Green Tip of the Day: Mason Jars

So here is a little Green tip for you today. I am a huge fan of preserving seasonal foods. It is much healthier for you than store bought canned goods or foods that have travelled the continent, it is more delicious and it’s more economical. I’ve only been canning myself for a couple years, so I do know that there are several initial investments that can add up quickly. One of which is canning jars. As we begin to can more things, we find ourselves buying more and more jars! Well I have a solution for you!

I currently buy my pasta sauces at the grocery store (hopefully we’ll try to make some of our own this summer!). I enjoy the Classico or PC brand sauces (when they are on sale, which is actually quite often!). Did you know that these are also Mason jars! See?

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Did you also know that a regular canning lid will fit on the store bought jars? Here’s a shot of a regular quart size mason jar, a PC brand jar and a Classico jar.

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The store bought jars are a little smaller than the regular quart jars, but are the perfect size for canning tomato sauce 🙂 And they all have the same size top. So all you’d need to buy are a few extra rings and lids. Reusing these mason jars is great for the environment for a couple reasons. It cuts back on the amount of recycling sent to recycling facilities. While recycling facilities are great, they still require a lot of energy to process all of the items sent their way. Saving a couple jars may seem pretty insignificant in the big scheme of things, but every little thing we do counts! Saving these jars also means we don’t need to buy new jars all the time. New jars means we are using new resources. New jars also come with a lot of wasteful packaging. The pasta sauce jars, while they were new at some point, are simply given new life by reusing them. They also don’t have any packaging. And if the sticker on the jar turns you off from using them, I’m sure there are several methods on the internet for removing them. I’ve heard a blow dryer works well. I’ll try that out soon and let you know how it works!

So pass this info along to your friend and family. Save a few bucks. And I’d love to hear of any other recycling tips you may have as well.

Ashley “)

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