Selfsufficientish.com

I picked up some more glass jars from my parents yesterday. My father asked, wonderingly, what I used them for. I found myself saying, "I put stuff in them." It's odd, but I use them so often.

The ones I use the most of hold about two cups, never measured.
I have tea, baking soda, salt, fancy organic sugar, raisins, and such stored in them.
Some have bolts, screws, nails, etc. Tiny jars get used for ink, salves, lip balm.

Tall, tall jars get potato flakes, white sugar for hummingbird food, porridge oats.

Let's make that 14.

Olive oil lamp

Homemade jams and pickles

Turn them upside down and use them as biscuit cutters

Make a Jamie Oliver style 'flavour shaker' (total rip off!) by using a jar and a clean mouse ball. Or even just the jar and vigorous shake.

John Seymour recommends using jam jars to protect seedlings in the spring.

i use them for home made chutneys,sauces,beads for the children,my herbs i`ve dried,putting spices in,and for cuttings, i put a jar into a larger flower pot,fill round it with compost then put my cuttings into the compost round the jar,then i can see (i hope)if they have rooted without moving the jar,i won`t know till spring but it should work

depending on size....tie some string around the neck and make a long handle....decorate the outside...and place a tea light in the center....and then you have some nice outdoor lanterns

Collecting frog spawn for new pond

MW

My allotment has several rows of jam jars in the spring, protecting seedlings. I think the jar in a flower pot for cuttings is brilliant, shall definitely have a go at that. pbf

Decorate with peel-offs and glass paints (or permanent markers) then fill with sweets or cheap bubble bath as a gift.

Sprouting seeds

Growing small plants such as cacti - make a miniature bottle garden.

Decanting stuff from larger containers. I buy vinegar in huge plastic containers but it's too heavy to handle so decant some into a smaller jar.

Be wary of using glass outside in the cold weather. I had a glass jar outside which has now shattered.

Small vases. Line up several matching jars on a window sill or dinner table and pop a single flower in each. A really groovy flower display from one small bunch of blooms. Looks even prettier if you colour the water to match the flower. You can do the same vertically by hanging one underneath the other in the window or against a bare wall.

We had a discussion a while ago about using wine bottles to edge a path in the garden. I wonder if you could do the same with jars?

Put pot pourri in one then tie a piece of lace over the top.

I saw once a tradition, I think it might have been in France, where they tied a glass jar over a pear on the tree as it was developing. At the pear formed it had to squash into the jar. When it was ripe the jar and pear were picked and then the jar was filled with alcohol and sealed.

Use them as drinks glasses at a party.

Use in the bathroom to hold your toothbrushes

Use as a scoop for pet food. They are slightly more rigid than a milk container.

In the winter keep one on the radiator in the kitchen. As you finish a loaf of bread, pop the crumbs from the bag into it. Cover with a piece of fabric to keep the dust out. Then you always have dried breadcrumbs handy for cooking.

Put some fruit at the bottom, pour in some jelly and top with cream or mousse for a posh desert.

Guess who moved into a house once and found over 200 glass jars and 1,000 bottles in the garden? I managed to find uses for most of them.

Cheers
Zoe

Used for decanting small amounts of paint or glue from larger containers (metal lidded jars are best for this as they seal more effectively and whatever's in them doesn't "go off" so quickly

For larger jars, turn them upside down and put a tea light candle under them to use for keeping the worst of the cold out of the greenhouse (I use terracotta pots for this but I'm sure large glass jars would work too).

Lynne

lsm1066 wrote: For larger jars, turn them upside down and put a tea light candle under them to use for keeping the worst of the cold out of the greenhouse (I use terracotta pots for this but I'm sure large glass jars would work too).

Lynne

I don't think it would work so well.... the glass might break from the concentrated temperature, the candle would burn off all the oxygen inside the jar causing it to extinguish its-self.... best sticking to teracotta I think


I was just reminded

Wasp trap - cut a small cross in the metal lid of a jar and poke the jaggy bits in the way, creating a small hole (no bigger than 1 cm diameter) half fill the jar with water and put in some over-ripe banana or banana peels (you can also use jam and water, but it didn't work as well for us) Put the lid on the jar and leave out in the sun, somewhere that you get lots of wasps - you will be amazed at the quantity of wasps this can catch if you get the hole in the lid just right.

String Dispenser - poke a hole in the top & out comes the string! No more tangles . (my mum's cunning plan!)

LBR wrote: white sugar for hummingbird food,
.

How lovely - the idea of making hummingbird food - when I am watching 10 foot waves break over the promenade and severe weather warnings today!
Any chance of posting a photo LBR ?
I use wee jars for pins, sequins and suchlike, as well as the usual kitcheny uses.
The jars which real chocolate spread comes in are actually drinking tumblers which we use. The French are clever in their designs!

Loads of good ideas here - specially like the mini-cloches

Now can anyone think of a good idea for small marmite jars?