Lids
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This year, canning jars and lids have been in short supply. Ball and other manufacturers state their lids are single use only. That's lawyer-proofing.
As one lady wrote...
*remove the flimsy lids carefully and they are not dented and still have a lot of the gasket material in them they can be revitalized. simmer them in a pan with 3 cups of water and a heaping tablespoon of baking soda, for a minimum of 5 minutes, do not boil, just a gentle simmer. pull from the water and put on jars immediately. dump water and redo for the next batch. I found this in a 1964 Mennonite cookbook. it does soften the gasket stuff and allows you to reuse the lids a couple of times.
baking soda is a lot cheaper than new lids. I get about 3 uses of the lids doing this. both water bath and pressure canning. the failure rate is the same as new lids.*
I think there is stretching it. I do think you can probably get another use out of most, while maintaining a low failure to deal rate.
