We’ve had some nice, warm weather lately and the snow is quickly melting off of our house roof. Yesterday several inches of ice and snow slid off the storage barn with a huge crash. I’m sure glad I wasn’t walking beneath the eaves! That would have hurt! Will and I are like kids in a candy store, enjoying being outdoors in this mild weather. Yesterday, Elizabeth and Delilah came to pick up some things David had ordered online for work. So, I got a chance to visit and play with our grandbaby. She’s getting so big! And she even giggled. I felt bad though, when Elizabeth told me the amaryllis I’d gotten her for Christmas had not bloomed. I’m sure it rotted, due to, like Kelly’s, being left outdoors in very cold weather on delivery. (Even though the box clearly said “Live Plant.”) Mine was blooming extravagantly so I tucked my plant into the front seat of her car when they left. It will be well loved.

Delilah was sleeping when she came for a visit but quickly woke up to play with us.

I just got some flat inserts of deep cells for planting some longer season corn indoors. Dara is going to do that with the Navajo Robin’s Egg and I plan on starting the Glass Gem popcorn indoors too. It barely makes good, dry ears here, as it’s really a 110-day corn, possibly requiring 120 days to make perfect ears. So we’re giving them both an extra 3-4 weeks’ start, indoors this year. It will be well worth the expense of the inserts, which are reusable too.

Has anyone found any single use canning lids? I haven’t seen any around here, other than on a few boxes of new jars with rings and lids. Pretty strange, if you ask me. And scary. I’m set for a long time as I bought a case of regular lids and half a case of wide mouth, which I don’t use many of as wide mouth lids are so much more expensive. And I also have a very good supply of Harvest Guards and some Tattlers, too.

I love to can up beef and other meats because it’s so fast to make meals with this precooked food on the pantry shelves!

We’re going to get our beef back from the butcher next week and I plan on getting right at canning up most of the beef from last year, which is left over. It’s so handy to have that pre-cooked meat available, right on my pantry shelves when I go to make a meal in a hurry! And it seems like lately I’ve been doing that a lot. — Jackie

68 COMMENTS

  1. I saw Ball wide mouth canning lids at a nearby discount store today. Like a lot! $2 per box of 12. They don’t sell online though. I’m in California.

  2. Just before Covid-19 hit I had ordered tubes of lids from Lehman’s. I got the tube of regular lids but my tube of wide lids is still on back order. Luckily I had a good stock up on the lids as we did a lot of canning during the four months I was working from home, got to go back to in person work in August. We always share our home made jams/jellies & pickles with family and friends.

  3. No lids to be found in the tri corner area of Colorado , Nebraska and Kansas but we switched to tatlers a few years back and are having 99.9 percent success. We don’t use them exactly as they say to use them but are well satisfied
    Wish you would expound a bit more on early indoor planting Would like to learn more about it

  4. I also stock up on what lids i know i will use up when i find them. Pretty scarce tho in Eastern Washington. I have some Tattlers, but still havent tried to use them. Heard it’s a learning curve, so kind of afraid i might lose food. Haha! Yep Chicken here! Hoping to get starts going soon. Even tho we have had a pretty mild winter I am itching for warmer weather, and also canning up leftover meats in freezer. My kids love shopping my pantry. Will be glad it’s done.

    • Don’t be afraid of Tattlers; just read the directions. Basically, you’ll only tighten the rings barely finger-tight, not snuggly tight as you would with single use lids. Then when you remove the jars from the canner, immediately tighten the rings to snug, just like we older folks used to do with the zinc lids and rubbers. This lets them vent in the canner then the seal forms as the vacuum forms after you tighten the rings and the jars cool. If you’re leery, start out with cheaper foods or only a few jars of, say, chicken.

    • an easy way to learn the TAttler lids is to can a few jars of water. you won’t waste any food that way, and if you do it right and they seal, you have a few jars of water in your pantry in case of need

  5. No lids at the local stores here in the Copper Basin of Alaska. I forgot to put them on the list to look for when my daughter made an Anchorage run a couple weeks ago (250miles). You are lucky to be able to hold your grand baby. Our little great grandson are 400 miles away in Seward and between winter weather and COVID neither side is traveling. Fortunately their mom is big on face book so we get pictures regularly.

    • I know what you mean about actually getting in person connection with a grandchild! All of our other kids live a long way away from us, with son, Bill, being the closest at 110 miles. We sure missed a lot of cuddling because of it. I doubt your daughter would have found lids in Anchorage as some of our Alaskan seed customers have lamented they, also, can’t find lids anywhere.

  6. Last fall lids were in short supply here in north Missouri where I live. I ordered from what I thought was the Ball web site, but turned out to be a fake site. It took several months to get resolved. Be very careful when ordering on line to make sure the site is legit. I ordered Harvest Guard last month and they arrived on time as promised. I also have some Tattler lids from several years ago. I haven’t seen lids here yet. Beautiful grand baby! So thankful for warmer weather!

    • I’ve been very happy with Harvest Guard in all ways. Yeah, I got taken by ordering a pressure canner online for Will’s daughter; it never showed up as supposedly, the company (which is no longer online!!!) shipped it to the wrong address. Hmmmm Yeah, okay….

