When you start doing a lot of canning, one of the biggest challenges becomes how to store both your processed jars and the empties waiting for your next project. I’ve spent a goodly amount of time over the years, pondering how to best shoehorn my canning habit into the storage space available in my 1,000 square foot apartment.
I keep jars under my couch, deep in my coat closet, and under my bed (and, if we’re being entirely honest, there is also currently a tower of boxes in the corner of my bedroom. Needs must). One tool that I use to help keep these storage spots useable and organized are the trays made by JarBOX. These clear, plastic boxes come sized for both pints and quarts and are a genius solution for stashing jars safely and securely.
They’re designed to work in pairs, so that you can lock your jars into individual pods. Then, those locked trays can be stacked and locked together, to create a tower of jars that behaves as a single unit, further reducing the chance of breakage. I call on a pair of JarBOX trays any time I need to transport sealed jars to family gatherings and food swaps, because I know they’ll get my jars to their destination intact.
I use a goodly number of my JarBOX sets to store the empties I keep under our bed. I arrange them upside down (to keep the worst of the dust out) and then slide the trays in and out as canning season ramps up. It’s a far better solution than fragile cardboard boxes I’d used previously.
This month, the good folks from JarBOX are sponsoring weekly giveaways on a series of blogs. I’m kicking things off by giving away two sets of JarBOX trays (a pint and a quart). What’s more, everyone who enters the individual giveaways will also be entered to win a Grand Prize of four more JarBOX sets. To keep up to date with all the JarBOX giveaways, make sure to follow them on Facebook!
This giveaway is closed. The winner is #151 – Lei Kaniumoe. Congratulations Lei!
Disclosure: JarBOX sent me a pair of JarBOX trays for photography and review purposes. They’re also provided a second set for the giveaway. No additional compensation was provided. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
I am ashamed of the way I have my jars stored……what a great idea.
WOW! What I great idea! I’ve never seen anything like this. Because I can BBQ sauce in quarts all the time (among other things) and save the jars for the next batch down the road, this would be the perfect way to do it! I could easily stack empties, safely and transport my full jars for big events even more safe from fear of clanking or tipping over.
I have 54 half pints of cranberry port jam that will be favors at my brother’s wedding in July. These Jar Boxes are perfect for transporting them from WV to Bath, PA, and for storing my collection of empties that will soon probably get pushed off my counter onto the hard tile floor.
I would use jarboxes for bringing canned goods to family over the holidays!
Oh my gosh, how WOULDN’T I use these? It’s always a struggle to keep my jars (both filled and empty) nicely organized it a way that is secure and space-efficient. I would use JarBOX trays for all of my jars!
We moved from a house to a small apartment, and suddenly there is no place to safely store all our jars. This looks like a great way to keep them tucked away without worrying about the cardboard collapsing & the jars breaking. Would love to be able to give these a try.
These look great. No more cardboard boxes, which are close to falling apart.
I could really use these. I live in a small condo and have jars hidden all over the house. This would help make them easier to store.
Well, I’d use them to replace some of the cardboard boxes I’m currently storing my jars in. Some of those boxes are getting pretty old, and have seen far better days.
I’d store extra jars in these!
I would store my jams inside, it would be great for traveling with also.
Hmmm, we live in an 850sq. ft. condo, and I have jars in my closet! A tower, in fact, precariously toddling on top of each other. Yes, we could use this storage solution!
I keep some in my emergency preparedness area to keep them safe.
Never saw these before. What a great idea! I would use them to store my empty jars and for traveling especially when I deliver my jams to family and friends.
These would be perfect to keep empty jars organized!
This is so much better than the current jumble of mixed empty jars in boxes on shelves in the basement, where I can never easily find what I want.
Much like you, I would use the storage JarBox for transporting. I like to take canned goods to and from our camp site from our home in WV. There is nothing like having my own canned goodness to chose from over store bought canned goods.
My canning habit has slowed a bit since my husband and I stopped traveling as much (I pressure-canned lots of meals), but these would be great for storing the few necessities I try to make yearly (tomato jam, strawberry jam, dill relish).
These are such a great idea! I have been grappling with how to store my empties and filled jars in a small apartment space, and would love to have these to stack them up safely.
Love this storage option. I would love to get all my jars in these to keep them safe. I would also like to plan out what I’m canning so I can more easily locate items to use.
The plastic also will not harbor bugs like cardboard. I store my jars in the basement. They always seem to get covered with sawdust because of my guy’s woodworking!
I use them to store my canned wares from the garden! They are fabulous!
I have seen these before, but was glad to hear from someone who actually uses them. It looks like a great idea.
I love these. I would use mine for I can at my northern home and carry them south for the winter. My jars do a lot of traveling , think these would be better than liqueur boxes.
I have a super tiny, less than 400 sq ft apartment so I would use these to store my empties. I can all year round and there is a constant flow of jars coming in and out!
