There Was A Shortage

There still is a shortage...of Canning Jars!

When I decided to figure out this canning thing I had some jars. The whole purpose of wanting to can food wasn't because there would/could be a food shortage. What I wanted to do is grow TONS of paste type tomatoes and make sauce for the shelf. I found out quickly that freezer space runs out very quickly. In July I used the jars that I had and bought a case here and there and freed up some space in the giant freezer in the garage.

Knowing that I really enjoyed canning more than I thought I would it was time to start buying supples to store for future canning sessions. The last time I bought several cases of canning jars was probably early August. Wilco had a coupon available, so we went and I thought I was stocking up and only got a couple of cases of quart jars and a couple of pints. I may have been able to purchase another case or two after that purchase. 

Since then I have been watching the canning jar supply starting to dwindle to a few cases here and there to NOTHING. Empty shelves wherever we went. My reality, along with the masses,  is that I haven't been able to find jars ANYWHERE. 

During some of my searches online I would find that the places that have (or had) jars available are no where near Mt. Hazelidacreekshore area. On Monday or Tuesday I saw on Ace Hardware's website that they had jars available....in Woodland. Nope, not gonna drive there after work. I believe that Wilco still had some also. Okay, Battle Ground is closer, but still, not gonna drive there after work. After searching some more throughout the week it looked like JoAnn Fabric had a case of pint jars - so I went ahead and put those in the cart and checked out. I was hoping that I would get these, but my hopes were dashed. Within a couple of hours I got the email that said that the jars were no longer available. Sadness. SO CLOSE!

I started to think that my last canning project would be the chicken that we have left from our spring meatie batch. There are only 5 whole chickens left and I think that I would only need like 3 or 4 jars for those. That would have to be the end of my food canning adventures for a while.

However, yesterday we went out for coffee and to run a couple of errands. The first place we stopped was Parkrose and they only have the itty-bitty jars that are good for things like pesto or small quantities of jams or spreads. I did spy the Ball Electric Water Bath Canner though, so that was pretty cool.

Available at Amazon

We found the items that we needed and then made our way to Fred Meyer for breakfast stuff that I meant to make this morning...but didn't. Oooops! There's always tomorrow!

As we were walking through the aisles, it felt almost like I was being pushed to walk down the aisle that we did. I kind of knew that the pecans wouldn't be down this aisle, but then it happened...

What the WHAT?!

I almost couldn't believe my eyes! The elusive cases of canning jars! So, Tom went to grab a cart since we thought we were only coming in for a couple of items. I stood guard over these. Amazingly, no one else showed any interest in this small supply. Any other crazed human looking for canning jars probably would have grabbed most of these, but I'm not greedy. So I just opted for a case of quart jars and a case of pint jars. 

We went to check out and I didn't think much of the cost of the jars, but when I looked at the receipt I found that the quart jars cost close to $18 and the pints not quite $13. Boy Fred Meyer, way to jack up the prices! Meh, I have some jars now. 

So, the lesson that I learned from this year's canning adventure. Buy them when I see them and store them in the basement. There will come a time when I won't need to go hunting for these though, just the lids. However, until we get to that point in my canning adventures I'll be hunting for these jars along with the rest of the bored quarantine people.

Yes, I did do a canning project after we got home...

Nine quarts of yellow potatoes for the shelf