What the Waste?!?!?: Mason Jars are for Bad A** B!tches

I first started using mason jars close to ten years ago when my mother and father in law taught me how to can tomatoes. For many years that was the extent of my use of mason jars until I decided to make jam, then pickles, and after that, I started canning green beans. When we started this journey of less waste I started to discover that mason jars are perfect for just about everything.

I still use mason jars for jam when I make it. I also still can tomatoes to use for homemade chili and spaghetti sauce. I sometimes make a marinara sauce that I can just for using to make lasagna during the winter. Most years now we make our own homemade salsa and can enough to hopefully last until the next year.

I like to store food items in mason jars. When I make oat milk I keep it in the fridge and freezer in mason jars. I recently discovered that you can get a pour top and that will make pouring the oat milk a lot easier. I also store raw rice, popcorn, and coffee in mason jars. I buy my coffee from Byerlys because I can pick when I want and they have a plain brown paper bag that you put the beans in and you can grind them at the store. I transfer the ground coffee into a large mason jar because it stays fresh for a really long time that way and I can compost or burn the paper bag when we have a bonfire.

Mason jars are handy for non-food items as well. For years we've had a large vintage mason jar where we store spare change. It's handy and it looks better than other containers that serve the same purpose. I started storing our granulated dishwashing detergent in a small mason jar that I leave on the counter. It's easy to fill the dishwasher with the mason jar instead of getting the big box out and we set the mason jar on top of the dishwasher to indicate that the dishes are clean.

When we got married a few years ago we did a sand ceremony and used a mason jar. I ordered a nice decorative metal lid for it so that it would look nice. For the ceremony, I had six small mason jars with colored sand for each of us that we each poured into the larger jar.

Try using mason jars in the following rooms:

Kitchen-Store your flour, sugar, coffee, tea, rice, popcorn, and noodles. Use the quart size for homemade oat milk or nut milk. Try using the pint or half pint size for packing snacks and lunches for work and school. Use mason jars to hold knives, forks, and spoons for entertaining or eating on the deck. Use a large size to hold utensils like spatulas and other cooking utensils. Turn a tiny size into salt and pepper shakers. Buy a sugar dispensing lid and use it for pouring sugar into your coffee. Buy a pump top and use it for hand soap. Use a pour spout or sugar dispensing lid for your dishwasher granules.

Bathroom-Use a wire lid insert and use a mason jar as a toothbrush holder, for your bamboo toothbrush, of course. Use a large size to store nail polish. Try using varying sizes for your makeup brushes and q-tips.

Office-Use varying sizes to organize your paperclips and other small items. Mason jars make great pencil holders too. You can do the same thing with craft supplies and sewing supplies.

Patio and Miscellaneous-Make some DIY tiki torches. Try making your own candles in different size and colors in mason jars or buy some votive candle holder inserts. Store wooden matches in one with a sandpaper lid to strike them on. Mason jars make great vases and you can use a wire lid insert to help hold the stems. You can even plant succulents and herbs in them. Remember to pick out a unique jar for your change jar. Lastly, my favorite put a jar in your laundry room and add all the weird crap that finds it's way into your laundry. People with kids will enjoy looking at their jar of "kid art" while they fold clothes.