Ball Wide Mouth Quart Mason Jars are the best mason jars for food storage because the wide opening makes filling, scooping, and cleaning painless, the two-piece lids seal reliably, and the glass is made for both pantry duty and actual canning. Mason jars have become a default storage container for good reason: glass does not stain or hold odors, and standard lids are cheap and everywhere. The differences that matter are mouth width, jar shape, and whether a jar is truly canning-grade or just decorative. Here is what to buy.
Ball Wide Mouth Quart Mason Jars are the best all-around choice for food storage, easy to fill, easy to clean, and safe for canning and freezing. Keep a case of regular-mouth pints for smaller portions and dressings.
- Best overall: Ball Wide Mouth Quart Mason Jars, easy to fill and clean, canning and freezer safe
- Best value: Ball Regular Mouth Pint Mason Jars, the everyday workhorse size for leftovers and dry goods
- Best budget: Kerr Wide Mouth Pint Jars, the same standard lids for typically less money
- Avoid: Thin decorative mason-style jars from craft stores; they crack under heat and are not safe for canning
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Quick Picks
- Best overall: Ball Wide Mouth Quart Mason Jars, The most versatile storage jar made: wide opening, standard lids, safe for canning and freezing.. Check price on Amazon
- Best value: Ball Regular Mouth Pint Mason Jars, The everyday 16-ounce size for leftovers, overnight oats, and dressings..
- Best budget: Kerr Wide Mouth Pint Jars, Identical lid standard and canning-grade glass, usually at a lower price..
Comparison Table
| Jar | Size | Best for | Mouth or closure | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ball Wide Mouth Quart Mason Jars | 32 oz | Bulk dry goods, soups, canning | Wide mouth, two-piece lid | Check Price |
| Ball Regular Mouth Pint Mason Jars | 16 oz | Leftovers and small batches | Regular mouth, two-piece lid | Check Price |
| Kerr Wide Mouth Pint Jars | 16 oz | Budget stocking-up | Wide mouth, two-piece lid | Check Price |
| Bormioli Rocco Fido Jars | Various | Pantry display, dry storage | Glass clamp lid with gasket | Check Price |
How We Chose These Kitchen Storage Picks
We compared glass quality, mouth standards, lid availability, and freezer and canning ratings across the major jar brands, then checked owner feedback for breakage rates, rusting lids, and seal failures. Jars that are decorative rather than canning-grade were excluded from the top picks and noted as a category to avoid.
Key Takeaway: Standardization is the mason jar superpower: stick to real Ball or Kerr jars in one or two mouth sizes and every lid, pump, and accessory you ever buy will fit.
Best Overall: Ball Wide Mouth Quart Mason Jars
Best for: Anyone organizing a pantry, storing soups and grains, or canning, who wants one jar standard that does everything. Why it made the list: The wide mouth is the practical difference maker: you can get a measuring cup or a hand inside, ladle soup without a funnel, and actually clean the corners. Add canning-grade tempered-style glass, straight-enough sides for freezing, and the universal two-piece lid standard, and the quart wide mouth is the single most useful jar in the kitchen.
- Key specs: 32-ounce canning-grade glass jars with the standard wide-mouth thread; two-piece lids included; safe for water-bath and pressure canning, refrigerator, and freezer use with proper headspace.
- What we like: Wide openings make filling and scooping effortless, the glass shrugs off dishwashers and boiling water, and replacement lids are cheap and available everywhere.
- What we do not like: Glass is heavy and unforgiving on tile floors, the metal lid flats are single-use for canning and eventually rust in humid kitchens, and quarts are tall for some fridge shelves.
- Who should buy it: Bulk shoppers, soup batchers, canners, and anyone standardizing a pantry around stackable, odor-proof containers.
- Who should avoid it: Anyone who mostly needs lightweight lunch containers to commute with; glass quarts are heavy and breakable in a bag, so plastic or lighter containers serve that job better.
- Common complaints: Rusting lid flats in humid conditions, occasional chipped rims in shipped cases, and jars cracking when hot food is poured into a cold jar.
- Size note: Quarts suit bulk goods and soups; keep pints for portions. Wide-mouth quarts are freezer-friendly but always leave an inch or more of headspace for expansion.
- Cleaning note: Jars are dishwasher safe. Wash bands and dry them well to prevent rust, and replace flat lids once the sealing compound is dented or discolored.
- Alternative: Bormioli Rocco Fido clamp jars for dry pantry goods you open daily, since the attached glass lid never goes missing.
Kitchen Storage Buying Guide
Wide mouth versus regular mouth
Wide-mouth jars have a larger opening the same width as the jar body, which makes them easier to fill, scoop from, and wash, and better for freezing. Regular-mouth jars have a shoulder that helps hold vacuum-sealed lids and pour liquids with less slosh. Most kitchens do best standardizing on wide mouth and keeping some regular-mouth pints for liquids.
Canning-grade versus decorative jars
Real Ball, Kerr, and similar canning jars are annealed to survive boiling water baths and thermal swings. Craft-store and imported mason-style jars often use thinner glass meant for candles and storage, and they crack under canning heat. If a jar does not explicitly say it is for canning, treat it as room-temperature storage only.
Lids, bands, and accessories
The two-piece lid standard is the mason ecosystem’s biggest advantage: flat lids are cheap consumables, bands are reusable, and third-party pour spouts, pump lids, and storage caps all fit the two standard mouth sizes. For dry-goods storage, one-piece plastic storage caps beat metal lids because they never rust and open with one hand.
Safety Notes
- Never pour hot food into a cold jar or set a hot jar on a cold wet counter; thermal shock cracks glass.
- Do not can in decorative or non-canning jars, and never reuse flat lids for canning; the seal compound only seals once.
- Check rims for chips before every use, since a chipped rim can shed glass and will not seal.
- When freezing, use wide-mouth jars, leave generous headspace, and freeze upright; full sealed jars burst as contents expand.
What to Avoid
- Craft-store mason-style jars with thin glass and non-standard lids.
- Storing jars with metal bands screwed down wet, which rusts the band onto the jar.
- Buying a mix of mouth sizes at random; standardize so your lids and accessories all interchange.
- Vacuum-sealing or canning shortcuts from social media, like oven canning, that jar makers explicitly warn against.
FAQ
Are mason jars airtight for dry goods?
With a new flat lid or a quality storage cap, yes, they are airtight enough for flour, grains, coffee, and dried beans. For years-long storage, add oxygen absorbers; the lid seals out moisture and pests either way.
Can you freeze food in mason jars?
Yes, with rules: use wide-mouth jars without shoulders, leave at least an inch of headspace, cool food before filling, and do not tighten lids fully until frozen. Narrow-shouldered jars crack as contents expand upward.
Do mason jar lids expire or can you reuse them?
Bands last for years until they rust. Flat lids are single-use for canning because the sealing compound compresses once, but used flats are fine for fridge and pantry storage. Unused flats keep roughly five years or more stored dry.
Final Verdict
The Ball Wide Mouth Quart Mason Jars are the best all-around jars for food storage, with the Ball Regular Mouth Pint Mason Jars covering everyday portions and the Kerr Wide Mouth Pint Jars delivering the same standard for a little less.
