Clean Glass Jars to Use Again.
Forget mason jars. Save money and reduce waste matter by cleaning and reusing all the drinking glass jars and bottles you lot already buy. Check out this guide with lots of tips to upcycle all your great glass containers.
For the concluding couple of years, I used to stop by a thrift store near our home when I had a few extra minutes to pop in and see if they had any mason jars to add together to our collection. I knew I could purchase them at Target, but I preferred secondhand on principle.
Occasionally I got lucky and establish one or two, just jars with tops weren't easy to come by. I also noticed they were often more expensive than the new ones at Target. What?! I'm all for doing my part to save the planet, but I tin can't justify stopping in to a thrift shop to potentially find old mason jars and pay more for the exact same matter I can buy elsewhere.
Then I had an epiphany, that's pretty darn obvious in hindsight. Why am I buying mason jars when I can reuse glass jars from things I already buy at the grocery shop?
Today, I no longer purchase mason jars, even the overpriced ones from secondhand shops. I wash and reuse many of the jars we already buy, especially those for pasta sauce, which are basically the aforementioned size as big bricklayer jars.
I could leave wrappers and stickers on the jars, but they really aren't very highly-seasoned to me. I like conspicuously seeing what's within the jar, and in that location's something about cashews in a jar labeled as pasta sauce that just doesn't sit right with me. I know… I'thousand light-headed. None-the-less, I remove all labels from the jars after nosotros utilise up the original contents.
It only took washing one jar, however, to realize that manufacturers have their gum very seriously. They actually stick those stickers to the glass. I know the product companies paid their marketing teams a lot of coin to develop the labels, merely they're not actually my jam.
If yous're up for reducing waste, reusing glass jars, and making the within of your cabinets just a tiny bit prettier, I've got all the details on scraping the labels off of your drinking glass jars and repurposing all the drinking glass jars and bottles you already buy. Hither goes.
Types of Jars To Reuse
- Pasta Jars
- Pizza Sauce Jars
- Nut Butter Jars
- Pickle Jars
- Jelly Jars
- Syrup Bottles
- Salad Dressing Bottles
- Baby Nutrient Jars
- Annihilation you have that works!
You can reuse whatever glass jar that suits your fancy, only I've found that some are more useful than others based on their size and shape. Pasta jars are my absolute favorite! They emulate big mason jars. At present that we have several pasta jars from the same visitor, the lids are also interchangeable and so I don't always have to discover just the right tiptop for each jar.
I likewise love nut butter, pickle, and pizza sauce jars. They are similar in size to small mason jars, and I don't always need a large jar for every job. I have besides used salad dressing bottles, glass beloved jars, and little mustard jars. Anything goes if it'due south the right size for your needs.
When buying products from the grocery store, I prioritize products packaged in glass jars, specially in lieu of plastic. I don't pay exorbitantly more just for drinking glass jars, just all else being relatively equal, I ever purchase the products in glass jars. It still strikes me equally silly that I never thought about this for years and just continued the dots on this habit vi months ago!
Tools and Tricks To Make clean Upcycled Glass Jars
Companies spend a small fortune on marketing and branding, so information technology'southward little surprise that their labels are rather sticky. They don't want those things going anywhere! However, there are a few tips and products that help remove the gooey gum.
The easiest trick to remove labels is to permit them soak in water for a few hours or a day. The characterization becomes much less sticky subsequently soaking and, in many cases, tin can be easily scraped off with the dorsum of a butter pocketknife under running water.
If the label is a stickler and soaking doesn't help you lot remove it, consider soaking the drinking glass jar in OxiClean. After the jar has saturday in the OxiClean solution for several hours (or fifty-fifty a solar day or more), rinse it and use the dorsum of a butter pocketknife to scrape off the label under running h2o.
On rare occasions, yous may demand to add a petty elbow grease. As I mentioned to a higher place, manufacturers beloved their super gluey glue.
Typically, I spend a minute or two scrubbing or scraping each glass jar, but once it's complete, I can toss it in the dishwasher any time I demand to wash it.
Some manufacturers take it slightly easier on the gum and you lot tin can pare off nearly of the label without leaving much newspaper or residue. Merely patience pays here! Depending on the type of glue, yous may accept a run a risk of peeling off the label without much residue.
