Can you freeze sauce in mason jars

After two days in a hot kitchen and expensive ingredients I ended up with 6 broken Ball wide mouth jars and only one jar of soup sans broken glass the one I kept in the refrigerator. But, no one in my house wants to try my soup because they think it must be toxic since it exploded in the freezer. Sadly my jars are still popping even while following these steps. The weird thing is that they pop days after being frozen.

I did not open the freezer door until I heard the pop and wondering what in the world was that. So far there are 5 jars that went down the drain. I will try switching to another brand and be done with ball. Aw, bummer, Ann! So sorry yours broke! Hi Christiana! Hey Kristen! I keep having jars break — I am doing most of these things, so not sure what to think….. Hi Adrienne!

The glass itself is the same as other mason jars. I think the only ones not labeled as freezer-safe are the quart size. I freeze in all sorts of jars, though. If a jar has shoulders I just make sure to only fill it about halfway. I hope that helps a little! Freezer safe jars are specifically made with tempered glass, which is tougher about 4x as strong.

My broth cooled to room temp. One was brpken when I woke up the next morning, and by the end of the day the second one had broken as well! Where did I go wrong? Also, can I still use the broken stock if I strain it or is the shattered jar going to ruin it? Even on the wide mouth style, I like to give them a couple inches of space. When I do have a jar break, I will very, very carefully strain it through a cloth-lined sieve to be sure no glass particles can get through.

This has worked really well, but you do have to be extremely careful. I am wondering if anyone has an experience in freezing thicker items in glass jars.

I am planning on making Pumpkin Butter and it will be thick. Any suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated. Hi Tanya. Hi Lisa. Can you clarify your question? Is the peeled garlic just whole cloves, and is there any liquid around it? Do you think I could filter the broth through a cheese cloth and coffee filter to make sure that there is no glass in it and salvage the broth? Bummer, Debbie! I think most food safety experts would tell you to discard the broth.

Do you think it is safe to put homemade stevia-sweetened, candied walnuts in widemouth, shouldered quart size mason jars in the door of the freezer? Hi Kathi. I think that should be fine.

Many years ago my mother had jars especially for freezing I think they were Ball brand , but they are no longer made. I foolishly gave them away and now wish I had them! But I have done a lot of freezing in regular jars and have never had one break. Now I see why. Most of my jars are wide-mouth, no shoulders to worry about. Thanks for the great tips! This may be the most exact solution to a problem I have ever found on the internet.

My jars look just like your picture. And I still had an air gap at the top so it made no sense to me. Hi Kristen, Thank you for the tips! I recently — and in the past — had few broken jars in my freezer full of delicious food and others with tomato sauce. I will follow this 5 steps now on to not waste any more money, food and my time. Blessing to you! Hi MaryAnn. Do you mean these lids? If there was a different kind I missed, just let me know.

That link is my Amazon affiliate link, so I can earn a small commission if you order through it at no extra cost to you. I appreciate you asking about it! Hi Marsha and Kristen, I posted a comment on this forum some time ago. I have had amazing success for years now freezing food in canning jars. All three freezers are stuffed to capacity with hundreds of canning jars. There seems to be no correlation to canning jar breakage due to the difference between the freezers.

Each one is from a different company. I open and close them frequently and have had the deep freezes open for ten minutes at a time when trying to find something I need. I only use canning jars that have been on the market for the past ten years. While I do have old antique canning jars, I do not use them to freeze food.

I buy about 12 boxes of new canning jars every year. This is not due to breakage, but due to my vacuum sealing dehydrated foods and grains.

I have had zero breakage of canning jars in the freezer. The jars are reused again and again. I only use wide mouth Ball pint jars, half-pint Ball and Kerr jars, and 4 oz Ball jars that are all approved for freezing purposes. I do not use wide-mouth quart or half gallon canning jars to freeze with. They are not approved for this purpose.

