I use canning jars for everything*. I use a pint-sized one to hold my morning coffee and another for my oatmeal. I store grains, beans and pastas in the quart and half-gallon ones. I use wide-mouth ones for leftovers and for those days when I decide to take apart an entire melon for easy eating. When my water bottle goes missing, I don't worry, I just fill up a jar and tuck it into my bag. I have new jars, bought by the dozen in the grocery store and old ones, picked up at thrift stores and rummage sales.
There have been others who have been jumping on the non-traditional food storage in jars bandwagon lately and it thrills me down to the bottom of my jar-loving heart. Vanessa at What Geeks Eat recently tucked four colorfully layered "Dinner in a Jar" into her deep freeze. She stacked chopped green beans, cubed zucchini, quartered Roma tomatoes and a bunch of chopped chard in a wide-mouth quart jar, for use in future soups and curries. What an ingenious way to use the summer abundance to make dinner easier in the midst of winter!
Back at the end of July, Gourmet did something similar, suggesting that instead of making sandwiches to take along on a picnic, that instead you pack your meal in a jar. Make a layered salad that with colorful veggies for a feast for the palate and the eyes!
*Including canning. I've done more than at least two dozen jars of jams and fruit butters so far this summer.
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