  7. A friend of mine found tubes of canning lids, 17 dozen in a tube, I think it was $40. for one tube. I think she said at an Amish store in northern Iowa.

  8. No lids in my area of Oregon either. On one of my canning sites a lady who works for a hardware store said her jar supplier warned her that there is a shortage of glass, which may affect how many canning jars his company could supply. She gave the warning so that people who were short of jars could get them now. Your grand baby is getting cutier all the time ?

  9. You might try Walmart in the Las Vegas, Henderson, NV area. I’m not a canner :-( but it looks like they have regular lids. You can order from one of the above stores and they will ship to you.

  10. No lids in Washington state…or nearby Oregon either. Makes no sense to me but then, nothing much does these days! I have reused carefully opened lids before so I am saving my used now. May be the only thing I have to can with this year. God help us all. ❤

  11. Grandbaby is beautiful. No lids here. My husband said Wal-Mart had a few boxes but they were their own brand. Last year I ordered bulk wide and regular size lids from Lehman’s. They shipped the wide but the regular are still on back order since last May. I emailed them last week and they said they are not taking any new orders until they fill all back orders so I hope I get them this year. I have Tattler lids and I’m getting better results since I found a video on YouTube on how to tighten the lids. I bought a few more this year and some replacement rings. I hope to have enough this year.
    It’s warm here today, lots of snow melt.

    • Yep, the first time I used Tattlers I screwed up and didn’t read the directions. Guess what? Six failed to seal. Hmmm. After reading the directions and actually following them, all reliably seal now. What a surprise!

  12. I can’t find any canning lids in NW Ohio. I do belong to a Facebook canning page and someone called Ball and asked if and when they were going to step up production. They said Ball said we would be seeing lids in stores in April. I hope this is good information. I have enough to get through maybe one more year.
    The baby is so cute. Congratulations.

  13. No lids available here is southeast Ohio. It is very scary. I check every time I’m in a store that carries canning supplies. I’ve started saving my used lids. 68 degrees here today. Really enjoying this warm snap.

    • Yep, I check every store that carries canning supplies every time I go to town, just so I can keep my friends posted. Nothing.

  14. I didn’t can much last year due to medical problems so have a bunch of lids to tide me over if I’m able to do any canning this year. Haven’t looked for any in our stores in Kalamazoo MI. Such a cute picture of the baby. No babies in our family recently. I guess we are fortunate to not live in Texas right now but it looks like its improving. I’m praying for the ability to have a small garden this summer. My gardener planted strawberries and 3 year asparagus roots last spring. Hoping for a good crop on both of them this spring. We love asparagus and who doesn’t love strawberries.

  15. What a beautiful baby . God has really blessed you . Isn’t he wonderful !
    I’m in western Oregon . I have only seen lids twice at our local Bi-mart store . They only had a couple cases of them , so they had a limit of 2 .

    • Yes, God has certainly blessed us in so many ways. And we never fail to thank Him, either! Seems like lids are very scarce or non-existent everywhere.

  16. Lids and jars in short supply here in Ill.(DuPage county) as well. Will be reusing some(after careful examination) Hopefully things will get into more full production this year and I hope all those “new canners” do well and they are taking this seriously. Snow still on the ground but the temps have allowed us to tap our backyard maples, finally. (and sap is flowing) For us that is the first sign of spring. ;-) Pretty baby.

    • Hang in there Janelle; a friend has been working on developing reusable stainless steel lids but has shifted gears due to the pandemic and folks not being able to get lids. Not only is he going to be having single use lids manufactured but also a ring with a special gasket which allows people to reuse their single use lids. I’ll keep you posted.

  17. Sweet baby, especially when they are sleeping, they look like little angel’s.
    No lids here in my local grocery stores in Montana. Went on line yesterday looking for lids.
    I usually buy lids by the case but was not able to last year.

  18. Beautiful baby girl! Our mail did not run from Saturday before Presidents Day until yesterday! Been heavily snowed in. I did order lids from Lehman’s last summer. Bulk is 365 plain flat lids. They might have some. If I find anymore I will let everyone know.

  19. Beautiful Grandbaby! Our books arrived last week and my Daughter will be visiting this weekend so I don’t have to mail hers. I have been checking on lids at the grocery store and walmart every time we go and have been able to stock up some for both my daughter and I. It’s not all we usually need, but I just can’t be that person who takes everything on the shelf. I have started quite a few seeds already as I want things to be good sized when I put them out for our short growing season. And I have to share that your seeds are 100% germination so far! I’m thrilled and so thankful I ran across your blog! (which btw came up when I was searching info on the lid shortage)

    • That’s cool, Rachael. We also have a short season but I can’t plant outdoors before June, without protection, and if I start plants earlier than the middle of March, they just get too leggy and are a lot more work to set out. I have to lay the tomato vines down in a trench. That does work fine as they make roots all along the stems. But when you do several hundred plants, that’s a lot of extra digging! Glad your seeds all germinated well.

