Are you able to freeze mason jars? Sure, you may! Listed here are 11 tips about freezing mason jars with out breaking so it can save you soups, jams, sauces, shares, and even leftovers!
I’m a grasp at freezing! Anytime I make one thing in bulk – Home made Strawberry Jam, Hearty Spaghetti Sauce, Gradual Cooker Hen Inventory, or Gradual Cooker Beans – I favor to freeze it.
I freeze my meals in just a few other ways relying on what they’re and the way I’m going to make use of them.
- Typically I’ll flash-freeze particular person objects on a baking sheet and switch them to a reusable bag, like once I freeze yogurt in scoops for smoothies.
- Typically I’ll use hermetic containers, like for Home made Fish Sticks.
- And generally, I prefer to freeze in glass mason jars.
The ONLY catch although to freezing glass jars, is figuring out how to take action with out breaking them.
CAN YOU FREEZE MASON JARS?
You’d suppose that we should always be capable to stick a glass jar into the freezer and by no means have an issue. However for many individuals, it’s ALWAYS an issue. They’ll have:
- Damaged jars within the freezer.
- Cracking jars as they thaw (and the within oozes out all over the place).
- Exploding contents when the jar is opened.
For those who’ve ever cleaned spaghetti sauce off of your ceiling, precisely what I’m speaking about.
As you may think about, plenty of freezing means plenty of classes realized. A type of classes is stop glass jars from breaking within the freezer.
HOW TO FREEZE MASON JARS WITHOUT BREAKING
TIP 1: CHOOSE THE RIGHT SHAPE
At room temperature, all glass jars are created equal. Not a lot if you find yourself freezing in glass jars.
Glass jars are normally certainly one of two foremost shapes – straight sides or shoulders. Freeze in jars with straight sides.
- Glass jars with straight sides are simply that – straight from the highest all the way in which to the underside. The opening on the prime isn’t any smaller, or larger, than the glass jar itself.
- An ideal instance is these wide-mouth mason jars. Discover how the glass jar doesn’t bow inward or outward? These are nice for freezing (in both the pint or quart measurement).
- Glass jars the place the opening is smaller or bigger have shoulders. The shoulder of the jar is the purpose the place the jar bends inward or outward, between the opening and the widest a part of the jar itself.
TIP 2. CHOOSE THE RIGHT TYPE OF GLASS.
Glass jars are normally made with certainly one of two kinds of glass – tempered glass or non-tempered glass. Freeze mason jars made with tempered glass every time doable.
Non-tempered glass incorporates microscopic air bubbles that increase and contract because the glass is heated and cooled, particularly at excessive temperatures like throughout canning and freezing. When these little air bubbles increase, they trigger the glass to crack and even explode.
Tempered glass doesn’t have these little air bubbles as a result of it has been strengthened through the manufacturing course of. The result’s a glass jar that’s 4-5 occasions stronger than non-tempered, or common glass.
- Do you have got any glass storage containers which might be protected to go from freezer to microwave to dishwasher over and over? Form of like these? These are made with tempered glass.
- Most mason jars manufactured now are tempered glass.
- Nevertheless, most meals purchased in glass jars, like
- Jellies
- Spaghetti sauces
- Pickles…aren’t tempered glass.
It’s solely doable to freeze in non-tempered glass, and utilizing the remainder of the information on this put up that can assist you do that efficiently. Nevertheless, your probabilities of stopping glass from breaking within the freezer go up whenever you select tempered glass.
That’s one motive why 99% of my frozen objects are in:
Word: I nonetheless preserve and reuse outdated spaghetti sauce jars and pickle jars (and take away the labels utilizing this technique). However I take advantage of these to retailer leftovers within the fridge, or dry items within the pantry – particularly once I purchase in bulk.
TIP 3. LEAVE ROOM AT THE TOP FOR EXPANSION.
The area on the prime of the jar, from the place your fill line is to the lid, is known as headspace.
Meals expands whenever you freeze it, and the one place it has to go is the area you permit on the prime. With a view to freeze mason jars, you should go away loads of room on the prime.
The final rule of thumb is 1″ of headspace, however it’s not a one-size-fits-all answer. The larger your jar, the extra you’re going to fill it. When there’s extra content material to freeze, there’s extra to increase and you should go away extra room to permit that enlargement to occur.
