Canning jars are made to hold fruits, vegetables, jellies, and jams, after you – or someone else – has processed the fresh foods and canned them. But some people don’t use canning jars just for storing foods in their pantries. Canning jars – sometimes called Mason or Ball jars – have lots of uses around the house. You can find them in one person’s garage, holding nuts and bolts, in another person’s bathroom, containing cotton swabs or cotton balls, and in someone’s kitchen, a canning jar holds a candle. Yes, there are lots of uses for a canning jar but you can say the same thing about all canning jars: they have the jar part, a flat lid, and a ring. You have to unscrew the lid – and reposition the ring – in order to open and close the jar. That can be a big hassle if you use Mason jars as canisters. You might just want to pour a little sugar into a bowl of oatmeal, but you have to take off the lid, and redo the ring. It’s so much trouble.
Give your Mason jar a make-over and all of that screwing and unscrewing of lids can stop. Replace the regular lid of your Mason jar with a spouted lid and you won’t have to go through the daily grind of opening and shutting canning jars.
You know how a canister of salt has a pouring spout? That makes it easy to fill salt shakers or sprinkle a little salt on something, directly from the canister. That pouring spout is perfect for giving your Mason jar a make-over. When the salt canister is empty, don’t throw it away; reuse the spout to give your Mason jar a more accommodating upgrade.
Cut the top off of the salt so that all you have is a flat disk with the spout in it. Use the lid – the flat part – of the canning jar as a pattern. Lay it on the salt top and draw around it. Cut the disk to that shape and you’re already on your way to better days.
Lay the spouted, cardboard top on the canning jar – replacing the regular lid with it – place the ring on the jar, and tighten it. That’s it. Now you can just open the spout, whenever you want, and dispense salt, sugar, cornmeal, flour, sand for an art project, and many other things. The newfangled Mason jar is much less trouble than the old one and it literally takes just a couple of minutes to make.
Mason Jar Pouring Spout