There are, however, one or two things you need to know when freezing Mason jars if you want to avoid cracked and broken receptacles. Most of the tips are common sense and all are easily achieved and practical, so you can dramatically reduce the amount of breakages with the minimum amount of effort. Choosing the right glass container for freezing is one of the most important parts of successfully saving your delicious dishes for another day. Some things to look out for include:.
When it comes to freezing Mason jars, selecting the wide mouthed variety is always the best way to go. Freezing jars with shoulders can be done successfully, but you will need to take a lot more care not to overfill them more of which later.
Why is this? Well, liquids expand when frozen, and the only way they can go in a glass jar is up. So, if your Mason jar has a shoulder and its contents have already reached sufficient enough solidity whilst freezing, a crack or complete breakage is the only likely outcome. Thicker glass jars and containers are generally deemed to be better, but even those can be broken easily if mistreated or the simple rules of freezing neglected. Age can also affect glass when freezing.
Older jars and containers will be far more likely to break than newer ones will, so replacing your glass receptacles regularly is good practice if you want to keep breakages at a minimum. This is relatively straightforward, but worth including.
As mentioned above, foodstuffs purchased in glass jars at the store are made from tempered glass, so they would be suitable for freezing. I do, however, have to add some sort of disclaimer to this: If you choose to recycle glass jars in this way, you are doing so at your own risk.
It is far more advisable to purchase Mason jars labeled as freezer-safe rather than taking a chance with an old jar. For the actual freezing of foods, all you really need is a tight enough seal to keep air out of the container.
Freezer burn can ruin food fast, so an airtight seal is essential. While metal lids are great for freezing, plastic lids, such as these by iLIDS , work perfectly well, too, and the different colors available are handy for quickly picking similar looking foods from your freezer without the need for labeling. If you do decide to use plastic lids for your Mason jars, though, please make they are BPA free before purchasing.
Pretty much everything you would put into other containers can be frozen in glass. Some of the things you might find in my freezer include:. Another fantastic thing to freeze is baby food. Check the packaging before you buy your Mason jars to ensure they can be safely placed into the freezer. These are typically those that are more liquid, like soups, for example. This gap will allow your food to expand upward without breaking the glass. How much space should you leave? Freezing pasta sauce in exactly the same container will, however, need at least 1.
Mason jars are the handiest little kitchen items to have around. For 13 more unexpected uses for mason jars check out this blog post here. This post was sponsored by iLids. I received these items to try for free. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.
Yes, you can freeze in mason jars. I do so with a little help from my iLids. First of all, if the jars do decide to have an earth shatteringly good time in your freezer, the breaks tend to be clean and kept intact by the frozen liquid.
I have had a glass jar break on me. When it broke, it cleanly split into three pieces. I let the jar defrost in the sink bye-bye homemade veggie stock picked up the big chunks of glass and threw them away. Yes, I threw them away! In my trash jar posts, I talk about my broken glass tally.
Broken glass cannot be recycled. Please do not put broken glass in the recycle bin. The key is to fill to the appropriate line.
By leaving ample room at the top, you allow for this expansion without breaking. If you have a straight jar, you should leave inches at the top.
If your jar has shoulders, you should fill inches below the shoulder. It rises in the middle and has a hump like a camel. When I freeze in my metal mason jar lids or store them in a humid environment like under the sink or in the bathroom, my lids tend to rust. Garden Betty is where I write about modern homesteading, farm-to-table cooking, and outdoor adventuring — all that encompass a life well-lived outdoors. After all, the secret to a good life is Read more ».
Is it ok to add these to the jars as well? Or if i end up using freezer bags, is it ok to add these too? I would not can your sauce with meat.
It would extend the processing time with a pressure cooker. That extra time of processing might not give you the best quality tomato sauce. Freezing it with meat is okay though. If it was me, I would add my meat the day I cook the sauce. You could process your meat separately, which would create more space in your freezer. Alan, I like your idea. In other words, fill one-third full, freeze and then repeat twice still leaving the proper head room. I am planning to freeze some apple pie filling in glass mason jars and all of the info in this articles and these comments are invaluable.
A friend of mine, who freezes a lot in jars, told me another tip. Freeze without the lids and when the product is frozen, put the lids on and replace in the freezer. She says this has worked for her all of her life. But if you find yourself in a pinch freezing mason jars with shoulders, please ensure you do not fill them any higher than at least one inch below the shoulder. This sounds like a no brainer, but not all mason jars are freezer safe, although the vast majority are.
Glass cracks under thermal pressure. What this means is that anything hot needs to cool down to room temperature before it can be stored safely in a mason jar. After the contents reach room temperature, pour into the mason jar, secure the lid and let it cool down in the fridge for a few hours. Most freezer-safe mason jars have a freeze line near the top.
However, with liquid I normally still give an extra. Even in the freezer, metal mason jar lids and rings will start to rust. Luckily, you can avoid this by swapping the metal for reusable plastic lids. Luckily if a mason jar breaks in the freezer, it typically cracks in a few places, but retains its overall shape. Nevertheless, to avoid any shards, remove it as carefully as possible wearing gloves.
Next place it in a bucket to let the contents thaw completely. The glass must be thrown out.
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