Nice secure option! I’ve also found that empty wine boxes (with the dividers) will store 2 doz regular mouth pints; good for storing empty jars.
What a great product! I can finally organize all of my jars in something nicer and more sturdy than a cardboard box.
I have so many jars and so few boxes to store them in – these would be perfect!
Thanks so much
Storage! I don’t usually have to transport to many jars, but storage, oh yes, usefull!
I cannot believe it; what a wonderful opportunity to try these out. I’ve been admiring JarBox storage for a long time. I have a hut in the backyard just full of boxes of jars. The weather has taken a toll on the cardboard…need I say more? Thank you for the chance to win a pair.
I currently have one JarBOX but could use another, more incentive to can more things
Would use to store homemade canned goods that I will be giving as Christmas gifts or I just might store some of my very old and fancy Christmas ornaments in them.
Thank U 4 this giveaway opportunity
I have a leaning tower of jars in the laundry room and hall closet. These JarBOXes would be much safer than the boxes the jars came in, which is how they’re currently stacked.
OMG I need to “like” this in a big way! I am about to be given 100’s of jars by a lovely woman who can no longer process her fruit! I don’t want my new jars to break!!
My cardboard boxes are falling apart so I would use these to hold my empty jars.
A wonderful solution to a pile of glass jars! I have been looking for an organizing solution to canning jars for some time now and this appears absolutely perfect! Fingers crossed!
My mother always stored her jars in the original boxes they came in, but my basement is waaaaay to damp to sustain anything cardboard. Now that I’ve added her collection of jars to mine I rely on Jarboxes. They are the ONLY such product on the market and they are really sturdy and well designed. I could always use more as my selection of jars seems to grow when I’m not looking.
What a great storage idea. I keep my empties in the garage and the boxes are starting to fall apart.
These would be lovely for family gatherings when I am bringing canned goods for everyone.
Certainly better than a cardboard box and various baskets in the basement!
This is such a great idea! My jars are all stored in a big tub, but I don’t feel they are very safe. I love that they are safe and sound in these trays.
These would be awesome for traveling to family gatherings.
Brilliant! I have so many jars that are still in their cardboard boxes and some in Rubbermaid containers, but they clink and don’t feel very secure. I’d use these to store my extra jars waiting to be used. I also occasionally get canned applesauce from family, so it would be great to have these to transport canned goods on trips. Also, we’ll be moving house in a few months and these would be perfect for transporting jars to the new place.
Wow, what a great idea! This is so much easier than storing them in cardboard boxes that collapse after awhile. I’m going to start by using them to store my pickled scrapes.
Transporting prepared foods to my Daughter’s house when we are having Dinner together. Storing my extra bottles in MY 1000 sq. ft. Apartment. Would love to have these at my house!
I always gift our kids with homemade jams, sauces, etc. for Christmas and those boxes would be an ideal way to put them up for the gifts.
I always struggle to transport holiday gifts to work- these would be perfect to carry jam jars into the office
These would be perfect for storing my dehydrated foods stored in jars.
I am so excited about the jar box giveaway! I have no problem storing my preserved goods, but storing the empty jars is always a chore! I am moving to a new house and it is much smaller than my precocious home, so some good organization is a must! Thank you!!!
I don’t even do that much canning yet and my place is filling up with flimsy cardboard boxes and spare jars as I, too, live in a small apartment. These look like an ingenious storage solution so I would feel comfortable stashing them outside the kitchen in the closets and maybe like you under the bed.
I have my empty jars in cardboard boxes, this would be so much better.
Would love to store my vintage Ball jars in these. The original cardboard boxes are falling apart.
Every fall, my parents drive east for a visit and to “import” mom’s jam (spiced peach, strawberry, raspberry, plum and grape) and canned tomatoes. The back of the volvo is filled with canned goods, carefully packed so they won’t break. Dad has built a special wood “lift” so that canned goods rest safely on the floor of the wagon, and their luggage rests on top of the lift. I keep stashing empty jars all year, and in the fall, the great glass jar swap happens. Anything that could help tidy storage AND secure transport sounds like a very good idea! We are now growing our own apricots, sour cherries, white peaches, beach plums, blackberries, gooseberries, red & black currants, and thimbleberries. I would love to send mom home with select jars of my own small-batch jams this year – if the birds don’t get to the fruit first!
Sounds great for storing jars in odd places, like you do.
Besides just organization at home, these would make it easier to transport jars to food swaps!
So many jars! I need a place to store all those empties!
I have a small place, and it’s hard to keep all the jars and the ones that are filled where I can get to them. I would use these to keep my jars slid under the bed!
These would be a much better way to store empties!
I would use JarBox to keep my empty jars tidy and away from the crazy cats who always knock them over!
