Mason jars are threaded glass canning jars closed with a two-piece metal lid, and for most shoppers the right buy is a 12-pack of Ball or Kerr from Walmart, Ace Hardware, or a farm store such as Tractor Supply, plus a separate box of new flat lids. That one purchase covers canning, meal prep, and pantry storage. Two exceptions change the answer: decorative glass from craft aisles, which looks the part but was never made for a canner, and the half-gallon size, which tested canning guidance limits to very acid juices.
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A mason jar is a molded glass vessel with a threaded neck finish and a closure made of a flat lid plus a screw band, which forms a hermetic seal once the contents are heat processed. John Landis Mason patented the design in 1858, and the shape has barely moved since. The glass is annealed, not tempered, so a sudden temperature swing can crack it.
Preserving is why the category exists: fruit preserves, jam, tomato sauce, and pickling. Everyone else uses mason jars for dry food storage, meal prep and dessert portions, spices, candle making, vases, centerpieces, wedding favors, and drinks in the handled mug versions that sit near the copper mugs.
Match the Jar Size to the Job and the Canning Method
Size is the decision that controls safety, not just convenience. The National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP), the University of Georgia program that publishes USDA-based tested canning procedures, lists Mason-type jars in five capacities, from half-pint to half-gallon. A tested recipe gives process times for specific capacities, so use one the recipe names and nothing larger.
| Capacity | Common label | Canning use | Everyday use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 oz | Half-pint, jelly jars | Jams and jellies, in recipes that list it | Gifts, spices, snack portions, candle making |
| 12 oz | Decorator jelly jar | Jams and jellies where the recipe allows | Favor jars, yogurt, chia pudding |
| 16 oz | Pint | Water bath and pressure canning, covered by most recipes | Meal prep, overnight oats, drinking glass |
| 24 oz | 1½ pint | Tall packs, only where a recipe lists it | Salads, pasta, utensil holder |
| 32 oz | Quart | Vegetables, tomatoes, pickles, per the recipe | Pantry dry goods, flour, beans |
| 64 oz | Half-gallon | Very acid juices only | Cold brew, bulk dry goods, ferment batches |
The half-gallon row surprises people. NCHFP approves it for very acid juices and nothing else, so green beans or salsa in that capacity have no safe process time. Keep the 64 oz glass for storage and fermenting, where heat processing is not involved. Preserving food rather than storing it? Follow a tested process from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning for times, pressures, and headspace.
Regular Mouth or Wide Mouth: Pick One System
Regular mouth openings measure about 2-3/8 inches across and wide mouth openings about 3 inches, according to NCHFP. The lids are sold by the same split, commonly listed as 70 mm and 86 mm. Regular mouth pours cleanly, which suits sauce, syrup, and jelly. Wide mouth lets you scoop, pack whole pickles, and clean by hand.
Flats, bands, airtight lids, fermenting airlocks, and vacuum pumps do not cross between the two, so one wrong purchase strands the accessories you own. One mix-up we see constantly is a shopper buying a box of wide mouth bands for a shelf full of regular mouth glass. Pick a system before you buy mason jars in bulk.
Who Makes Them Now: Ball, Kerr, and the Rest
Ball, Kerr, and Bernardin (the Canadian line) all belong to Newell Brands, the consumer products company that took them over when it acquired Jarden in 2016. Because they share an owner and the same finish, Ball and Kerr glass take the same flats, so the brand rivalry is mostly cosmetic. Newell announced in 2025 that it was discontinuing Golden Harvest, its lower-priced canning brand, so any Golden Harvest stock you find now is leftover inventory.
Outside Newell, Anchor Hocking canning jars are sold under the “Anchor Hocking by Tecnocap” name at Ace Hardware and Tractor Supply. Weck, the German alternative, swaps the metal flat for a glass lid, a rubber gasket, and steel clips.
Lids were hard to find in 2020 and 2021, which is why experienced canners keep spares. NCHFP says unused lid gaskets work well for at least five years from manufacture and suggests buying only about a year’s worth at a time. Our standing advice is to buy the lids before the glass, since glass lasts for decades and flats are what shoppers run short of in late summer.
Where to Buy Mason Jars In Store
In person, you can check rims for chips and skip shipping. Timing matters more than store choice: preserving season peaks from late summer into early autumn, and that is when canning supplies thin out. Buy lids and citric acid in June, not September.
Walmart
Walmart, the largest brick-and-mortar retailer in the United States, is the reliable default for Ball and Kerr, with the assortment widening through preserving season. Browse the selection on Walmart’s site.
Ace Hardware, Tractor Supply, and Farm Stores
Ace Hardware, Tractor Supply, and True Value are the overlooked channel, especially in rural areas where preserving is routine. They are also a good bet for Anchor Hocking glass and full cases of quarts. Stock is seasonal and varies by location, so phone first.
Target
Target leans ornamental. Alongside standard Ball stock you will find colored glass, quilted patterns, and seasonal décor better suited to a centerpiece than a canner. Check current stock on Target’s website.
Grocery Chains and Publix
Publix is worth a stop in the Southeast, where home preserving is common enough that grocery chains stock Ball seasonally. Search the Publix site, and call ahead for larger capacities.
Craft and Dollar Stores
Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Dollar Tree sell glass for craft work: vases, candle blanks, favor kits. Treat all of it as decor unless the box says home canning.
Buying Mason Jars Online
Odd capacities, wholesale cases, and brands no local shelf carries live online. Glass is heavy, so compare delivered cost per piece, not the multi-pack sticker.
