In the "for what it's worth" column, on the shelf life of canning lids used with glass jars, the lids I used today were some we stored in 1999, so they were working on 8 years old....27 quarts of stew processed, and all lids sealed fine. I've heard 3-5 year estimates on them.....but this tells me lids are good for at least 8 years.....and a whole lot longer I suspect. GOOD barter item down the road.
The shelf life on them would mostly depend on storage conditions. I would say if they are stored in a cool dark dry place they should last pretty well indefinatly but if they are exposed to high humidity they could start to runs, and with extream temps the seals could rot/crack in just a few years.
I've canned tomatoes with my family since i was a toddler. We've always used regular off the shelf jar-lids available at most grocery stores. Our tomatoes have always kept for years, and for as long as i can remember, I can only remember two jars that went bad. We stored everything in an outdoor shed that was subject to freezing temps on winter nights, and 100+ temps during the summer, and even after 6 or 7 years, everything turned out well. We still put up a few hundred jars of tomatoes every 3 or 4 years, so that we have a constant supply. As long as you keep your jars out of the weather and reasonably protected from sunlight and moisture, I think the contents will be fine for around 10 years and mabey longer. Chances are, the contents will be safe to eat and nutritious long after they have ceased to look and taste very good.
Not talking about the canned product....I was talking about new lids that haven't been used yet......which is the critical link in being able to can anything in glass jars. I just placed an order for 120 dozen.
Thanks TA. This is a good site as well. http://www.goodmans.net/get_item_bl-42000_ball-42000-wide-mouth-canning-jar-dome-lids.htm
Yep.....saw that, but they were out of stock.....I called, and they didn't know when they would have more, so I went with the other......
Peanut butter jar lits will fit most widemouth canning jars for non-canning storage NOTE: peanut butter and mayonnaise jars are not suitable for canning as they are typically a lighter weight of glass than jars made for canning but the lids are ok to reuse for non-canning storage
I have found that in recent years the "canning jars" have gotten so thin that they are just like mayonnaise jars. We have successfully used mayonnaise jars, even in pressure canning. We have had a higher breakage rate with the canning jars.