Oh my! I caught the canning bug a few years ago actually when I bought one of your books! To my surprise it was signed by you as well. The store I bought it from said you had just been there a few weeks ago. Fast forward to now and I have a whole rack of canned goods…mostly your recipes from your book..and we are moving. Do you know how hard it is to move over 20 flats of quarts? I’d use it for moving.
I would use these to store my unused, clean jars in the basement. No more dirt, no more dead spiders! Hurray!!!!!!
I am a novice canner and would love to have a collection of jorboxes to organize my storage.
I would store my applesauce! I make enough each fall to last the year, everything else is small batch.
Hi Marissa, I would definitely organize my jars as they are all over the place. Thanks!
ohhh these would be so helpful in moving my maple syrup bounty to the east coast in the fall!
These would be so helpful for storing my jars and transporting my finished goods!
These look so much safer than my old cardboard boxes I use to store my jars now.
These would help me feel better that the jars I keep in my unfinished basement are staying clean!
These would be great for organizing the jars I have hidden away all over the house. I hope no one ever looks under our guest bed, there are cases upon cases squirreled away under there.
I’d finally organize the jars in my basement!
Very nice looking storage containers. With a moving coming up, these would be a great tools for keeping my jars intact.
I would probably use these primarily for transportation. They look so sturdy!
They are super convenient. I have several of both sizes both to store and to transport jars.
I make pasta sauce and salsa for my daughter and JarBOX trays would be the perfect way to delivery it to her. I am sure she will return it for a refill of full jars!!
Right now I’m storing empty and full jars in the original cardboard box. After a while the boxes get kind of ratty, especially in the basement. These would be a huge improvement. Thank you!
We have a pantry to keep my if the canned goods in. Then they good into deep storage when empty. I’ll store my jam with these
I’ve started the canning season and shelves are already tight. These would really help
I was just eyeballing these at Walmart. They would look great in my pantry.
These are great! I’ve been trying to think of a better way/place to store my empty jars, and I don’t even have very many jars (3-4 dozen I’d guess, mostly half pints) They’re all in different places; most are on a shelf in a spare bedroom but I also have some in the back of a kitchen cabinet, and some behind the books in a bookshelf.
What a timely giveaway – I was just looking at my canning shelf and wondering how I was going to move everything cross country. A set of these would be super helpful in the move!
Oh, my. How to use them? I’ve been putting the filled jars back in the cardboard trays the empties are sold in and it is not working for me. Especially when they are mixed sizes. Right now I have some stacked in the kitchen, a mixture of empties and filled. So I guess I’d start with that stack and then move on to the stack in the dining room.
I have been a good girl, though. I have been giving away jam to family and friends.
These will be so great for storage of staples in our travel trailer. I use quart jars to store flour sugar etc, Everything has to be sealed to keep mice out at the camp grounds. If these work they will be popular with RV’ers for sure since storage space is often under the dinette bench seats.
I have shelves for jams and jellies, and other shelves for quart jars. I lose a lot of storage space because the jelly jars are so small, and would love to use JarBOX trays to make that storage more efficient!
I would get my jars out of the garage and stored in the kitchen.
I would love them for vacation or car trips since I often take lots of jars…..so usefulness!
I need a safe way to store my canning jars for pickle making!! Right now I’ve got them in every open shelf I have…
Oh man, I’m the same as you! I have cardboard boxes of jars stashed everywhere in my house!! These look like they’d contain them much more securely! Would love to try them out.
As someone who has shelves of jars, cabinets of jars, hutches of jars, bankers boxes of jars — well, you get it — this would be a great way to start figuring out how to keep them all in line.
Oh man, these would be the perfect replacement for the hodgepodge of cardboard boxes where I store my empty jars. (Most of them currently live in an old Modcloth box that’s been with me through at least two moves.)
OMG these would be so wonderful to storage of empty jars but I would use them to transport canned food when I visit family around the country. We are big home canners and I love to share. Thank you.
My empty jars are in such disarray – these would be a game-changer!
We live on a boat, something to protect the jars would give me a lot more options aboard.
I would store my empty jars that are stacked. It would make for an easier car trip back to mother’s for the next year’s canning adventure (we always can together). thanks!
Just the other day, I was trying to stack some partially-full cases of jars so they wouldn’t fall over. This would solve that problem.
I would use jarbox trays to organize all those empty jars I have stashed everywhere!
I’d use JarBox trays pretty much how you describe it: for storing empties, for organizing goods in the pantry downstairs, and for transporting jars over to my friend’s kitchen (where we’re trying to can something once a month all year).
I definitely need to move out of the assorted boxes I currently use to store jars. Sounds like a great product!
This would be a great way to store jars of pickles, jams, etc. instead of just stashing them where they fit all over my kitchen.
This looks like a great way to store all the unruly jars that have taken over my pantry.
I would use them to get my jars organized . Thanks for doing this.