Amazon
Amazon carries the widest range: Ball, Kerr, imported labels, plus kits with plastic storage caps and fermenting hardware. Check each listing for a canning claim, since many imported mason jars are storage glass only. Shop on Amazon.
Specialty Suppliers: Fillmore Container and MasonJars.com
Fillmore Container, a wholesale glass packaging supplier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, sells by the case alongside replacement metal lids and uncommon capacities. Browse Fillmore’s catalog for case options. MasonJars.com stocks canning supplies and accessories; their catalog is worth a look when a capacity is sold out elsewhere.
Ball’s Brand Site
Ball keeps its full catalog on its own site. Use it to confirm the exact product name and case count before you search a retailer.
eBay and Etsy
eBay is the vintage market: blue Ball pieces, amber Atlas glass, embossed lettering, and bulk used lots. Search eBay for character, but treat old glass as display unless you can confirm it was made for canning. Etsy covers custom work: painted finishes, engraving, wedding favor kits. Browse Etsy for personalized pieces.
Decorative and Look-Alike Jars That Do Not Belong in a Canner
The expensive mistake is treating any glass container with a screw-on metal top as canning equipment.
- Decorative and imported “mason-style” glass. Reproductions, quilted craft pieces, and handled drinking mugs are built to look right, not to cycle through heat. If the packaging does not say canning, keep it for dry storage.
- Reused flat lids. NCHFP says Mason jars may be reused many times, requiring only new lids each time. The sealing compound is made for one closure, so a reused flat can look perfect and still fail. Bands, cleaned and dried, may be used many times.
- Store-bought food jars. NCHFP allows pint and quart mayonnaise or salad dressing jars with new two-piece lids for acid foods only, warns of more seal failures and breakage, and does not recommend them in a pressure canner. Most pasta sauce containers will not take a standard lid at all.
- The wrong heat. These are not oven safe, and tapered shapes are not freezer containers unless straight-sided and labeled freezer safe, because expanding contents push against a shoulder that cannot give.
- Chipped rims. Run a finger around the rim of anything used before buying, because a chip you can barely feel will stop a vacuum forming. Strain jelly through cheesecloth, pack it into flawed glass, and you find out too late.
Used glass is still a good deal. Estate sales, thrift shops, and marketplace lots turn up canning jars well under retail; inspect the rims, then buy new flats separately. Empties nest back into their case between seasons, which is the tidiest way to store them if you keep spare moving boxes around.
Our Picks by Use
Picked on availability, accessory fit, and recipe coverage. Prices move weekly, so check the current case price at the link.
Best overall: Ball Wide Mouth Quart, 12-count case. The default for vegetables, tomatoes, and general preserving, and easy to pack by hand. Check price on Amazon
Best for jam: Ball Regular Mouth 16 oz, 12-count. Pours cleanly for jelly and syrup, and the portion works for gifts. Check price on Amazon
Alternative brand: Anchor Hocking 16 oz, 12-count. Sold as canning glass under the Anchor Hocking by Tecnocap name, often at farm and hardware stores. Confirm the box says canning before you process food in it. Check price on Amazon
Best for meal prep: Ball Wide Mouth 16 oz. Easy to layer and eat straight from, good for chia seeds soaked into pudding, and dishwasher safe on the top rack. Plastic caps sold separately suit a fridge, but read “leak-proof” as a fridge claim, not a backpack one. Check price on Amazon
Best large format: Ball Wide Mouth Half Gallon, 64 oz. Sized for cold brew, dry bulk goods, and ferments such as water kefir. Not a general canning capacity, since tested guidance limits it to very acid juices. Check price on Amazon
Start by deciding the mouth width, since it locks in every lid and accessory you buy afterwards. Then match capacity to a tested recipe, buy a case instead of singles, and buy new flats every season however the glass was sourced. If you only need storage or decor, any clean glass works; if you are canning, buy mason jars marked for home canning and order them ahead of the late-summer peak. Our guides to apple cider vinegar, beeswax, and honey baked ham cover related buys.
Questions Shoppers Ask
What is the difference between a Ball jar and a Mason-type jar?
A Ball jar is one brand of Mason-type jar, the best-known one. What makes a jar Mason-type is the threaded neck finish and the two-piece closure, not the name on the glass. Ball and Kerr are both Newell Brands lines, which is why they share threading, and any maker using the same regular or wide finish takes the same flats.
Are mason jars airtight?
In two ways only. A properly processed flat pulls a vacuum as it cools and holds it, and a one-piece plastic storage cap gaskets the rim for dry goods. A band screwed onto an unprocessed flat is not airtight, and NCHFP advises removing bands from stored jars after a batch cools.
Does the glass contain lead?
Clear glass sold for home canning is not where lead concerns usually come from. The worry applies to antique and imported decorative pieces, where painted exterior decoration can contain lead, and to old zinc lids with glass liners. Treat unmarked painted glass as display only.
Is old canning glass worth money?
Value tracks color and rarity, not age. Aqua and cobalt blue pieces, unusual embossed logos, misspellings, and short-production closures draw collector interest, while the common clear quart your grandmother kept is worth roughly what a new one costs.
Can you freeze or microwave food in them?
Freeze only in straight-sided pieces labeled freezer safe, leaving the headspace the manufacturer specifies and chilling contents first. Tapered shapes have a shoulder that expanding liquid pushes against, which is what cracks them. Treat all of them as not microwave safe, since annealed glass handles rapid temperature change poorly and metal bands must never go in.