Can i freeze glass jars

Water expands when it freezes. Food contains varying amounts of water and so different foods expand to different amounts when frozen. Pure water will expand the most. You might have noticed when you make ice cubes that the level of the cubes rises as they freeze. Stock, soup and sauces are all liquid, and so will expand more when frozen than foods like bread or wraps, that have a low water content. As liquids freeze and expand, they need a place to go. The sides of a glass jar are rigid and so the only way to expand is up.

If a jar is narrow, or has sides that taper inwards, the extra pressure placed on the glass sides as the contents freeze will make it crack which relieves the stress. This is why wide-necked glass jars, or those with sides that taper outwards, are better for freezing , especially when freezing liquids. Filling a wide-necked jar to the brim and then screwing a lid on tightly may also cause a jar to crack, because now there is no space at the top for the food to expand.

Leaving a lid ajar until the contents are frozen will prevent this. Foods like chickpeas or frozen sweetcorn have spaces between them, so there is less pressure applied to the sides of the glass the air gaps can be filled meaning narrower jars can be used for these types of food.

I prefer wide-necked jars for freezing, and ideally those that taper outwards. My absolute favourite is the Bonne Maman jam jar. For liquids, a wide neck is very important.

I always choose jars that would have been through some kind of heating process in a factory. Jars that previously contained jam, pickles or sauce will have been heat-treated, and are my preference. Breadcrumbs yes, frozen chickpeas yes, sauces or stock, no. Luckily the food was fine, but the process of freezing and defrosting must have weakened the seal, and the jar broke.

Now I check for this before using. If you prefer, you can stick with glass jars that are designated freezer-safe. These tend to be the brands also suitable for canning — they are designed to withstand extremes of temperature. Your memory will not be as good as you think it is. A date is useful as well as labelling the contents.

The reasons most jars break in the freezer are putting hot contents straight into the freezer, overfilling the jar, using a narrow jar — or all of the above. My biggest mistake was trying to freeze stock in a passata bottle. But it had to be discarded. Lesson learned — these things need room to move! Heating frozen glass such as plunging into a bowl of hot water will make it crack. Or, you can put in the fridge to defrost overnight. 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.

Pun intended. Oh and the Jarboxes are super high priced on Amazon. Will look for another source. Yes, I recommend taking the same precautions for freezing apple butter. The funnel prevents a mess and makes the process so much easier; definitely worth the small investment. Again, a wide-mouth mason jar is your best best when it comes to freezing anything, especially when it comes to soups and stews.

This is my favorite Wide Mouth Funnel for filling mason jars to freeze. Screw on the lids and refrigerate the filled jars and allow to cool completely to avoid cracking. Do not skip this step, as freezing hot or warm liquids may cause the jar to crack. Bonus Tip for Mason Jar Lid Storage: Consider storing mason jar lids in a wire basket when not in use to keep things organized. See the full step-by-step tutorial on how to freeze anything in a mason jar.

Also make sure the liquid is cooled completely prior to freezing, and leave inches of space between the liquid and the lid. See the full step-by-step: how to freeze anything in a mason jar. Yes, freezing portions in a freezer safe mason jar is a great way to save leftover soups, stews, and chilis!

Follow the directions above to avoid jar breakage. Double check that you were using wide mouth jars like the ones linked above that the liquid was completely cool, and that you left enough space between the liquid and the lid. Grains can be frozen using the same steps. First, you can use a microwave on defrost, then dump into a bowl and heat.

Then reheat on the stove top! Stacy, right?! Those lids were always driving me crazy and just designating a spot for them has made such a difference! You can also try defrosting in the microwave on a low, defrost setting can also work. I store our mason lids in a cardboard box. I use little pieces of wax paper under the lid you can keep them square or even cut them into a circle with pinking shears to make them look pretty. I found that it creates a tighter seal, and the lids stay clean no extra washing.

I purchased plastic screw on lids and LOVE them. They come in many colors but I got white and I can see when they are clean. Thanks for the tip Kathryn! Jumping in on the plastic lids, a cousin of mine told me that peanut butter lids and mayonnaise lids also work! The peanut butter lids work for the wide mouth the mayo word for the standard mouth.

I did the same! A couple options, Caroline. I found plastic lids to use on my wide mouth jars! These seem much easier to deal with then the rings. Come to find out they make a ton of attachments for mason jars, like honey sticks, coffee lids, spice lids.. Thanks for the post! I have several plastic lids for my wide mouth jars that I use to store pasta, rice, beans, even rubber bands in my cabinet. The problem with freezing food is that it expands in the freezing process.

In a jar that's not all the way full, or in a flexible plastic container, this doesn't pose much of a problem as there's room for the food to grow. But if you're trying to save on space and have filled your glass jars all the way to the top, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise next time you open your freezer. That's because, when your food freezes and expands, it can push out with enough force to cause the glass jars to break via The Kitchn.