An Excellent Dollar Store Find - Canning Jar Lids

I do a lot of canning upwards of about 1,200 jars each year.  While the jar rings can be reused the snap lids themselves should not be reused for canning although they can be used for vacuum sealing dry foods.  For those doing a small amount of canning the price of the lids may not be a huge issue but with the amount of canning I do finding lids at the lowest cost becomes a priority. 

I store my lids in the pantry where it is cool and dark.  They are stacked out of the way and off the floor in the space between two wall studs.  Pictured is my current stash of snap lids in two sizes, standard and widemouth.  Not pictured is the few boxes of gem sized lids.  While it looks like a large number of lids the reality is only 44 boxes so 528 lids meaning I have to do a fair amount of stocking up on lids.

The price of the snap lids is based on their size with the standard size (70 mm, red box) being the least expensive.  The gem lids (78 mm, not pictured, yellow box) are more expensive and the widemouth lids (86 mm, green box)  are the most expensive.  I have paid as much as $3.79 for a box of standard lids when in a pinch which works out to 32¢ per lid.  Last year I discovered the dollar store had both standard and widemouth lids for $1 per box of 12 bringing the cost down to 8¢ per lid.  That makes a huge difference!  The dollar store has recently changed hands so items that were $1 are now $1.25.  The standard lids are $1.25 for 12 ( 10.4¢ per lid) while the widemouth lids are $2 (16¢ per lid).  This is the cheapest price I have found for the snap lids.

I mentioned in a recent post that some snub their nose at buying in a dollar store because everything is cheap imports from China.  That simply is not true!  The Bernardin™ lids I am buying are exactly the same as those sold in Canadian Tire and Home Hardware at more than double the price the dollar store is selling them for.  Bernardin™ is the Canadian equivalent to Ball® in the US.  Both brands are now owned by Jarden Home Brands who manufactured all mason jars and lids in North America.  Ball® and Kerr® brands are sold in the US while Bernardin™ is sold in Canada.  The lids are manufactured in the US and distributed in Canada through Bernardin™ out of Toronto, Ontario.  Bernardin™ in Canada also distributes mason jars and canning publications.

Garden Gnome
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