dries up, & drops off.

 

[expatgirl]

Spices, salsas, sauces, nuts, dried fruit, leftover items from cans. I also use them to soak and clean my jewelry. Great at Thanksgiving to send leftovers home with friends and family.

Where is the next meeting?

 

[Shunka]

Oh no!!! I still save plastics too!!!! Does mean I need to go through the program twice?

 

[Loprraine]

ROFL I went to the plastics meetings, and no longer save them all. When I collect too many jars, they end up in the recycling bin. Let me know the time and date of the jar meetings.

 

[Constance]

Jars are my passion! You can use them for all sorts of cool Christmas gifts. Fill them with homemade spice blends, soup mixes, pot pourri, homemade cookies or candy, party mix, even jelly beans or nuts. Cut a small circle of pretty fabric, place over the jar lid, and secure with a ribbon. Make up some pretty labels with your computor, and you have a lovely gift.

When Jesse was an infant, I asked my daughter to save baby food jars for me. I then ordered exotic bulk spices from Frontier (they sell by the pound), and made up little spice assortments for Christmas gifts.

Baby food jars are also great in the workshop. Screw the lids to the bottom of a shelf, then sort all your little nails and screws, and screw the jars onto the lids. Then you have everything in plain sight without taking up work space. Of course you could do that with larger jars too.

For seamstresses & crafters, jars are great for storing buttons, beads, sequins, etc.

Another use for interesting looking jars is use as containers for assorted cuttings of ivy, philodendron, etc, and put in the kitchen windowsill to look pretty. Or fill a jar with seashells or pretty stones.

And if you have kids, don't forget that peanut butter jars are great "bug jars".

 

[Shunka]

Jars are my passion! You can use them for all sorts of cool Christmas gifts. Fill them with homemade spice blends, soup mixes, pot pourri, homemade cookies or candy, party mix, even jelly beans or nuts. Cut a small circle of pretty fabric, place over the jar lid, and secure with a ribbon. Make up some pretty labels with your computor, and you have a lovely gift.

When Jesse was an infant, I asked my daughter to save baby food jars for me. I then ordered exotic bulk spices from Frontier (they sell by the pound), and made up little spice assortments for Christmas gifts.

Baby food jars are also great in the workshop. Screw the lids to the bottom of a shelf, then sort all your little nails and screws, and screw the jars onto the lids. Then you have everything in plain sight without taking up work space. Of course you could do that with larger jars too.

For seamstresses & crafters, jars are great for storing buttons, beads, sequins, etc.

Another use for interesting looking jars is use as containers for assorted cuttings of ivy, philodendron, etc, and put in the kitchen windowsill to look pretty. Or fill a jar with seashells or pretty stones.

And if you have kids, don't forget that peanut butter jars are great "bug jars".

See!!! That is the way I feel about all sizes of jars!!! I can't help it if I have more saved than I can use in the next 10 years!!!!!!!

 

[JoAnn L.]

I use to have this addiction but since our town has started to recycle glass I have learned to let go. Hard as it is, I know it is for the best.

 

[cara]

I wouldn't go so far and say I collect them

but I have a few in use, small ones from baby food are great for herbs I buy on the market in little plastic bags
I have a big one on the deck, serving as an ashtray as you can put on the lid and no water gets in
and I have different sizes for nails, screws etc.
they are also great to collect everything belonging to one thing, like screws, nuts, shims etc from a rack

 

[jkath]

I love jars too! Especially pretty shaped ones. Whenever I buy the 'homade' brand of chili sauce, I always keep the jar. It's round and works perfectly for cut flowers. I just put a nice grosgrain ribbon around the neck and voila! a lovely gift for a friend. My grandma always kept jars too. She was really a crafty lady, so I remember going through them to look at tiny glass buttons or bread dough roses she'd made.
As for storing - yes! glass is much better than plastic! I miss the days of always having baby food jars around for supplies. I used to give them to my husband's boss for nuts and bolt storage, and my Dad has used them for organizing fishing stuff. Also, since they're so short, you can put about a bizzilion in your desk drawer and store all your paper clips, rubber bands, brads, tacks etc.

