# Cheapest places for canning supplies?



## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

I have been looking for lids mainly, but interested in jars and other stuff also. I have looked local and things are pretty expensive and in small quantities. I have looked on ebay also and Amazon, but again just finding small amounts. Does anyone know a source where a person can buy supplies in bulk. Like 100 to 500 lids or cases of jars etc. Thanks for sharing whatever sources you may have used and had good luck and good prices with.


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## flowergurl (Feb 27, 2007)

Estate yard sales and auctions are good places to get them. I have tons of lids i have picked up dirt cheap. I only use the boxes that are sealed and unopened. So what if they are several years old, they still seal just fine for me.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Duplicate


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Ok
Kmart online
Case wide pints less than ten bucks
You might qualify for free shipping

Tattle spendy but investment..reusable last for years. Good reviews

Fillmore containers..280 ish flats to a sleeve...about 60 bucks

If in time you want the tatters they seem to have great sales on black Friday it is a way but gives you time to save


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

I will check out the Kmart deal. I am not really looking to wait and save as much as I am looking at just getting a good price and buy it all soon. I just did not want to buy from Amazon and find out they were cheaper at ebay or or some other place.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

What price did you find at Amazon.


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

Amazon is $10.23 per doz. I just found 24 doz on ebay for $200, which would be $8.30 doz. That is the best price yet.


Edit: $200 for 24 doz. are regular mouth lids $230 for 24 doz, wide mouth lids


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## flowergurl (Feb 27, 2007)

What are you planning on canning in such large quantities ?


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

flowergurl said:


> What are you planning on canning in such large quantities ?


We use about 300 plus jars a year just on our garden and animals for our yearly food. That doesn't include all the jelly jars, Apple butter, pie filings, broth etc.. The amish family down the road uses almost 900 jars a year!


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## flowergurl (Feb 27, 2007)

So just out of curiosity how many are in your family? The amish family..900 jars a year.. yikes!
I get most of my jars at auctions. Sometimes they can hardly give them away.


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

flowergurl said:


> So just out of curiosity how many are in your family? The amish family..900 jars a year.. yikes!
> I get most of my jars at auctions. Sometimes they can hardly give them away.


We have 6 of us. Plus we sell and gift some things. We usually have 2 or 3 canners going 12 hours a day during harvest season. The amish have large water canners that do 48 jars at a time. We are getting one of those soon. We can everything. All our beef, deer fruits and veggies. So it's non stop. Usually my wife is canning at 2 in the morning. But we have canning parties. Several neighbors get together and cab almost daily.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

During major canning I will have all 4 of my all American 19 pints going on my wood stove.. once the get going it is a constant motion.

I can quite a variety
Milk
Meat
Berries
Potatoes...I have no way to store the but canning at this time
Cabbage
Caramelized onion
Sausages
Fish and seafood
I can't count on driving in the winter and winter can be long 

I need more shelves.
Most in store in color coded milk crates.

Canning is common here enough folks have the 41 jar monster that the set up on the beach as the fish.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Walmart.com is the cheapest I can usually find, unless I happen to hit the end of season Tractor Supply sale. Free pick up at store or free shipping over $50.00.


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

FG, I too have many jars I have bought at auction sales etc. I buy them when I can. I wish I still had the time to go to a lot of the sales etc. but I just do not. I just have too many other things to do and never seem to get it all done. That is why I am looking at buying things like canning supplies in bulk. not that I need it all right now, but that is one thing I do not have to worry about for some time. I have found we send less and save lots of time to buy our grocery items feed etc. the same way. I buy chick starter by the pallet. No I do not need to it will last several months, but I get a better price and do not have to worry about running to the feed store every few weeks. I know some people who are twice a year shoppers and I am working towards that. You tend to get better prices in bulk and it really saves time, gas etc. 

I really put a lot of thought into gas and time any more. I am not discounting yard sales etc. but to be real honest about the cost a person must count the gas spent driving around and the time and what else they could have been doing with that time. We all have priorities, mine is to stay home as much as possible, buying items in bulk quantity helps me do that. Weekly trips to town are very costly in more ways than one.