Usually talking, skinny jars want extra headspace and large jars want much less. Relying on the width of the jar, my very own private rule of thumb for leaving headspace in glass jars is:
- 8 – 14 oz jars, go away 1″ – 1 ½″ headspace
- 14 – 24 oz jars, go away 1 ½″ – 2″ headspace
- 24 oz jars or bigger, go away 2″ or extra headspace
- You probably have jars made particularly for freezing, you’ll discover that the majority have a fill line. I’m not going to say the producer is unsuitable, however personally, I’ll observe my very own “rule” and go away extra room, to err on the facet of warning.
Word: For those who select to freeze mason jars with shoulders, deal with the shoulder as the highest and go away satisfactory headspace from there.
TIP 4. STORE THE JAR ON ITS SIDE.
Constructing on #3, one other method to go away loads of area for enlargement is to retailer the jar on its facet. Primarily, laying the jar down.
- Whenever you retailer the jar standing up, it solely has 2″ – 3″ of diameter price of area for enlargement. Nevertheless, whenever you retailer the jar mendacity down, you now have all the size of the jar AND 2″ – 3″ of depth as properly.
- Storing the jar on its facet does take up extra room, however as soon as the jar has been within the freezer for 24-48 hours, you may transfer it upright for longer-term storage.
TIP 5. DON’T TIGHTEN THE LID RIGHT AWAY.
Whenever you tighten the lid to the jar, you’re principally telling the whole lot inside that they’re not going anyplace. Not cool whenever you KNOW the stuff inside goes to increase!
By not tightening the lid to the jar all the way in which, you’re leaving somewhat escape route for any air that should get out. It’s not a lot, however it’s sufficient. And don’t fear, your jars received’t get freezer-burned in the event you overlook to tighten them in a few days.
I take advantage of common mason jar lids once I’m freezing my jars, however once I’m utilizing my jars for salad dressings, smoothies, and leftovers, I LOVE these reCAP mason jar lids! They arrive with flip tops, straw holes, oil spouts, shaker inserts, and extra!!
TIP 6. LOOSEN THE LIDS WHEN THAWING.
For a similar causes as #5, besides now you’re on the opposite facet of the fence. Loosen the lids, or take away them solely, as you thaw jars and also you’ll assist stop the glass jar from breaking.
TIP 7. COOL FILLED JARS SLOWLY.
If there’s one surefire method to break glass jars within the freezer, it’s thermal shock. Thermal shock occurs when the shift in temperatures is extraordinarily nice, and basically an excessive amount of for the jar to take. An ideal instance could be placing piping scorching Spaghetti Sauce right into a glass jar, after which placing that cup jar into the freezer.
The BEST method to keep away from thermal shock, and stop glass jars from breaking within the freezer, is to chill the jar as slowly as you may. Right here is how you are able to do that:
- Fill the jars with cool contents, OR fill the jar with scorching contents and permit it to chill to room temperature.
- As soon as the jar AND contents are at room temperature, place them within the fridge at the least in a single day. 24 hours is greatest.
- Transfer the jar to the freezer door (not the again of the freezer, see #9 beneath) or the highest of a chest freezer with the lid barely unfastened.
- As soon as it’s utterly frozen (24-48 hours), tighten the lid and transfer to the again of the freezer OR the underside of the chest freezer, if desired.
TIP 8. THAW FROZEN JARS SLOWLY.
Once more, the identical idea as #6, however in reverse. As a result of the chances of breaking a glass jar don’t cease within the freezer!
Right here’s thaw frozen jars so that you stop the glass jar from breaking:
- You probably have time, transfer the frozen jar to the door of the freezer or the highest of the chest freezer. For those who don’t have time, transfer the frozen jar to the again of the fridge and loosen the lid.
- Enable the jar to thaw at the least 75% earlier than eradicating the jar to the counter to complete thawing to room temperature. Loosen the lid once more, or take away the lid solely. (There shall be condensation on the skin of the jar, so I recommend putting the jar on a kitchen towel.)
- As soon as the contents are 90% thawed or better, pour into one other container to warmth or heat.