 

[jpmcgrew]

I save jars also especially the unique ones that have nothing printed on the lids they are great for homemade gifts I use them to give people my glazed pecans and my home grown dried tomatoes.Del Monte has the refridgerated fruit jars that are mason jars they make great containers to store homemade salad dressings etc.I like the glass jars better than plastic containers.

 

[Barbara L]

I don't have the room to keep a bunch of jars, but I do occasionally use an interesting or odd shaped one to store something in. I don't have a garbage disposal (I sure miss having one!), so I use big pickle jars and cottage cheese or sour cream containers to throw garbage away in.

My big thing is tins and wood boxes. I used to have a ton of cute tins, but I have cut my collection way down (Most of them stayed empty because I could never find the perfect thing to put in them, and I had a ton of stuff that needed to be put in something but couldn't find the perfect container! lol). I kept my beautiful bunny tins from Christmas Around the World. I have a neat hand-carved round wood box with a really tight fitting lid that my sister gave me, and a guy we know went to India to visit his family and he brought us some tea in a beautiful hand-carved wood box.

Barbara

 

[Little Miss J]

I am not a jar saver. I wish I was..then when I needed a jar I would be able to find one.

 

[Claire]

I mostly save jars that can use the same-size lids (i.e., mason jars that are one size or the other) so I don't go crazy in the drawer when looking for lids! But I also save jars that artichoke hearts come in because they are the perfect size for the spices and herbs I buy in bulk. If I knew someone nearby who had a baby, I'm sure that would be just the right size. Hmmmm... now that I think of it, I have a friend with a sick cat that eats only baby food ....

 

[Harborwitch]

Oh geeze, gotta show this to Bob when he gets home tonight. It started with the Lighthouse Blue Cheese dressing jars. I use them for spices, the jars lay on their sides on the rack I used sad to have with the name of the spice on the jar lid. I have nearly two big bins of those on the boat. Can't not have my spices and herbs handy.

I love the little tiny jars too! They are so cool for little dibs and dabs of stuff. I also save (d) canning jars. Now all of my jars (that passed Bob's inspection) are in storage and I am forbidden. We're talking cold turkey here there is just plain no room for storage of jars on the boat.

 

[goodgiver]

Contance

Jars are my passion! You can use them for all sorts of cool Christmas gifts. Fill them with homemade spice blends, soup mixes, pot pourri, homemade cookies or candy, party mix, even jelly beans or nuts. Cut a small circle of pretty fabric, place over the jar lid, and secure with a ribbon. Make up some pretty labels with your computor, and you have a lovely gift.

When Jesse was an infant, I asked my daughter to save baby food jars for me. I then ordered exotic bulk spices from Frontier (they sell by the pound), and made up little spice assortments for Christmas gifts.

Baby food jars are also great in the workshop. Screw the lids to the bottom of a shelf, then sort all your little nails and screws, and screw the jars onto the lids. Then you have everything in plain sight without taking up work space. Of course you could do that with larger jars too.

For seamstresses & crafters, jars are great for storing buttons, beads, sequins, etc.

Another use for interesting looking jars is use as containers for assorted cuttings of ivy, philodendron, etc, and put in the kitchen windowsill to look pretty. Or fill a jar with seashells or pretty stones.

And if you have kids, don't forget that peanut butter jars are great "bug jars".

Contance do you have thweweb address to Frontier?

 

[Constance]

I sure do, Goodie....here you go!

http://www.frontiercoop.com/index.html

My husband has quit laughing at my jar collection.

The son-in-law has a big garden this year, and armed with my gardening advice, recipes and jars, he has been putting up some of his bountiful produce.
He's always bringing us something he has made.
It makes me feel good to know that someone is interested in learning from me.

It's also very nice to have a good son-in-law.

 

[Claire]

Constance, you brought back memories. I am from a family of females (three sisters), so my dad never treated us any different than he would sons. When I was very young, sometimes I would go outside in the mornings to find a spectacular bug or lizard in a jar. Sometimes if it was weird and colorful enough he'd try to find someone at work who knew what it was. We pretty much kept them and admired them for a day then let them go. Occaisionally it would be something poisionous and he'd turn it over to animal control.