    • I ended up ordering Orchard Road lids last year when I couldn’t find any locally. They tend to buckle in water bath, but did better in the pressure canner. I really couldn’t figure out the sweet spot. Hope you have better luck with them than I did

    • Wow, I’ve never heard of Orchard Road lids and I try to keep in the canning loop. The buckling has happened when I’ve used the older Kerr lids when pressure canning but the seals still stay sealed.

  21. There are several varieties listed on Walmart’s site but not many good reviews. Vacuum sealed rice last week using Tattler to conserve regular lids. Zero success. Left everything on the counter just in case and they never made it overnight. What fun to have a baby in the winter–such a precious distraction.

    • Our seed business is providing us with plenty of “distraction” but we sure enjoy a break to play with such a sweet baby!

  22. Your granddaughter is precious!
    Our local Mennonite grocery store had lids this week for the first time, and they are bulk, packed 24 to a baggie for $9. No brand, no marking. Limit 2. Jars are all over now, but no lids. I think we had all plan on carefully saving and reusing what we have.

    • What a beautiful granddaughter for you to love and enjoy! Thanks for sending the warm weather our way to Michigan. In the 40s here today and loving it. No lids here yet except a few here and there. Checking whenever we go. I’m good on supply for now but get nervous just considering running short!

  23. Canning lids are VERY difficult to find. I am a member of multiple canning groups, and people are buying all of them when they find them. I mean they are buying cases of the lids. And some of the people stocking up have never canned before. :( Our Amish store has one part lids, so I bought a dozen to try with my bone broth. So far I haven’t had the time to try them. It is very frustrating.

    • Stephanie, I also tried the one part lids this year and all of my batch sealed. I was very skeptical about them, but was pleasantly surprised.

      • I do not know about one part lids…. I’ll have to look that up. Very interesting. I have tried Tattler but with dismal results even after following directions. I am lucky to have good results using my Ball and Kerr lids over a few times.

  24. No lids in northern Indiana as i check weekly at our local Walmart. I’ve visisted several small Amish stores and nothing there either. I found an online outlet for some very good looking 2 piece lids similar to Ball but ikes 12.99 for a box of 12. However if desperation sets in I might consider. I have about 12 boxes of small and 10 of wide so not sure if that will make it or not. Hopefully we will start seeing some on the shelves soon. By the way, beautiful grandbaby!

    • I would hold off for a little while and see if my friend’s new two=piece lids he’s having manufactured arrive. They will be much cheaper than a buck a lid!

  25. I’ve been canning some of the things in my freezer just in case power goes off for some reason. I, too, had stocked up on lids, fortunately. No lids around here either. Are your Harvest Guard lids working well for you? I’m still trying to get the knack of using the Tattlers. They were better before they “improved” them. When one fails right away, I know what’s on the menu.
    Isn’t it great to have the occasional hint of spring! I’ll start seeds before I know it. Hurray!
    The hidden patches of ice are here, too. Take care.

    • Yes, my Harvest Guard lids are working very well. Better than 99% sealing; about the same as two piece lids. The tip with both lids is to NOT tighten the rings down before putting in the canner, then tightening them right after they come out of the canner. A lot of folks try to use them just like Kerr or Ball lids and then they won’t seal as the jars don’t vent properly when the ring is too tight. When you tighten the rings after the jars come out of the canner, one by one, that allows the vacuum to suck the lids down onto the seals, effectively sealing the jars.

    • I don’t do this as I find that when I use larger jars, I end up with a lot of food wasted as it sits in the fridge too long with just Will and I at home to eat it.

  27. When I read the title of the blog, I thought your roof was dripping INSIDE! Glad to read just good old snow/ice melt. Can’t speak for your area but it is doing to be a wet spring here. Second longest snow pack of 12+ inches we’ve ever had. Add that to the water flowing down from the the north of us and farmers might have a late spring planting.
    Watch out for those obscure patches of ice and be prepared to unexpectedly “sink” as you walk on what previously was a solid snow pack.

    • Nope Selena, our roof isn’t dripping inside. Thank God! We’re worrying about a spring drought as we only have about two feet of snow on the ground as opposed to the usual four feet plus we usually have. It’s been a mild, overall, winter so far, despite our two week cold snap. We’ve enjoyed it but are kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop….

  28. This past weekend at my local grocery store I found reg Kerr lids but they were $5.99 for a box of 12! Talk about sticker shock! I didn’t get any yet hoping to find them later for a lot less!

    • Holy cow! That’s price gouging and it would be a cold day in hell before I paid that. And boy would I ever complain to the store manager!

  29. You don’t have trouble with the lids staying sealed from the grease in the hamburger?
    I can’t believe how much work you and Will still do. Amazing!

    • No, I don’t have any trouble with the lids sealing or staying sealed. I do can lean hamburger and make sure I wipe the rims of the jars clean with a cloth dipped in hot water. I also use a canning funnel to ensure much less grease gets on the rims in the first place.

  30. Wal Mart had a better selection today than I’ve seen in over a year. Ball wide mouth flats and Mainstay regular flats. Several jars also.

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