People are not letting their jars go for anything
Nice article in the Daily Herald on Sunday about the rise in home canning, largely due to economic reasons. They attribute it mostly to economic reasons, and list out how people are having trouble finding canning jars and equipment in stores now. Freecycle and garage sales are largely wiped out now.
In an interview on Friday, Stephanie Shih, national spokeswoman for Ball Jars, said the Utah Valley spike is not isolated. Nationally, demand for Ball food preserving products has spiked 30 percent this year, and customers as far as New York have had trouble finding jars as demand grows. Sales of large Ball jars have jumped nearly 40 percent, and sales of Ball plastic freezer containers have doubled.
A recent survey of 1,800 people by the company found “that more than 70 percent of respondents intend to preserve more foods this year in an effort to save money on weekly groceries,” she said.
Hope you’ve been canning too. I know I just had to pick up two more cases of quart jars, Wal-Mart had just received a load and was getting lower on quarts, still had pint sized though, at the time.