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

I just checked walmart $10.45 doz for regular size on sale. Still higher than the other places I have found.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

Timing is important with jars. They go on sale early summer and early fall here but the fall sale is usually better. Then I add a few to my stock. That is when I hear the 'Song of the Jars,' which is the pinging of the jars lids when the atmospheric pressure gets less as I drive from sea level to 1500 feet. If there's been a good sale I can have quite a concert going on.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

$9.50 on Walmart.com for regular quart size. I use more quarts than pints.


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## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

I have found prices on canning supplies to be remarkably consistent across many and varied outlets.

I buy mine at my local Ace Hardware. They are a little more expensive (less than a dollar per dozen jars) BUT ...

1- I don't have to fight my way through the inconsiderate masses to the back of the Wal-Mart to get them.
2- I pick up a box of lids *every* time I'm in there and a flat of jars every month or so.
3- I'm an Ace Rewards member so I get cash back that actually makes a little bit cheaper in the long run.

That being said - you might call Ball direct and see if they'll work you a deal on your quantity. For 500 jars if you get them direct from the source the you're cutting out shipping, shelving and labor at the middle man and i'm sure Ball would be glad to take your money directly.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

If you are primarily looking for are lids, try U-Line. They sell the one part white lids for a reasonable price. I haven't double-checked what the ball or kerr lids are in comparison but I think the U-Lines ones are cheaper. http://www.uline.com/BL_8194/Replacement-Caps?pricode=WU379&AdKeyword=jars%20lids&AdMatchtype=p&gclid=CNLEjcec-8QCFcSIaQod3I0AOw&gclsrc=aw.ds


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## kycrawler (Sep 18, 2011)

2 years ago at Walmart after canning season my wife found better homes and gardens regular mouth pint and quart jars for $3 per dozen and ball jars for $5 a dozen she filled her mini van and I went back later and bought 2 full pallets with 100 cases of jars per pallet sold and traded some to Amish friends but we kept 200 dozen jars and are constantly rotating? Through them 

I hate Walmart but after season they sure do close some things out cheap. They're mainstays brand lids are junk though


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## claytonpiano (Feb 3, 2005)

Muleman said:


> I have been looking for lids mainly, but interested in jars and other stuff also. I have looked local and things are pretty expensive and in small quantities. I have looked on ebay also and Amazon, but again just finding small amounts. Does anyone know a source where a person can buy supplies in bulk. Like 100 to 500 lids or cases of jars etc. Thanks for sharing whatever sources you may have used and had good luck and good prices with.


http://www.fillmorecontainer.com Cheap and in bulk.


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

If you have Meeks Lumber in your area, they're running a sale till the 25th on Ball canning jars. $8.99 on wide mouth pints, $9.99 on wide mouth quarts. If they don't have enough in stock they'll give you a rain check for whatever amount you want.

I bought 6 cases of pints, and 7 of the 12 cases of quarts I wanted today, with a rain check on the other 5 cases.


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## claytonpiano (Feb 3, 2005)

flowergurl said:


> So just out of curiosity how many are in your family? The amish family..900 jars a year.. yikes!
> I get most of my jars at auctions. Sometimes they can hardly give them away.


Seriously the 900? Yes, and more. If you eat food you have canned for lunch and dinner, that is a lot of cans of food. For instance, tonight I used a pint of meat, tomatoes, vegetables, and canned cinnamon apples. That alone is 4 pints. Multiply that by at least 300 and you come up with 1200 jars. If your family is larger.....well, you would need more. Many of us do not go to the grocery store. I only go to buy coffee and creamer for the coffee. That means that any grains are bought in bulk and the rest we raise on the farm. When you kill a cow or a pig, then part goes in the freezer and part is canned. I am not Amish, but I am a homesteader and frugal. 

Around here, jars at auctions are few and far between and they definitely do not give them away, but then, I am in an area where people raise their own food and have been canning and farming for years.

I watch for jars everywhere we go....garage sales, Walmart, auctions, and Good Will type stores. They are not always cheap at Goodwill, but sometimes I can get deals at a yard sale.


