I know what your asking yourself…Reusable canning lids?  Yes, they really do exist. And they have existed since 1976! Hey that’s as old as me!

Growing up my mom always canned.  I remember helping dad in the garden growing the veggies and fruits and then helping mom in the kitchen to can them.  It’s a memory that I wanted my son to have too.  Learning how you grow the food yourself and then how you preserve it.  So over the last few years I really started canning.  Last year I got my mom’s pressure canner and started canning green beans, which I like more then frozen ones, I’m guessing because it’s a food from when I grown up…homemade canned green beans! YUM!

To get started canning can be a large expense, but once you put the money into it, it will last for years. I was lucky enough that my parents still have all the canning jars they used when I was younger and I’ve picked up jelly jars at local thrift shops and yard sales for cheap.  But you still have to buy the lids to do your canning.

I’ve joined a few different Facebook groups on canning, to learn new ways to can foods.  That’s where I heard about the Tattler Reusable Canning Lids.  The reviews I was reading was very mixed.  Some people had good luck with them while others did not.  I love the fact that I can reuse the Tattlers for years to come and once the rubber rings start to go bad, you can replace those and keep using the lids!

Tattler agreed for me to review some regular and wide mouth lids for my summer canning. Tattler lids are used in almost exactly the as a regular canning lid.  Instead of being just a single piece, they are a combination of two pieces, a flat plastic lid and red rubber ring.  Once you have heated your lids and rubber rings, you wipe your jar rims and place your lid (fitted with the rubber ring) on your jar and add your metal ring.  You DO NOT want to tighten the ring too much.  You just want to turn it just to it is in place.  If you tighten it too much the lid won’t have room to vent and seal.  Process like normal and then remove from the hot water.  As soon as you take them out you want to tighten down the rings as much as you can.

There is no reassuring “ping” from the vacuum seal sucks down like on traditional lids.  You have to wait until the jars are cooled, remove the ring and test the seal by picking up the jar by the lid edge to check that it’s sealed. I did miss that great sounding ping.  And since they are reusable lids you can’t write on the top of them.  So I’m still trying to find the best way to mark them.  I’ve seen some people using blue tape on the jar.  So I think I might try that.

I tried the Tattler lids on a few different things, using a few each time, just in case I had problems with them not sealing.  I had very little problems with them.  It did take some getting use to how to put the ring on just right.  I did have maybe two out of the 24 I tried that did not seal but I’m sure they were just user error.  I did get a chance to reuse a few of them and they sealed just as well.

The price is fairly reasonable. A box of 3 dozen lids and rubber rings costs $28 for regular size and $30for wide mouth.  That’s about triple the cost of regular canning lids, at about $9-$10 a dozen.  But since they will last for years, you’ll save money in the long run.  Replacement rubber rings run less then $3 a dozen, which is about what you pay for a dozen regular lids.

WIN IT! 1 Lucky reader will receive 1 dozen regular lids and 1 dozen wide mouth lids!!

Just use the Rafflecopter Form Below to enter! If the Rafflecopter form does not show up please email me at rockinmomma@rockindeals4you.com!

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Contest open to U.S. residents only 18 years old and older. Contest ends 9/12/12 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Winner will be chosen using Rafflecopter.com. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email. If winner does not claim their prize in the 48 hour period, a new winner will be chosen at random.

Disclosure: I received free products in return for an honest review. Thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own. For more information please see my full disclosure policy.