I've learned to store them with a cover so they stay clean and ready to use. Sometimes it is an old lid held on with a screw band, other times a piece of aluminum foil held on with a rubber band. They aren't organized much beyond that....I think it would be good if they were :)

Many of them get reloaded and reprocessed with new foods or with canned water since we lose power here on a semi-regular basis. Did 10 qts of various dried beans today and 10 of water. Some just get stored on the open spaces on the shelves of canned goods as spaces open up. The rest just get stored in boxes or Rubbermaid Totes in the basement. I put a ring on each to protect the jar rim (stores some of my rings at the same time).

Dave

I try to keep the divided box(es) they come in; and, I also always keep lids screwed on to keep them from getting chipped. The boxes are stored on the floor in my pantry.

Dave- how do you preserve your water? That's a great idea! do you have to buy new lids or can you reuse the lids from previous processed cans?

I try to keep them in the original boxes, but they don't come in boxes any more, just those silly "flats" with sides about an inch tall. (sigh) So, I have stacks of plastic totes and boxes in the garage, I put in a layer of jars, then a thick layer of cardboard or newspaper, another layer of jars. Most of mine can hold two layers of quarts standing upright. Then I stack the boxes.

I have hundreds of jars, this year's canning total was over 700 jars canned, so when I run out of space for storage, they go back on the pantry shelves and wait to be refilled.

I have another big plastic tote box that all the rings/flats/cheesecloth/etc. are kept in.

Annie

I'm somewhat of a newbie and bought Jarboxes. They are available on Amazon. I LOVE them for storing both filled and empty jars.

They were an expense but they are well made and look like they will last forever.

Kerry - water is alkaline so has to be pressure canned for long-term storage and safety right out of the jar. It is a fairly common practice in rural parts of the county where folks are well-dependent and power can be iffy. It is easy to just stick a couple of jars in with anything else that is going into the canner or you can just do a batch of water. When we lose power we lose our well so we use lots of jarred water and don't want to have to re-boil it for drinking.

Whether you re-use lids or not is your choice given the same concerns as if you used them on food or not.

Dave

Dave, I like your idea very much because we also have a well and sometimes lose power. We have hard water and end up with white solidified minerals in the canned water. Does this happen to your water, too? Have you found a way to prevent it in your canned water?

ULINE has cardboard canning jar boxes with dividers available in 1/2 pint, pint, and quart sizes (12 jars per box).

"Does this happen to your water, too? Have you found a way to prevent it in your canned water?"

Ours is so hard we had to install a softener system so that helps somewhat. But yes we still get some lime settlement in the bottom of the jars. You can just carefully pour off the good stuff or you can sift it through a paper coffee filter and remove most of it.

Dave

Sam's Club always has empty boxes of varying sizes. Fruit boxes, cardboard crates, are deep enough for quarts so they are stable inside with sides high enough to keep them from falling out. I can put 24 quarts in one of the larger crates. Heavy cardboard is sturdy. And they're cheap! Free!

I was collecting liquor boxes for them, They're awkward and tall and collapse sometimes with empty head space inside. I don't use them anymore.

Copy shops may have an abundance of paper boxes. The typical size boxes will hold a dozen quart jars. They're usually pretty sturdy and have lids that makes stacking better.

A couple of years ago DH bought Pantry in a Box boxes, which I made fun of at first. No more! The lids lift off with one hand, and the boxes are sturdy and moisture-resistant. I store clean jars rim side down, and this time of year lots of empties are going to basement storage until late summer. The pint boxes especially make a neat stack. My quarts don't seem to "move around" as much as the pints and half pints, which is where these boxes truly shine.