See post #G21-013. Looks like seasonal shipments of canning supplies have begun. In Vienna, VA, lids are back in stock. (Or, at least, were as of 4/18/2021).
See Post #G21-003 for the background. In a nutshell, it’s hard to get lids for home canning right now. If you can find them, your choice is between expensive (name-brand) and potentially inferior (foreign-made). (If you doubt that inferior part, read some of the reviews on Amazon.) And, of course, the predators are out in full force, so you will see people offering to sell you lids for more than the cost of a “set” (jar+ring+lid).
I’ve now done a little shopping locally, and tracked the trends for on-line sources, and it’s time to update that prior post.
It’s clear that the situation is getting worse, but I stand by what I said in my prior post. To me, it looks like the U.S. manufacturer hasn’t yet started shipping to major retailers for the 2021 canning season. And so, I think that most of what we’re seeing right now is still the aftereffect of the 2020 canning season.
If that’s true, then things are going to continue to get worst, right on up to the point where the seasonal shipments start for the 2021 canning season. And that that point, I expect to see lids available again.
That’s a guess. But that’s still my best guess.
Details follow. This turned out to be a long post. I cover the topics listed below. I’ve put the headings in red so you can just scroll down and find them.
- My local stores.
- Canning lid arbitrage, or why the local shelves should be empty.
- Recent changes in on-line sources.
- A brief note on re-using lids.
- Only Newell, Inc. knows what’s actually in store for us later this year.
- Afterword, or why a shortage of canning lids isn’t just some quaint little oddity.
Continue reading Post #G21-009: Canning lid shortage revisited.
This is a second of two pickle posts. The prior post was about the energy cost of canning pickles. This post is about making pickles via lacto-fermentation.
Yesterday’s Washington Post had an article about