Can You Freeze Glass Mason Jars
If you want to freeze food in glass containers you need to pick containers that are safe for freezing.
Can you freeze glass mason jars. Shoulders make a jar more likely to break in the freezer. Mason jars have thicker glass and are sturdier than recycled jars. Choose freezer safe jars. We ve already seen how the type of jar and its age can affect how it will stand up to freezing but what else should we be doing to prevent mason jars cracking in the freezer.
Canning jars like those made by ball or kerr are a popular choice. I know you ve heard horror stories of broken glass and inevitable death but i promise it s not that scary. They may not actually say tempered on them but if they are canning jars you can assume they are tempered. I never have because i almost always have extra mason jars to use for storing my soup in the freezer.
Use wide mouth mason jars. Yes you can freeze in mason jars. While you can freeze glass opt for mason jars out of an abundance of caution. As a general rule this means only freeze food in jars with completely straight sides like wide mouth pints or regular mouth half pints.
And the answer is. You can freeze liquids in mason jars and store them for several months in the freezer. Freeze food in glass jars for the most reliable freezing look for jars made from tempered glass such as those used for canning fruits and vegetables. 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.
To prevent breakage your best bet for freezing jars is to use straight sided mason jars. Freezing food in mason jars and other glass receptacles isn t rocket science but you do need to adhere to a few tips if you want to minimize breakages. So here s a quick tip for making sure that doesn t happen use only straight sided mason jars and fill them to the freeze fill line. That means that the glass is tempered as non tempered glass has microscopic air bubbles that will expand and contract when the glass is exposed to extreme temperatures as it is when canning freezing or baking.
That means that the broth should be 2 3 inches below the shoulders before you stick it in the freezer. This is assuming your food has water in it. But if you are worried that your jars might crack consider buying freezer jars. Anytime you freeze in a glass jar that has shoulders you have to make sure that the broth stays below the shoulders while it freezes and expands.
Only freeze food in glass jars approved for freezing. But you must must must be certain to leave plenty of headspace empty space at the top of the jar so that the food can expand as it freezes. I do so with a little help from my ilids. Reuse glass jars from the supermarket for storing bulk dry food not freezing.
Do not freeze food in jars with shoulders such as wide mouth quarts or wide mouth half gallons. If you re trying to avoid excessive use of plastic in the home glass mason jars are a great reusable option that you likely already have around. This allows the food inside to shift upwards as it freezes. They are plastic so if that s a concern your better bet is the glass mason jars.