Kitchn Love Letters

The $8 Accessory Your Mason Jars Have Been Missing

Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm
Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm
Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm was the Tools Editor at The Kitchn. A professional kitchen equipment tester, she's worked for America's Test Kitchen, EatingWell, and Food52. Her goal: to find the best gear for your kitchen so you don't waste time or money on anything else. She lives…read more
updated Apr 28, 2021
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Here’s a little poem about Mason jars: Mason jars, how much do I love, thee? You store goods, better than anything should. And you never dent or scratch even if you were to fall, no matter how tall.

Bad poetry aside, I really do love Mason jars. I have wide-mouthed ones, small ones, purple ones, and blue ones. And I use them for all sorts of things: water glasses, salad dressing shakers, dried goods containers, spice jars, leftovers storage, and more. There was even a period of time when I carried around a Mason jar as a water “bottle.” But, you ask, wasn’t that inconvenient to drink from, having to unscrew a cap every time I wanted to take a sip? The answer was (and is) no — because of this spill-proof reCAP Mason jar lid.

Even though I’ve moved, mostly, out of the Mason-jar-as-water-bottle phase (a water bottle is really better suited for the task), I still use my reCAP lid all the time. In fact, I recently moved and lost my lid and immediately purchased a new one.

Here are all of the ways I used my reCAP lid — coupled with a Mason jar.

Credit: Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm
  • Salad dressing shaker: Pour your salad dressing ingredients into your Mason jar, add a reCAP lid, and shake, shake, shake. Now you have easily pourable dressing.
  • Cocktail shaker: The duo can be used as an adhoc cocktail shaker (albeit without a built-in strainer, but, like I said, adhoc!).
  • Outdoor cup: l like to use mine to sip iced water or tea while I’m sitting out on the back porch and a regular glass is just too spill-able. Same goes for iced coffee and smoothies!
  • Dry goods dispenser: I’ll store dried grains, nuts, M&Ms, sugar, and so on in one with a reCAP lid and I have a more controlled dispensing method.
  • Pancake batter dispenser: Instead of messing with ladles or bowl spouts, I use the reCAP’s easy-pour spout to my advantage.

And while I’ve tried other Mason jar lids, they’re just not as well-made and durable as the reCAP. The lid I just purchased is for wide mouth Mason jars, but there’s a regular size, too. They even make a spout attachment for olive oil or vinegar, which I will absolutely be buying very soon.

Do you have a Mason jar attachment you love? Let us know in the comments!