I do not have money or time to waste, so if these canning jars were not strong and durable, I would not be using this freezing method to preserve my food. I had an accident a few weeks ago that might shed some light on the possible strength and quality of newer canning jars. Life is crazy busy, and I was not being very smart when I hurriedly tried to fit some more food into one of my chest freezers.

During the process of rearranging everything, three tall stacks of pint and half pints jars that were fully frozen suddenly shifted, and the jars came crashing down with a horrifying sound. The sight was not pretty, and I was sure that there would be some serious breakage to clean up.

There was not even one crack in any of the jars. I have on occasion also dropped a canning jar fully frozen while removing it from the freezer and have had it drop on my tiled kitchen floor.

To my amazement, I have never had one of those jars break either. I utilize the original Ball boxes that the jars come in to freeze a dozen jars at a time. After filling the 12 jars with food, I place the entire box in the deep chest freezer.

I always leave an inch of space and screw the white plastic lids on very loose. After the contents are frozen I tighten the lids. As I remove bottles from the freezer and use up the contents, there is more space to put other bottles in with new items to freeze.

I stack the Ball boxes one on top of the other and simply remove the entire box to get to the box beneath it. I never put hot things into the jars or freezer. Everything must be room temperature or cold from being in the refrigerator — never ever warm or hot.

Thanks for sharing again, Clairemarie. It seems the smaller size jars really make a difference for freezing! Thanks for all the tips! I am about ready to return to plastic the horror! I need to learn how to can, I suppose.. Past, and are not made to last no money in THAT! I do not know if that is factual or not… but , if so, perhaps that is a factor.

When using an already fragile container, such as glass, even the slightest difference in temp might be responsible for the on-again, off-again cracking problems with the jars. In the same vein, each time the door of the freezer is opened, there is an inrush of much warmer air, which could be a culprit directly related to cracking of the jars.

Something HAS to be responsible, once all the other know possibilities can be ruled out. It is the inconsistency in breakage that seems to be the great mystery. Hi Marsha. Those are interesting ideas! I know this is the case with Pyrex glassware, but I have never read anything about changes to canning jars. I think your second idea about warm air rushing into the freezer is interesting, too.

There are times I have a jar filled at the right level and for no known reason it cracks in the freezer. In the few years Ive been trying to freeze soups what has worked is to defrost the jar in a bowl of cold water.

It helps minimize temperature shock. Thank you for your tips, its given me courage to reconsider freezing more with confidence! Thank you so much for this post! Just in time for soup season and a new Christian and stay at home parent! Beautiful layout on your blog! Very easy to read:. Going to try to freeze some of my quart jars of sauerkraut. Thanks for righting this; feeling better about trying this. Thank you so much for your tips. I have an over abundance of tomatoes this year — I got a little crazy when buying tomato plants in the spring — 24 plants and they are all producing!

I wanted to freeze the sauce, but I am not a huge fan of plastic, so I was happy to find your tips. I will be trying them out in the next couple days! Fitting, right? I thought I would give it a try but not sure if you can freeze it in jars or how long it would last? Hi Laurrie! I have made homemade butter but have never frozen it.

It should keep its quality for at least a year, from my understanding. Homemade butter… yummy! Hi Will. After breaking. Completely did that and 2 of 4 still broke — making a total of ten. Tea and ifeel I am spending my life cleaning up glass.

I am now wondering. If either chaga has a weird property or I have faulty jars. Have you found any brands better? Hi Art. What a bummer to have so many broken jars and wasted tea! Have you tried wide mouth pint jars? Kristen, I hate plastic so always freeze in glass. Pinning to my Freezing and Preserving board. Thank you for your most informative article. I have been freezing my juices in plastic bottles and really wanted to get away from that.

I will now be using glass bottles with confidence. One that has no chunks in it at all. Thank you! Hi Kristina! Hee hee! That can cause cracking. I hope that helps! I really needed this information— too many broken jars and too many quarts of precious broth ruined. Thank you so much for these tips. You are spot on with the tips! It is also important to realize that no all jars are freezer safe—canning jars must specifically state Freezer Safe.

