Glass canning jars are absolutely ridiculous here in Belgium. I garden and I am going to scale up my gardening next year, so I need to get into canning and preserving again.
If you live in the US, you could get a 12 pack of standard mason jars in a store for https://www.target.com/p/ball-16oz-12pk-glass-regular-mouth-mason-jar-with-lid-and-band/-/A-12794405 under $15.
Here, any sort of glass jar is no cheaper than 20€ for 6 online and in stores it is often 5-10€ per jar, depending on size!! That is 300% more expensive on the cheap end here. It is not super sustainable to have to spend 200 euros on glass jars to can your extra fruit and vegetables.
Is there a secret to finding reasonably-priced glass canning jars that some people have found? I would reuse glass jars that I get from the store, but you are not supposed to reuse the lids because they degrade and will let in harmful bacteria and let things oxidize.
I get the impression that Weck or Le Parfait “glass lid with rubber gasket and metal bail” European-style canning jars are an inherently higher-cost design than Mason-style “two-piece metal lid” ones. At least in terms of up-front costs, anyway, since those jars are completely reusable whereas with mason jars you have to keep buying new lids every time.
On the other hand the rubber is cheaper to replace than the metal lid, so in the long run the price balances out.
Jars like Le Parfait can last forever, especially now that they used stainless steel for the mechanism.
I have a few of those from 2nd hand stores, but they are getting harder to find. It definitely wouldn’t triple the cost new though, maybe 50% more or something, but I only have 10 or so now.
There are a ton of 2nd hand jars with just glass+glads with no fastening mechanic and sloped lips so 3rd party clamps or clips don’t work on them, so they can’t be held shut. Only good for storing dry grains and stuff.
Bormioli has the “American style” jars, made in Italy and at a reasonable price