Is there anyone else out there that has real trouble throwing away a pretty jar even if they do not currently have a use for it? I find I save washed out jars and tins far too often thinking that one day I will fill them with just the right thing to set them off perfectly.
I'm a sucker for embossed glass, the look and feel of it is far too good to go into the recycling straight away and yet I have no need for this really. But I might. One day!!
I guess that's how hoarders begin. 😉
I was really good before our move and put all my excess jars into the glass recycling on the morning that the guys were due to collect it, knowing that I wouldn't have time to change my mind ... something that had happened on more than one occasion in the past. Now as I eat my way through the jars and tins in my larder cupboard I might just have to do this again one day and jettison all the empties that I have been saving right at the point of pick-up.
Oh, and I have also been known in the past to actually buy a product that is more expensive than I would normally consider acceptable because it came in a pretty jar ...
... yes, I'm talking about you Posh Butterbeans!! 😂😄
Please tell me I'm not the only one.
Sue xx
I hang on to jars like you do as I am convinced I will make jam or chutney to fill them. And I use matching sauce jars for stuff in the cupboard. I could never make enough jam to fill all the ones I save. But, sorry, I've never bought something just for the jar.
ReplyDeleteThen I am just a naughty girl because I have done ... quite a few times :-)
DeleteI absolutely loved gigantes, I have them all the time in Greece! I don't do any food shopping but I suspect I'd also be lured by pretty glass jars if I did! x
ReplyDeleteI've never had them but I'm about to rectify that :-)
DeleteI've had to be very ruthless with my glass jars and it's still terribly hard. I've accepted that my jamming and pickling days are largely over now - I just don't get through them and the family has enough to last for ever and a day, I think.
ReplyDeleteBut it's very hard.
xx
I doubt I'll be jamming or pickling much in future either, but I'll hold onto half a dozen of each size of my jam jars just in case.
DeleteYes, I have a few, probably more than I need, because you never know.
Deletexx
You are not the only one! I love a pretty glass jar and one with a coloured or attractive lid is even better!
ReplyDeleteI thought this lid was really pretty and the only writing on it is right in the centre, so I was thinking a nice little sticker will cover that easily :-)
DeleteYou're not the only one! Here's another pretty-jar-hoarder.
ReplyDeleteOnly the ones in good shape with well locking lids I might use for making jam fill up my cellar shelves till I offer them to the recycle shop, since I am not 'jamming' anymore :>)
That works very well.
Why did Bob Marley immediately spring into my head when I read your comment ;-)
DeleteWell I have to say that I've never bought a jar of posh butter-beans!
ReplyDeleteYou are much more restrained than I am then ... except for when it comes to books ;-)
DeleteYou are not the only one. Me too! But this brings me to my pet moan at the lables - especially on the lids - are so difficult to remove. I get really annoyed by some lovely tins that have the name and contents stamped and painted into the metal. I've bought the whole package it's MY tin and I don't want to have all that writing on it when I want to put my other things in it.
ReplyDeleteOh, labels are a minefield aren't they. Sometimes they need to be soaked off and sometimes putting them in water only reinforces their un-removability. I do have a bottle of Sticky Stuff Remover which works a treat on some labels, but the joy I get when one just floats off is laughable :-)
DeleteNo, Sue, you are definitely not alone. I often have a purge and recycle jars I have kept for no reason other than that they are pretty. Some are put to good use in the garage for G's screws, nuts and bolts but even he has a limit 😂 The embossed glass jar in your photo is far too pretty to dispose of. I love it 😍
ReplyDeleteIt will be kept, if I can find something to store in it all the better. If not imagine how pretty it would look with some Spring flowers in soon :-)
DeleteI am just about out of jam jars (must visit my friend Pam again). I don't buy anything that comes in a posh embossed jar, I must confess, but I too would find them hard to bung into the recycling.
ReplyDeleteTam grew her own Greek Gigantes beans 2 years ago and we are still working our way through them!
This was just a plain old jar of Rose's marmalade, nothing terribly posh ... but extravagant when I bought it early last year considering I had about two dozen jars of my own marmalade in the cupboard!!
DeleteI never even tried to grow butter beans, what a missed opportunity :-(
The Greek Gigantes are by nature as they are by name - you could grow them up the side of the house!!
DeleteHumm … I could have done with some of your jars as I made marmalade yesterday and only had just enough jars.
ReplyDeleteIt's always the way isn't it. During our self-sufficiency years I used to make so many jars of various preserves that at times I would run out ... and then there would be the glut of glass as we ate our way through the stores in Winter.
DeleteYou are not the only one! I have a few beautiful ones that came from M&S with things like fruit steeped in port or even brandy! Someone has taken such effort to design these special jars, it does seem wrong to just throw them away.
ReplyDeleteM&S do some wonderful jars don't they and the bottles for some of their alcoholic drinks are just too beautiful to part with ... until you move house and put them all in the recycling as I did!!
DeleteNot the only one by a long way...me too - I have a bit of a collection and I use them in the shed, the greenhouse and the garage as well as all around my home, some I use as vases, some for pens and watercolour brushes and when I'm painting to put water in, some for when I make lemon curd etc or to keep larger quantities of herbs in, and some even as candle holders in the garden. The pretty glass jar is so attractive and I would struggle to throw one away even to recycle.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy those butterbeans they are really good - Waitrose used to do a tinned version in a tomato sauce 'Greek' style which were very nice. x
It used to be easier when I had more rooms and more spaces that needed things storing in jars. The sheds, polytunnels, multiple rooms and desks etc but now with such a small space everything is condensed. I have two pen pots which are old earthenware jars that needed a use, jugs doubling up as vases etc. As well as me not making jams, marmalades and sauces over the past couple of years, so it's highlighted my glass jar keeping obsession I think.
