Two is One and One is None....

I also have two canners. One will do 7 quarts/9 pints and the other 7 quarts/18 pints. Either lid fits both canners which is handy. I detest listening to rocking canner weights so have stayed with gauges. I suppose it would be a good idea to have a kit to switch to weights on-hand should SHTF and I cannot get gauges tested each year. If I find another like new canner used for $5 or $10 (what I paid for mine) I'm going to pick up another one.

I was able to buy jars at a garage sale Friday. Got 2 pints & 17 quarts for $4.50. There were an additional 2 pints & 2 quarts that were chipped that went into recycling bin. I have the lady's phone number so may call her to see if she has any jars left and offer to take all for one price. She had quarts and I need pints but as with most preps its better to have too many jars. Also picked up 8 boxes of lids at Dollar General for $1 per box. May go back for more. These are Golden Harvest brand but I believe all lids in U.S.A. are made by the same factory. I've used Golden Harvest for many years without problems.

I have a lot of Golden Harvest pint jars with lids and rings that I got FREE at a food bank where I used to pick up the leftover bread to feed my animals. No one wanted them. The only reason they were "bad jars" as was written on the cases? There was glue that had dripped onto some of the jars. It peeled right off with a little finger pressure. Those jars and the flats work every bit as well as the Kerr and Ball brand. I've been very pleased with them and wouldn't hesitate to buy more of the flats if I could find them at $1 a box.

I always check at Goodwill to see if they have flats - often when someone clears out Grandma's house, they donate the canning stuff to Goodwill. These flats are usually the older ones with thicker sealing compound, and they are priced at .59 a dozen most times. The last time I found lids (flats) there, the original prices were stamped on them, and they were lower than the price Goodwill was asking. I mentioned it to the cashier, and she sold them to me at the original price! That was a bargain shopping day, as I think I paid about 25 cents a dozen or so - got a bit over 5 dozen flats, iirc.

Texican, I don't have near the numbers that you have, but I do have a "hamburger patty box" full of both narrow and wide mouth lids. I always remove them very carefully and tap the flat straight, line up the end all the way around, etc. I use these lids to can water when I don't have a full canner load - very seldom do I have a seal fail, and it gives me a source of sterile water for cleansing wounds, or for drinking/cooking in a pinch. Since I'm storing the jars anyway, they might as well be full. In case of freezer failure, I can pour the water into something else and use the jar to can up frozen foods.

I was in on of my decluttering phases when I sent the jars to Goodwill, and was not feeling the kind of angst that I seem to be feeling nowadays. Foolish, I know now. Texican's grandma gave good advice!