Open Thread: Crofton 21.5-Quart Canner with Rack + Utensil Set

For the past couple of years, in late July or early August, Aldi has rolled out all the gear you need to preserve the summer’s bounty. If you need canning supplies, this is the time to get them from Aldi.

What We Know:

Aldi’s canning supplies are all limited-time ALDI Find (Special Buy) items, which means they are only in stores for a short time.

The Crofton 21.5-Quart Canner with Rack sold for $18.99 at the time of publication. It comes with the canner and the metal rack for lowering and lifting jars, but jars and other canning necessities like jar lifters and lid lifters are sold separately.

The product description states:

• holds 7 quart jars, 9 pint jars, or 12 half-pint jars
• includes canner, jar rack, and lid
• includes use and care instructions
• compatible with oven, gas, electric, or induction stovetops
• comes with a two-year warranty

The first time we saw Aldi sell a canner under its Crofton house brand was in 2018, when the 21.5-quart canner sold for $17.99. In 2017, Aldi sold a name brand Granite-Ware 21.5-quart canner for $16.99 and a Ball 12-pack package of wide mouth canning jars for $9.99.

Also at the time of publication, Aldi sold a Crofton Canning Utensil Set for $5.99. It includes a funnel, magnetic lid lifter, jar lifter, a bubble remover, and a jar wrench. Aldi states the jar lifter, jar wrench, and bubble remover are heat resistant up to 158 degrees.

We could be wrong, but from what we can see in the ad, the bubble remover does not appear to have a ruler incorporated into it, and rulers come in handy when you’re filling jars and need to leave the appropriate amount of headspace as directed in your recipe.

Aldi sold the same canning utensil set in 2018 for $4.99.

In addition, at the time of publication Aldi also sold a Crofton 12-Pack Regular Mouth Pint Canning Jars for $7.99 and a Crofton 12-Pack Wide Mouth Quart Canning Jars for $9.99. Those prices are less than what Amazon charges for Ball pint and quart jars.

This is the first year we’ve seen Aldi sells its own house brand Crofton canning jars. In 2018, Aldi sold Ball name brand jars for $7.99 for a 12-pack of regular mouth pint jars and $9.99 for a 12-pack of wide mouth quart jars.

I have done some canning and purchased a name brand Granite-Ware canning kit with canner, rack, and all the necessary utensils for $40 from a big box store in 2018, so the Aldi supplies are definitely a deal because you can get everything but the jars for around $25.

What We Don’t Know:

We have not used the Crofton 21.5-Quart Canner with Rack, the Crofton Canning Utensil Set, or the Crofton canning jars. We can’t speak to how well they work, although canning supplies tend to be pretty straightforward and we would expect them to work as well as name brands.

We don’t know who makes Aldi’s canning supplies.

Do you have any experience with Aldi’s canning supplies? Feel free to let us know in the comments.