Hi, lilacs! How exciting to start out canning.

You can use your pasta jars IF they have the right kind of "thread" to take standard canning lids --- the only brand that does so where I live is Classico.

Some folks on this forum freeze stuff in canning jars and report great results; my own have been mixed --- I found I had bottoms break off a couple of jars *if* I put them on one of the shelves in my upright freezer that actually is a freezer element. So I think it was thermal shock---the bottoms got too much colder than the tops. I have frozen stuff in jars a few times in just my top-of-the-fridge freezer and had no problem, but I find it's easier to freeze in plastic (used yogurt tubs are free!) and I save the glass jars for canning and storing dry goods.

The good news is that it doesn't have to be expensive to get started! The most important thing you need to buy is actually not equipment at all but a basic book --- I recommend starting with the Ball Blue Book, less than $10 most places canning jars are sold. There is also good info online, but it's good to have one basic book you can take into the kitchen, page through over breakfast, spill peach butter on, etc.!

You need some canning jars and lids. If you buy jars new they'll come with two-piece lids (a flat part and a ring part). If you get canning jars used or reuse those Classico pasta jars, you'll need to buy the lids separately. You can reuse the ring part over and over, so in the long run you mostly will just have to buy new flat lids.

And you need a big pot. You can buy a water bath canner --- a large enamel pot with a lid and a rack (though that rack is pretty useless except for quart jars) --- for about $20. But if you just want to try it out, you can use any big pot you have as long as it is a couple of inches taller than the jars you want to can in. (I did my first canning in my pasta pot --- wanted to try it before spending much money!)

You need a useful rack for the bottom of your pot to keep the jars from touching the bottom. Again, you can make one for free--some folks use twist ties to put several canning rings together to make a rack. Others just put a dish towel in (I tried this and found if floated up and was a pain). I bought a cheap cake-cooking rack at the dollar store that fit my pasta pot.

The other thing I STRONGLY recommend for starting out is a jar lifter. It costs about $5 and it seemed to me like a fancy gadget I didn't need at first, but once I got one BOY was I glad, and wished I had had one sooner. You CAN lift hot jars into and out of hot water with tongs, forks, oven mitts, etc., but it's clumsy and slippy and if you splash any water it's a real pain! The jar lifter is PERFECT for this task and a great investment.

And that's all! A pressure canner costs more, but you don't need that to do tomato sauce or peach butter. I suggest you start with something using fruit (jam or fruit butter) or else pickles --- these are easy and have the fewest safety concerns. But you can also can tomato products and lots of other goodies in just a boiling water bath --- follow the instructions in the BBB and ask any questions here!

Congratulations on trying this out. I hope you enjoy it!!!
I started canning 5 or 6 years ago and really like it, and have found the advice and camaraderie on this forum invaluable.

Cheers,

Zabby

Here is a link that might be useful: Natl Ctr Home Food Preservation

As Zabby said you can use some of them IF the lids and bands will fit but more and more commercial jars are made specifically so that the lids will NOT fit as their use in canning is not recommended. Expect more seal failures and breakage with them if used for canning so in the long run it honestly isn't worth the loss in foods to use them.

When it comes to using them for freezing, it will all depend on the jar itself - many just won't hold up to freezing.

You'll find many previous discussions here on the problems associated with using other than jars made just for canning and freezing and I have linked the NCHFP guidelines on the question below.

NCHFP is the recognized authority on all home food preservation issues.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Jars and Lids guidelines

I do have a couple huge stew pots, and I may have a rack somewhere that'll work. I even may be able to find the book used online. I could also try freecycle or Craigslist.

I suppose I'll work on getting the book first, so when I get the other stuff I'll know what to do with it. I have a big peach tree in my back yard that produces tons of peaches, all in about a 10-day period. So far, I've been freezing them, but about a third of an upright freezer in the garage is now given over to peaches.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've never had any good luck with commercal jarred product jars. They do tend to break easier under heat processing. Never reuse a lid or cover. If they are not the standardized Ball jar sizes, you have to find suitable covers and/or lids. A canning pot must be tall enough to give jars at least a half inch off the bottom and 2 inches above the jars for the water fill in a BWB. When freezing peaches, they do tend to oxidize and darken to a brown color. An Ascorbic acid dip is helful prior to freezing. Peach trees last about 20 years, and grow quite fast. After that, tend to break branches off when loaded with fruits. I lost 2 of them after 16 years, as they split right down the middle. One was cling, the other freestone. One bore early and the other late. After about 15 years fruits tend to get smaller, as seeds get bigger.

Zabby sure gave you a lot of good advice
I would save those jars for something else go to wallmart and pick up some new ones
Besides you will be making your own pasta sauce now(:
I don't know if its my area or everywhere but finding used ones is completly inpossible and I find people want at least $10 a dozen and up and you still have to buy new lids I have been picking up a case everytime I'm at the store as they become scarse around here in the fall

If you don't want to spend the money on the book right now - old issues can be outdated and so unsafe - all the basic info and recipes that are in the BBB is available free online at NCHFP.

There you will find all the instructions you need for canning most anything that is safe to can in a BWB or in a pressure canner.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - How do I Can?