DeleteOh no, you are not the only one - My partner recently found my stash of empty jars in my shed...(he hasn't found the others in the kitchen dresser yet)
ReplyDeleteOh no!! Now you'll have to find a new place to hide them ;-)
DeleteYou are definitely not the only one!
ReplyDeleteHaha, yes ... the comments on this post have really proved it haven't they :-)
DeleteYay, we could start a club ... similar to Alcoholics Anonymous but more jar related :-)
ReplyDeleteJoining in the confessions here! My favourite supermarket has their own brand in about 4 different sized jars - all with plain black lids - which I love! I was able to gift a stack to a friend for her crafting projects but she has now declared that she has enough!
ReplyDeleteOh no!! You'll have to persuade her that half a dozen spare jars would be a brilliant idea ;-)
DeleteI don't do this but that is probably because I have never made jam or canned veggies. You are clever so you will probably find a good use for your prettiest jars.
ReplyDeleteDon't you buy any things in jars or cans? Most of my smaller jars have been collected from previous shop purchases. Back in the day when I couldn't afford to buy any storage jars I had a good collection of large coffee jars that held all my dried foods on the shelf. It worked really well.
Delete*haha* I don't buy expensive foods just because of the jar *but*... I do save jars & they seemed to get filled up with something as fast as I can wash them. I'm a "prepper" by nature so I buy everything in bulk... to save money & also to have a well-stocked food pantry. So jars seem to get filled up pretty quickly around this place. :) ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteYou must be better at fighting temptation than me then :-)
DeleteThere's always something that can go in a nice jar isn't there.
You sound normal to me! I'm a sucker for a nice glass jar.
ReplyDeleteYou're probably only about the third person EVER to tell me I'm normal ;-)
DeleteI had to laugh about acquiring jars from food purchases. Can only imagine Customs and Immigration scratching their heads while going through my luggage upon my arrival back in the US from the UK and finding a selection of clean, small jars I brought back with me--pretty little receptacles that once held food I bought. (I always stay in places with kitchen facilities so I can shop/cook for myself.) So yes, add me to the list.
ReplyDeleteI was about to say that I have never brought empty jars back from my holidays or had any in my luggage when I remembered I DID bring a jar and a washed out can back from Spain once!!
DeleteI'm in the minority here and only have 12 preserve jars that I bought as a set. I do buy decorative boxes. Wood, metal, glass and cardboard of all sizes and shapes. Many boxes are used to package gifts at Christmas and Birthdays. My favorites are part of a collection.
ReplyDeleteI think so many different kind of packaging makes for good collections don't they, especially when it's useful for re-purposing or packing up gifts.
DeleteI love glass jars too. They are so expensive to buy even the plainest of jars, so I keep any little beauties I come across.
ReplyDeleteI was astonished when during a Challenge I discovered that you could buy jars of marmalade or jam, in jars suitable for re-using for homemade preserves, for a lot less than the cost of empty jars and lids.
DeleteMy mother in law reused jars and their lids for canning everything. As long as the little silicone seal is undamaged, they will reseal after the bath. I thought it was unusual, but I began to do it myself. I have a canning friend in Australia. She and her friends repurpose all jars for their canning. After all these years, I thought that everyone knew this. I feel as if I am imparting great wisdom. There is a spaghetti sauce here (I buy it from Aldi's. It has graduated measurements embossed on the side of the glass. I cannot throw these away. They are wonderful for reuse.
DeleteYou aren't. I will say no more.
ReplyDeleteHaha ... brilliant!!
DeleteI like to use glass jars for freezing all kinds of soups, stews or other meals. It works very well and I save on plastic bags. The important thing is not to fill up the jar completely but leave a bit of space, and the solid parts need to be covered with gravy or broth to prevent freezer burn. I think glass is better for storing food than plastic is. And then of course there is my collection of pretty glass jars . . .
ReplyDeleteHilde in Germany
Yes, I have done this is the past. I would have to be very careful doing it with my current freezer though as the drawers dip down when they are pulled out and the jars would move around. But I might give it a go in one of the drawers.
DeleteI have also overfilled a jar doing this and when they shatter they make a nasty mess, once done never forgotten. I leave a good inch of headroom now every time.
I confess, I am a jar junkie!! I have to say I was quite ruthless last summer and recycled about 5 dozen jars. I still kept all the ones that had no writing on the lid, and I still have dozens and dozens of them. (This is almost as bad as my book addiction). I'm sure I'll never have a use for all of them but I still can't part with them!! Oh and baby oil is great for taking off labels but I'm like you-I love it when one floats off in the water in one piece!!
ReplyDeleteHaha, you sound just like me, jars and books (and stationery ... but we wont; mention that one) are my weaknesses.
DeleteYes, I've heard the baby oil trick before but I've never tried it.
Jar Junkies!
ReplyDeleteHere in the States we shop at Aldi and Trader Joe's where the products tend to be simple. I can't say that I am tempted to keep jars, but yoghurt pots we have a stash. They hold the perfect amount for two servings of soup or stew. My husband has made the most amazing curry base from scratch and is using the pots to freeze them - it seems many recipes in the book he got for Christmas start with the base and it was logical to make a big batch. I suspect after having curry in them they might have to go to the recycling, but not to worry I can always eat more yoghurt!
ReplyDeleteHelen
I have definitely purchased items just for the jar. The aluminum tumblers we drank from as kids were from specially packaged cottage cheese .. Mom couldn't resist a good container either. I have seen the tumblers on Amazon recently .. they now go for about $35 CAD for a set of six.
ReplyDelete