Freezer-safe jars make things easier, though! Thanks so much for the tips! Have you had any esperience freezing in the small mason jars, the baby wide mouth ones with no shoulder? The shoulders are what usually cause jars to crack. I hope your broth freezes well!

I used this size to store breastmilk. Great to hear, Em! I make tomatoe sauce in batches and have been freezing in gallon bags.

Not very happy with the method so I decided to freeze in 2 mason jars. Did it all wrong! Filled to the top and capped. Fingers crossed. Thank you for all the advice I will be sure to follow it next time. Hoping with you that your jars make it out whole, Michelle! No cracked jars yet, but any suggestions on a container that may handle the thermal shock better? I found it interesting how you mentioned how glass shatters in the freezer when it is filled to the brim.

My wife wants to start making her jams and jellies but is afraid of overfilling the jars and causing a mess in the freezer. I will keep this in mind as we search for vials to allow enough headspace in her jars without wasting any of the precious jams! I like to pre-cool my Waterford crystal beer glasses in the freezer. Then my guests can enjoy a really cold beer. Have you heard of lead crystal glasses shattering due to temperature changes?

Is lead crystal stronger than glass? Hi Lewis! I admittedly know nothing about crystal whatsoever. Hopefully someone can chime in with their thoughts! I find your suggestions very helpful. Can you please clarify your suggestion to leave the lid a little loose and also to freeze the jar on its side.

Wont the liquid leak out if the lid is to on tight? I must have missed this comment! Test on the counter first, just in case! Oh no! So, put the contents in the dish, allow to cool to room temp, then fridge overnight, then freeze, then suck the air and freeze for longer term. That should work! Thanks a lot for the reply. Unless I use a plastic or stainless steel container. Thank You, for all of the information on freezing in glass jars. I have been freezing sauces and soups in Ball jars for years, with out a jar breaking.

Recently I have had several jars break. I have used the same freezers and methods to freeze the items. Thanks to you, in the future I will be sure to buy only tempered jars. I used a glass jar that looked similar to a regular mouth Mason jar and put spaghetti sauce in it and froze it. When I set it out to thaw the whole bottom of the jar broke off. Does that mean the jar was not freezer safe or does it mean I didn't leave enough head space for expansion?

If you gave the sauce plenty of headroom to expand in the freezer, then I'd be prone to blaming the jar itself. Oh yeah, that'd be just fine. The coffee grounds are not going to expand the way, say, chicken broth will.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email. Actual Mason jars are my preferred type. Click here to cancel reply. Vacuum Sealer. Freezer - Safe Containers. The container must be freezer proof so that it will not crack or break when the content freezes. It must also have an airtight seal to prevent moisture loss and leakage, and to keep food from absorbing unwanted odors. A plain tomato -based pasta sauce is the easiest to freeze. Freezing tomato sauce in plastic containers , freezer bags or freezer-safe glass is easy: You just need to make sure you don't have more than a cup or two of sauce in each container.

Leave space between jars in the freezer. It might not seem like a big deal, but cramming the jars right next to each other in the freezer doesn't leave any wiggle room for the jar to expand.

Plus as the jars freeze and once they're frozen, the glass itself is more susceptible to breakage. They're made with a straight shoulder.

That means there's no curve around the neck of the jar, which makes it easier for them to stand up to low temperatures and expanding liquids. Freezer - safe mason jars like these don't curve in toward the lid. If you are going to freeze anything long-term in glass , make sure the glass is either tempered the type used for canning jars or specifically labeled for freezing.

Freeze the sauce : Let the sauce cool completely. Pour into to freezer-safe containers or heavy-duty freezer bags. Label well with date and contents, then transfer to the freezer.

The sauce will last months, or longer if you use a deep freeze. So, it's necessary to add acid to tomatoes — including heirloom varieties — when canning them. Lemon juice is considered adequate and effective for this purpose and must always be used for water-bath and steam-pressure canning. If you forget to add lemon juice , you 'll be in trouble. This is one reason why doing a "pie in a jar" or "cake in a jar" is not a good idea.