No matter the make or bottle, I e'er try to pare off the label before resorting to scrubbing and scraping. If you lot start to pare back the label and see a glimmer of hope that it will come off clean, don't rush! All hope goes downward the drain without a healthy dose of patience.
Slowly skin the label, doing your best to pull it straight across the side of the jar (as opposed to from a diagonal bending). If yous showtime to see a bit of trigger-happy, attempt to scrape off the remains, without disconnecting the torn newspaper from the whole label, and reset your "clean, horizontal peeling".
If you get lucky and peel off the unabridged characterization, consider information technology a giant win. Occasionally this happens and you lot accept a scrap of glue residual to clean, merely that's quite a bit easier to manage than an entire label.
When you accept to scrub… and once in a while you will…
To scrub off the labels, I use primarily stainless steel scrubbing pads. These piece of work quite well. I've also used Brillo pads, though these aren't quite as constructive. Forget standard brushes and sponges; they don't have enough grit to break down the mucilage.
I scrub the drinking glass jars and bottles over the sink and rinse periodically until they are squeaky clean. Although it's a bit of pain to clean them if soaking doesn't work, clean glass jars and bottles are so satisfying!
We keep a small-scale plate next to the sink where the scrubbing pads alive along with our dish soap and sponge. The scrubbing pad comes in a sphere shape, simply ours has entirely lost its course. It is many months old but is still going potent. As long every bit information technology doesn't odor and isn't covered in food $.25, I plan to reuse it over again and over again.
The stainless steel scrubbing pads I purchase come in plastic while the steel wool soap pads often are packaged in recyclable cardboard. However, I find the scrubbing pads perform significantly ameliorate and are worth the plastic packaging.
I might be able to detect the scrubbing pads without plastic packaging if purchased in bulk. I plan to look into that going forward, though we have plenty in our cabinet for now and in that location's no sense in buying new before using up what we already take on hand.
How To Store Repurposed Glass Jars
When not holding food or beingness put to skillful utilize elsewhere in our house, I store the glass jars in a large drawer in our kitchen. I am not stellar about matching tops and jars while stored, so I keep a small box next to the jars for all the tops and find the top I need when I'thousand prepare to use a particular jar.
To the extent y'all tin, I find it'south helpful to collect the same types of jars over time. Pasta jars are my jam, and I e'er purchase the same size jars from the same brand. This makes it easier to match tops and bottoms. I don't refuse peachy glass jars just because I don't have several lids to match, but I practise love having lots of jars that are like.
Flexible, Interchangeable Tops For Repurposed Drinking glass Jars
Like the sock gnome that lives in the dryer and eats single socks with abandon, I'm pretty sure I accept a "top gnome" that lives somewhere in my kitchen and steals jar tops ever so slowly. Somehow, I always take more jars than tops. To combat my pinnacle gnome, I have three 4.five″ silicone stretch storage tops. These things are the all-time!
They are a fleck pricey. Purchasing i pack of three to kickoff your collection is more than enough. Consider asking for them as a gift when people will be ownership things for y'all anyway. I might exist biased, merely I think they would make great stocking stuffers or a perfect gift for a Favorite Things Political party!
How To Reuse Glass Jars and Bottles
We use upcycled glass jars and bottles for a variety of things including food storage, art projects, office supply storage, playroom organization, bathroom storage, and more. Currently, my freezer is total of drinking glass jars filled with pumpkin puree, bootleg pizza sauce, and chicken stock from scratch. I honey that I tin swoop to my basement freezer to grab these things on a whim.
No thing what jars you collect, be patient and collect them over time. Whether you're fresh on your low waste product living journeying or have been at the game for a while, there'south no apply throwing out things you already ain or going to the store to buy a ton of items to "start living eco-friendly, depression waste" lifestyles.
Focus on building your drove of reused glass bottles and jars slowly as yous naturally purchase products over time. Information technology'southward the near affordable and eco-friendly fashion to make employ of the resources we already have at our disposal.
Do you have whatsoever other tips for acquiring glass jars and bottles over time? How practise you lot employ them? Share in the comments so we tin all learn new tips together!
Source: https://www.honestlymodern.com/how-to-clean-and-reuse-glass-jars-for-everyday-use/
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