- Do NOT place the jar in scorching water or the microwave to thaw. Even when the contents are largely thawed, there’s nonetheless an opportunity the jar itself isn’t solely at room temperature. It’s higher to scrub one other dish than spoil the glass jar and probably the meals you saved inside it.
TIP 9. AVOID THE COOLING ELEMENTS IN THE FREEZER.
The nearer you place an merchandise to the cooling aspect in a freezer, the colder the merchandise will get, proper? To stop glass jars from breaking within the freezer, keep away from storing glass jars on prime of, subsequent to, or beside, the cooling aspect of the freezer.
- For an upright freezer, or a side-by-side fridge/freezer, this might be the very again.
- For a chest freezer, this might be the very backside.
Your jar will nonetheless freeze and be lots chilly in the event you retailer it within the door of an upright freezer, close to the highest, or in a basket of a chest freezer. And the probabilities of your jar breaking go down!
TIP 10. LEAVE SPACE BETWEEN JARS IN THE FREEZER.
I’ve already talked about that the jars increase and contract once they’re within the freezer, as do the contents contained in the jar. It won’t appear to be an enormous deal, however cramming the jars proper subsequent to one another within the freezer doesn’t go away any wiggle room for the jar to increase.
Plus because the jars freeze and as soon as they’re frozen, the glass itself is extra inclined to breakage. Storing the jars shut to one another could cause them to rattle each time you open the door. Additionally, storing them shut can change the speed at which the jars freeze. Keep in mind, you don’t need the jars to freeze too quick.
- I like to make use of the field the mason jars are available in to retailer my jars within the freezer. It leaves simply sufficient room, and it additionally helps once I’m storing jars vertically in my chest freezer (we’ve got an older mannequin chest freezer just like this one).
- For those who’re reusing jars or didn’t preserve the field, you may place every jar in a sock and the sock would be the buffer.
TIP 11. SOMETIMES, DESPITE YOUR BEST EFFORTS, GLASS JARS JUST BREAK ANYWAY.
For those who don’t wish to danger breaking your glass jars, contemplate freezing them in non-glass containers like plastic storage baggage (I like these reusable ones), or reusing outdated yogurt and bitter cream containers. Once I freeze muffin batter or freeze a number of loaves of bread, I normally use plastic storage baggage.
CAN YOU FREEZE MASON JARS WITHOUT BREAKING?
It’s doable to freeze mason jars with out breaking, however even when they do break, don’t let that deter you from saving cash!
I educate in my eCourse, Grocery Finances Bootcamp, particulars on why you can purchase additional of what’s on sale now and protect, it so it can save you cash later.
HERE ARE SOME OTHER IDEAS FOR PRESERVING:
FREEZING MASON JARS FAQS
Why do mason jars break within the freezer?
Non-tempered glass incorporates microscopic air bubbles that increase and contract because the glass is heated and cooled down, particularly at excessive temperatures, like throughout canning and freezing. When these little air bubbles increase, they trigger the glass to crack and even explode!
Are you able to freeze glass jars of spaghetti sauce?
I like to recommend that you just enable at the least one inch of area between the liquid and the highest of the jar to permit liquids to increase. If you wish to freeze store-bought sauce, you might want to maneuver it to a bigger jar to account for that headspace. Or make your individual and freeze that!
How do you defrost broth in a glass jar?
Place the jar in cool water (both in your kitchen sink or in a pot) and alter the water each half-hour. As soon as the soup has thawed on the outer edges, you may dump the contents of the jar right into a pot and let it thaw rapidly over medium-low warmth on the range.
Why do my lids preserve rusting?
Whenever you freeze mason jars with steel lids in a damp atmosphere like a fridge or freezer, they finally begin to rust. Even changing them after many makes use of will nonetheless be much less of a value than the quantity of disposable packaging you’ll have utilized in the identical timeframe. You can too purchase plastic lids for mason jars as an alternative to keep away from rust. Simply be sure that to loosen them whereas freezing to keep away from cracked jars.
Are all mason jars freezer protected?
Glass jars are freezer-safe in concept, however to keep away from breaking when freezing mason jars, select tempered glass jars with straight sides, go away sufficient headspace within the jars, and funky and thaw regularly.
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