Comments on: Back to Basics 5-Piece Home Canning Kit

By: LoveAmericaBuyAmerican.

LoveAmericaBuyAmerican. — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:10:21 +0000

Review by LoveAmericaBuyAmerican. for Back to Basics 5-Piece Home Canning Kit Rating: Well made tools function as designed. Very helpful in all aspects of the canning process.

*Made in Taiwan (Democracy), NOT lead-paint communist China

By: Dallas7415

Dallas7415 — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:33:38 +0000

Review by Dallas7415 for Back to Basics 5-Piece Home Canning Kit Rating: This is a great kit for beginning canners and contains all of the utensils needed for canning. This is a great product for a great price.

By: Donald W. Sturman

Donald W. Sturman — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:24:06 +0000

Review by Donald W. Sturman for Back to Basics 5-Piece Home Canning Kit Rating: This canning kit has everything you need to do home canning. The only improvement is that the magnet on the end of the lid tool was bigger; sometimes when I am working fast the jar lid repeatedly falls back into the boiling water.

By: Charise E. White

Charise E. White — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:13:21 +0000

Review by Charise E. White for Back to Basics 5-Piece Home Canning Kit Rating: We have used this several times since we recieved it a couple weeks ago. The one piece I have been a little disappointed with is the lid magnet. It did not pick up the lids very well, (it is a little dangerous to fingers to have lids drop and splash boiling water) I finally just gave up and used the tongs to get the lids out. That being said the other products have worked well.

By: Julia Rietmulder-Stone

Julia Rietmulder-Stone — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:55:31 +0000

Review by Julia Rietmulder-Stone for Back to Basics 5-Piece Home Canning Kit Rating: I am brand new at canning, and did my first batch prior to ordering these tools. It went okay, but I was immediately sold on the idea of a jar lifter. I looked and looked locally but couldn't find one, and this set was available for immediate shipment.

The jar lifter is fantastic, and ultimately I think it alone is worth the price of admission -- not because it's worth it in and of itself, but because it's a total necessity, so I would have purchased it at any price that wouldn't break the bank.

The other pieces are either already part of a moderately well-equipped kitchen, are nice but not necessary, and/or are not all that well constructed.

I'd opted to return a relatively expensive set of plastic funnels when I purchased this set, but the included funnel here melted a bit under the heat of the boiling brine I poured over the pickles-to-be. Same for the plastic surrounding the magnet when I used it (quite effectively) to grab the jar lids out of a simmer sauce pan. The lid wrench I'm just not sure I see a use for, since jars aren't supposed to be super tight and they tend to loosen when cooled anyway (or am I misunderstanding what this is for?), and the tongs, well, who doesn't have tongs?

Anyway, in researching for this review, I've come to feel like something of an idiot, because the pieces are available separately and eligible for the free shipping promotion of your choice. Unless you don't already have a funnel, or don't mind the possibility of plastic in your canned food, I recommend saving five bucks and just getting these two pieces:

Back to Basics 284 Jar Lifter
Back to Basics 174 Magnetic Lid Lifter

If you need more than those two pieces, though, this set will do the job.