One issue I just duscovered while storing some preused jars. Older Ball jars have a slightly larger diameter glass bead below the threads of the jars. I use the Food saver attachment to pull a vacuum on the jars for storing some things. The newer jars have noticable smaller glass bead diameter size and it might not make as good a seal with the FS attachmenta applied. The attachment makes its seal with a rubber U ring that rests against the glass bead, which makes vacuum tight the seal. If you find that the FS attachment isn't as reliable on making seals, it might be due to that glass bead size differnce. Usually the FS will work without problems, but if that bead is chipped or cracked, its useless as a vacuum jar. My dried herbs, especailly dill weed, keeps in a vacuum more than a year without losing flavor and fading to gray color.

Oh my gosh, Wal* is the last place I'd go for jars. In early spring, before canning season gets ripping big time, our Big Lots has canning jars stacked nearly to the ceiling, half the price of most stores.

I have also found that Goodwill is an excellent place to get canning jars super cheap. Good ones, too. When family are clearing out their older relatives' houses, the basement is often filled with canning jars. Ditto auctions, where I once picked up a brand new water bath canner for fifty cents. Never used.

Also let it be known in your family you would like to start canning. People talk to people and it might prompt someone to want to clean out the shelves in their basement, attic or garage. A lot of people don't really want to can, but hoard their supplies until they find a good home for them.

If you buy any but brand new jars, inspect them very well for chips or nicks along the seal line.......because they will fail with food in them. Also check the glass for cracks.

I've used classico jars for years, but never use them for pressure canning. I've also never had one burst in a boiling water bath process. I think the commerical canning process can weaken glass and I suspect all the food producers have purposely changed the lid size for liability reasons, in this litigeous society. If a person can muck something up and hurt themselves, they will, and they'll blame everyone but themself.

I only just started canning this year so I'm still pretty new to it.

Be sure to read the rules and be safe. Low acid foods need to be pressure canned and follow guidelines for acidic additives for tomatoes and such for Boiling Water Bath Canning etc.

Anyway, I haven't actually used any of the classico jars or other "commercial" jars that fit the two piece canning lids (I found one type of salsa that is compatible.) However, I expect I will use them. I figure as long as they seem heavy like regular canning jars and the rims and threads fit and are undamaged, it is worth a try. Only issue I see, I have a couple pint and a half classico jars which means I would probably have to process them as quarts since there are no guidelines for the in between size.

I jumped in with both feet and got a pressure canner because I wanted to be able to can soup and chili but before I attempted any pressure canning, I did some marmalade while our tangerine tree was in need of harvest.

Since I have done several BWB sweet things like kumquats in syrup, marmalade, and jelly. I have also done some pressure canning of chili (by the recipe on the NCHFPO), and I've made beef veggie soup following their guidelines for soup. Both those things have been good. I'm made chicken and veggie soup. I've also canned a batch of chicken stock after we had a couple roasted chickens.

I'm planning on making some veggie stock soon and perhaps tomorrow I will make some mint jelly.

You can do it!

If you have Dollar General or Menards Home Improvement store in your area, watch them for good prices on jars. Last year Menards had pint jars on sale for $4.00 after sending in a rebate. Even without the rebate, I think they were less expensive than WM and some of the other stores. Goodwills in our area are not a good place to buy used jars. They usually want so much that to buy them by the case at WM is cheaper. I've had some good luck on getting jelly jars at an indoor flea market not too far away. People who don't can may receive a gift of jelly and don't return the jar, but it somewhere along the line it winds up in the flea market. I got half a dozen last year in a shoe box for $1. My husband gets angry with me because he says I have hundreds of canning jars, but I still bring them home.

Michaels a local craft store want $2.29 for EACH quart jar! No way!

Calliope, you know what they say. Every time they make something idiot proof, someone comes along and builds a better idiot.

I checked, and the ones I'm thinking of are Classico. I've been saving them. I'm determined that this is the year I start canning. I have a dollar store of some kind near me, although I haven't checked them for canning jars. I noticed that the King Soopers down the street has a small canning section, complete with jars and stuff. I didn't check the prices, but I'm willing to bet they'd be cheaper elsewhere. But it's something to keep in mind.

Classico has changed the thread location (more smooth glss above the threads) and the Ball rings will not screw onto them anymore. Suggest you check them before use.

I just bought Classico pasta sauce at BJ's. They are 32 oz. and the standard lids and rings fit. The Classico jars in our supermarket are the 24 oz. and the standard lids fit these also.
I stopped at Big Lot's today and they have Golden Harvest pint and 8 oz jelly jars in stock. The price is $6.75 for either size. I didn't see quarts. Golden Harvest is the brand. There was only 1 box of lids on the shelf at $1.25 each dozen. Last year the price was .99. I did buy 10 dozen. I bought a case last year and have quite a few left.
I think 2009 will be a banner year for home canning.

The Golden Harvest is the 'generic' name for Ball jars. I made out great last December when a local supermarket was going out of business. They had a lot of regular lids and they were originally priced at 99 cents a box. At 20% off that was pretty good. I do know that in some parts of the country the Classico jars have been modified with a taller opening. It may not have affected your area yet.