Tag Archives: glass jars

Glass is Good

Leave a comment

I have tried, as much as possible, to reduce our use of single-use plastic.  I know that there is always more that I can do so it is a work in progress, or as some would like to say, a journey.

As with any journey, it is also easier if you are connected with like-minded travellers so I am a member of a couple of different Facebook groups whose members have similar goals.  Some people are keen to remove all plastic, however, I am not about to throw away all of the plastic containers I have (to landfill) so that I can replace them with glass.  On the other hand, I am happy to look for glass when I need some more.

2017-01-26-04

After much research, I recently purchased 2 dozen Ball preserving jars.  You can read all about them in this post.  I have used some when I made jam recently but am also looking at other ways of using them.

I am aware that some people regularly freeze food in glass but that is not something that I have really done much so I decided that some research was in order as I know several people have had problems with glass jars breaking in the freezer.  This is not a saving of resources or money so I want to avoid that happening.  It turns out that for a glass jar to be suitable for freezer use it must have straight sides – that is no shoulder where it slopes in to the neck of the jar.  The preserving jars which I chose meet this criteria and are also deemed as suitable for freezer use on the panel on the box.

2017-02-22-02

Naturally, you also need to use commonsense and not put hot jars into the freezer and leave suitable headspace for the food to expand when frozen.  I also choose to chill them first in the refrigerator before transferring to the freezer as well as keeping the lids loose until they were completely frozen.  This strategy seems to have been successful.

Here are some jars of frozen mango puree and refried beans which I was about to transfer to the small freezer downstairs.  I tend to keep this freezer for storage and items which I use on a day-to-day basis in the freezer section of the refrigerator in the kitchen.

2017-02-22-03

2017-02-22-04

The other purpose for which glass can be used is when taking your own containers to be filled at the shop.  This afternoon I took one of the smaller jars to the deli counter at the supermarket and bought olives.  There was no problem with the staff weighing the container prior to filling to to assess the tare weight and the price sticker was attached to the bottom of the jar.

2017-02-22-05

Plastic containers certainly have their place and I will continue to use them rather than discard simply for the sake of discarding them, however, it is an interesting exercise to test the boundaries as to how and where glass jars can be used.

 

Another Parcel

1 Comment

About 10 days ago I placed an online order with OzFarmers for some glass jars.  They arrived by courier a few days later.

2017-01-26-01

Time to open it up.  I was impressed that the box had clearly been reused and was excited to find that the packing was not bubbled plastic or styrofoam beads, but good old newspaper.

2017-01-26-02

The newspaper was shredded quite uniquely but it is a little difficult to see in this photo.

These are 2 Weck glass jars with glass lids.  I am quite glad that they were wrapped in bubble wrap to ensure that they arrived safely.  We ordered these as GMan needed one for making a sourdough starter.  He has been making bread in the breadmaker for many years using bread mix and yeast but has decided to branch out and try sourdough.

2017-01-26-03

Since we were only able to buy these online, it made sense to purchase an additional one so that we would have a spare.  I have used reused glass jars for preserving jam, chutney and sauce but recently made the decision to invest in proper canning jars with a two-piece lid.

2017-01-26-04

I bought 12 of each of two sizes – Half pint and Pint jars – for those of us who deal in metric the actual capacity is 250ml and 500ml respectively.

Here is a closer look at the newspaper packaging.  There are about 6 layers of newspaper which have clearly been put through some sort of mechanical shredder to make a series of incomplete cuts and then it is spread to make a grille pattern.  The newspaper is now in the compost bin and the cardboard box is flattened and will be used as a weed suppressant when we next spread some mulch in the garden.

2017-01-26-05

Sadly, the entire trays were shrink-wrapped in plastic but rather than just ripping it off, I split the corners at one end until I was able to slide the whole wrapper off in one piece.

This is what it looked like.

2017-01-26-06

I sealed the untouched end with an elastic band and this will now be a future rubbish bag for my kitchen bin.

2017-01-26-07

No matter how hard you try, it is impossible to completely eliminate single-use plastic but it is possible to be conscious of your consumption and to think outside the box when it comes to disposing of it.

I am comfortable with accepting what is a relatively low level of plastic packaging to enable me to acquire products which should last a lifetime.  By using the jars we bought to prepare more of our own food we will reduce reliance on other food packaging.

STREAMLINE – Everything In Its Place

11 Comments

Just to prove that I don’t always live up to what I write here is a photo of my kitchen bench this morning.

Kitchen bench
Well, everything was certainly not in its place.  Saturday morning is not usually the best time at our place.  We have both had a long week at work and despite the best of intentions, I have usually run out of steam be the time I get home.  The empty box on the floor and the wine on the bench were part of a delivery of purchases made by The Duke while we were away the other week.  There is an assortment of paperwork that had not been dealt with  as well as some clean dishes and numerous glass jars and bottles.

So, what is their place?

The packaging from the wine has gone into the recycling.  The box was repurposed to hold some jars that I have listed on Freecycle.  The paperwork has been sorted into recycling and a pile to be filed.

I keep 2 plastic tubs of jars in my pantry.  One holds the ones which have pop-top lids which I use for preserving and the other tub has an assortment which I keep for storage etc.  There were too many jars so it was time to cull them and keep only the best ones.  I only keep about 4 different style/size of jars with pop-top lids so that I can use a consistent size when making something like pasta sauce.

Preserving jars

The excess jars have been listed on Freecycle but if no-one wants them I will drop them off at the op shop.

Excess jars

The wine has been relocated to the wine rack storage in the cellar.  Alas, it is not strictly a cellar in the true sense of the word but it is downstairs and maintains a fairly even temperature.  The Duke and I took the opportunity to tidy up and sort out the contents of the rack.  It is now in a more logical sequence and hopefully we will easily be able to locate what we are looking for in future.

As usual, one thing led to another and I now also have some excess coffee mugs to take to the op shop as well as 2 low folding chairs to put on Freecycle.  The less stuff we have, the easier it is to keep everything in its place.