Yesterday I was relaxing and watching YouTube videos and one came up about canning a simple meat stew. I haven't seen this Homesteading Family channel before, but she did a great presentation and has a "Made for TV" setup for a kitchen.
Anyway, I enjoyed her video, but it reminded me of one of the main things about canning. You can't reuse canning lids for canning. As explained in this article on The Spruce Eats, most canning lids are produced for a one time use situation.
If you have canning lids that you've already used, is it safe to reuse them again? The simple answer is no: Canning lids are designed for one-time use. Using them more than once may result in your jars not sealing properly. These lids have a special sealing compound around the rim that is only good for one use. So, if your jars fail to seal properly the first time, you have to put fresh lids on your jars before you reprocess them. And you definitely shouldn't reuse your lids from year to year, no matter how tempting it may be to save a few dollars. Risking your health just isn't worth the small amount that you'll save by reusing your lids.
~ The Spruce Eats
If you have done canning, then you know this rule. But, due to issues with the COVID pandemic there has been a shortage of canning supplies lately. In 2020 this shortage was either caused by more people getting into canning or because the factories were not running at full capacity. Regardless of the cause, it created a shortage and when people can't get an item, they end up trying to take short-cuts which can lead to problems.
Due to the pandemic, many people are canning for the first time, often without guidance from research-based sources. They are relying on information gathered from family, friends, and the internet. Too often, these recommendations are inaccurate and unsafe
~ Shortage of Canning Supplies Leads to Unsafe Practices
While i think it is a great thing that people are getting into canning their food, the shortages are a bit worrisome. And, beyond finding the lids while things are not yet SHTF, the question lingers as to how would you get lids after the SHTF?
Tattler and Harvest Guard are actually the same company, but there was some sort of split and now they are two companies producing the same lid. A plastic lid with rubber rings to replace the metal ones. While the plastic lids can be reused indefinitely, it seems that the rubber rings can only be used 6-8 times.
There is also the option of using glass lids, which is apparently what was done before the metal-ceramic lids of today were created. Like the plastic Tattler lids, it requires the use of a rubber seal gasket and some slight changes to how you do your canning. So, the benefit of doing the glass lid route is, you can go find older jars in thrift shops and such to build up your supplies. But, it has the same downside as the Tattler lids, only being able to reuse the rubber band a limited number of times.
In my search, I couldn't find any machines that would make the rubber ring seals. Rubber can be recycle, so melting down the old rings and creating new ones would be an option in TEOTWAWKI. I guess, that once the rubber is melted down, pouring it into a mold would remake the ring. The problem with reusing the rubber ring would be the rubber deteriorating after 6-8 canning washings. By pouring a new one, it would remove those cracks and missing tiny pieces allowing for a tight seal again. And, the same could be said for the glass lids. Depending on how they are made, the lids themselves could be melted back down and remade. This would be helpful if they were chipped on the edges. But, I guess it would have to be a big chip or crack to cause an issue and it wouldn't be with the sealing to the ring, but just breaking the entire lid due to the pressure caused when canning.
In theory, the best option would have enough supplies to last about 10-20 years. If TEOTWAWKI didn't send everything back to the stone ages, it would probably take about 10 years before manufacturing started up again. But, I think that storing up on the reusable items would be the better option than having 20 years worth of single use lids taking up storage area.
