Tuesday Tip | Parmesan Cheese lids fit Mason jars!
It's true! Those plastic lids from grated Italian cheeses fit regular-mouth Mason jars.
In my opinion, they don't fit quite as well as the lids that are made for Mason jars, but hey, if you've already got them sitting around, they're a free one-piece screw-top lid.
You can use regular lids and rings on your jars, of course, but sometimes it is a lot more convenient to have a one-piece, rust-free lid.
For my wide-mouth jars, I use the Ball brand of plastic lids, which on Amazon are less than $10 for 8 lids.
And on Target.com, they're less than $5! (thanks to a reader for letting me know)
(jars of homemade yogurt)
There are other cheaper ones available on Amazon, but I can't vouch for how well they last. I've had my Ball lids for over 5 years and they're still going strong, so I can recommend them heartily.
I do still use some metal lids and rings when I'm storing something stinky in my jars. That way I don't have to worry about the lids absorbing some horrible smell, and if the metal lid (which I've already reused a zillion times) gets a bad odor, I can just throw it away.
P.S. Please note that plastic lids aren't meant for canning, and they don't provide an air-tight, leakproof seal the way that metal lids and rings do.
Mayonnaise and 16 oz peanut butter lids fit as well on standard opening Mason jars. No need to invest in the overpriced, IMO, Ball plastic screw on lids, except for the wide mouth ones, which I do have. I also use a former Parmesan cheese top for using baking soda as a scouring powder.
Great tips, thanks!
Yep, exactly. I buy only the wide mouth lids, since the parmesan ones meet my narrow mouth needs just fine.
Great tip! I had no idea and would never have thought to check other lids. I use Mason jars for everything and now will use them even more!
Great trick! We usually keep the jars after we finish the food in them.
We use the jars to store our drinks like corn juice and home made soy milk. They have metal caps that keep the jars airtight. I love them! 😀
I have never heard of corn juice!
I found the Ball plastic caps almost buried on a jumbled shelf at some random deep discount store, years ago, and bought two packages of them really cheap. They work great.
I sometimes find some product lids that will fit mason jars, but not that much of what I buy comes in jars, much less jars with lids that fit my mason jars. I usually use the Ball lids. I won't use the metal with anything really acidic, and I won't use the plastic with anything really strong-smelling, like garlic-y stuff, so I keep a few of each around.
Another option is to use the silicone lids that stretch over jar tops. I have a few of those, too. They will fit various sizes of jars because they stretch and they are dishwasher safe. I got mine at Mighty Nest.
I use the parmesan cheese ones for my sesame and poppy seeds. This way I can just shake out the seeds when I'm using them to garnish salads or bread.
Yes! I found that tip some years back and I use it for big batches of homemade taco seasoning! It's perfect for that, as you have a scoop side and a sprinkle side. (: Plus, you can run them through the dishwasher!
http://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/2013/05/homemade-seasoning-blends.html
I've been cleaning out the freezer, and I found a lot of odds and ends to make several meals. We tried some new recipes, which was fun. I also found chili from 2015!!!
Woohoo!
The peanut butter lids from Aldi PB (and probably others, too) also fit, if you don't need the shaker tops.
FYI--The Ball white plastic lids are available for $4 at target.com.
Oh wow! That's a great price. I'll add a link to those in the post.
Wow! Thanks for the tip, I did not know this!
I don't have any of those grated cheese lids... but I do have a mom who gave me a few packages of ball white plastic lids she had extra which I was thankful to receive.
I have broken one lid after trying to open it directly from the freezer, so be careful of brittle frozen plastic.
I love wide mouth mason jars for storing most everything.
I concur. Using the jars for dry storage with the Parmesan lids is excellent. Corn starch, for example. Corn starch retail packaging is ... a hassle.
Related: I use old Parm. shaker in the shower. I don't use shampoo, so I find the plastic jar and shaker lid stores baking soda perfectly. A recycled squeeze bottle left over from a catered event holds the vinegar and I'm good to go for next to nothing!
Also, love the widemouth jar and plastic lid combo for food storage. I totally adore the bulk bins at Winco and I've developed a good eye for buying exactly as much of [whatever] will fit in a jar. Mad frugal skillz here, lol!
I buy the ball plastic lids at Walmart for under $4 a box for the wide mouth and regular. They are easy to find.....right by the canning jars. They even have these at our one and only grocery store in town.....not as cheap as walmart but much less than amazon!
The lids from Classico spaghetti sauce, which is what I usually buy, are perfect for small mouth Mason jars too! They don’t seem to rust like the regular metal Mason lids, and they have a bit of a rubber seal on the inside so that they don’t leak (like the white plastic lids, which I also have and enjoy very much for putting things in the fridge but which don’t have a super tight seal).
If you buy honey in jars the lids fit nicely (because they're made for a glass jar). I keep all those. It's so handy for leftovers/storage. Also, I can and having the lids to replace the 2-part lid for fridge storage is nice too. (I don't can WITH them, I use them after have opened the regular canning lid).
I love finding new ways to use Mason jars! I needed a new way to dispense toothpicks, so I put them in a Mason jar with a cardstock lid with a square poked in it. Works like a charm. 🙂
This reminds me of another great hack. When you finish a round container of salt, don't toss it! Cut off the top, trim it to fit into a canning lid ring and screw it onto the jar. Now you have a handy reclosable pour spout on your jar. Ingenious!
Note: this only works with the ring from a two-part lid, not the plastic lids, lol!
Genius! I have an empty bottle sitting around too, this is an excellent idea.
We make vegetable juice regularly and save all the nice sealing jar tops we can find, but haven't found a reliable source of single-piece well-sealing lids (the kind with the inner ring). The ones I've bought on Amazon have rusted within a year of purchase. Anyone else found good tight-sealing lids?
If I recall there were a number of people commenting they were getting Zaycon orders delivered, just FYI they closed up shop so if anyone paid deposits you may want to contact your credit card company. Not that this has anything to do with your post..but just an FYI. Several groups I belong to noticed their web page is gone and emails are unanswered.
Walmart sells green lids like the Ball brand Wide Mouth & Reg. In green.
I tried this and mine didn't screw on. I can push them on but I feel they will leak so I'll pass