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## kycrawler (Sep 18, 2011)

900 jars would be a start for some Amish families one family I dealt with had 17 children they put up 500 quarts of apple sauce every year probably canned 300 quarts of venison they put up a lot of fruit in half gallon jars I would say their pantry / basement had 3-4000 jars


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

[COLOR="Black"Ipublicly confirm I only have a three day supply [/COLOR] For a small troop


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## flowergurl (Feb 27, 2007)

Guess the amish are on the terrorist lists then. You know having a bunch of food is considered bad by the government these days.


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## frw1985 (Apr 18, 2015)

Muleman said:


> I will check out the Kmart deal. I am not really looking to wait and save as much as I am looking at just getting a good price and buy it all soon. I just did not want to buy from Amazon and find out they were cheaper at ebay or or some other place.


I bought jars online with Kmart last week and when I got to the check out cart they informed me the jars of 6 and 12 pack were buy two get one free.
So I ordered allot! I bought all wide mouth quarts for 33 percent off and had free shipping. All orders over 60 are free shipping. 
The sale didn't apply to the specialty jelly jars, 4 PCI wide mouth new style pints, or 8 oz jelly jars. Sure was nice to up my supply at a great discount. 
Hopefully some of you others can do the same.
Jars came in only one busted and they refunded for it.


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## Werforpsu (Aug 8, 2013)

claytonpiano said:


> Around here, jars at auctions are few and far between and they definitely do not give them away, but then, I am in an area where people raise their own food and have been canning and farming for years.
> 
> I watch for jars everywhere we go....garage sales, Walmart, auctions, and Good Will type stores. They are not always cheap at Goodwill, but sometimes I can get deals at a yard sale.


I can relate to this. I can get new jars almost anywhere, but they are about the same price everywhere, and because we are in a rural area, the cost of GETTING somewhere is always a factor. Used jars RARELY go up for auction but when they do, you can expect to spend .75-1.00 per jar depending on size. 

Sam's Club sells jars (24 ct) online with free shipping. quarts are $30, pints are $20 and jelly are $25.


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## flowergurl (Feb 27, 2007)

Really, guess the people in my area don't use them as much, or the canners don't go to as many auctions. I bought a boxful yesterday for a dollar at the auction. Mine was the only bid on them.
I normally sell the ones i don't need in my yard sales. 
Pints i sell for a quarter, smaller than a pint are .20 and quarts are .50 
I normally sell most of the ones i put out.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Dropped by Big Lots today and found Golden Harvest regular mouth pints and quarts. $8.00 for the pints and $9.00 for the quarts. Picked up two flats of each. 
A box of Regular mouth rings and lids was $2.75. They didn't have just lids.


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

Belfrybat said:


> Dropped by Big Lots today and found Golden Harvest regular mouth pints and quarts. $8.00 for the pints and $9.00 for the quarts. Picked up two flats of each.
> A box of Regular mouth rings and lids was $2.75. They didn't have just lids.


We've had some problems with Golden Harvest jars not standing up to pressure canning. I know others have said they're just fine, but we only use them for water baths now.


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## Werforpsu (Aug 8, 2013)

hey all. I wanted you to know I was just on the fleetfarm.com web site and the canning jars and lids were a great price there. the shipping seemed reasonable too as long as you stay under 70 lbs (over 70 lbs means a $50 charge). I put in the checkout 6 cases of 1/2 pints and 4 cases of pints, cost 76.70 + shipping of $12 (which seems very reasonable.) 

regular lids: 1.54/12pk
reg 1/2 pints: 7.69
reg pints: 7.64
reg quarts 9.99

wide mouth jars and lids were also available.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

You can find used jars at auctions and garage sales. Do not pay too much for them. I calculate the price by taking the $10 cost of a dozen wide mouth quart jars minus the $4.50 cost of a dozen bands and lids and divide by 12 to get the cost of one new jar, about 46 cents each. This is for new jars. I usually offer a quarter apiece for used jars.

Watch for sales. Several years ago K-Mart closed them out for half price. I bought about 15 dozen.

I don't do much canning. I have all the equipment and have canned some to learn how but I look at canning as a prep. Canning jars make excellent trade goods if TEOTWAWKI.


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