Several years ago, I started ditching kitchen plastic. I slowly began acquiring glass storage containers, and these days pretty much all of our leftovers are stored in lidded pyrex dishes. For dry goods, I have a huge assortment of glass jars, most of which would otherwise have been destined for the recycle bin. Any time I use up a jar of coconut butter or olives or salsa or whatever, I soak the jar to get the label off, run it through the dishwasher, and then let it dry thoroughly. After that, it finds itself in my pantry, ready for its second life. Ever since we started buying food in bulk at the co-op, we’ve been using a lot of glass jars. I bought five pounds of dried gogi berries, and they filled about a dozen odd-sized jars. I’ve gradually been filling jars with rice, beans, and lentils, although my 25 pound bags end up filling a lot of jars!
I always keep an eye out at thrift stores for glass storage containers. Last week, for $1.50, I found a great sun tea jar (the kind without a pour spout at the bottom). I brought it home, ran it through the dishwasher, and now I have a gallon-size glass jar for holding rice. Perfect! I will definitely keep watching for more used sun tea jars – they have nice wide mouths, and hold a large amount of bulk food. I also recently found a set of pyrex storage jars with screw-on lids a the same thrift store, and paid six dollars for a set of three jars, the largest of which holds nearly a gallon. So I’m slowly adding to my glass storage container collection. I’m not quite to this point yet, but I’m getting there. Hopefully we’ll have lots of food from our garden to preserve this summer, so I keep saving jars.
Danielle says
I love the sun tea jar idea! I am going to use this one. Time to go hunting at Goodwill.
Random Thoughts of a Jersey Mom says
That’s a great way to reuse glass containers. I never thought of doing that; I just put it in the recycle bin. Thanks for the tip!
Carrie says
Such a timely posting as we’ve JUST begun to do the same thing. The only problem is that since we’ve never really gone the glass container route, I don’t really know what a “good” price is on them. Our local Salvation Army seems to have most of their smaller ones (2 cup capacity or less) priced around $2, which seems a bit high to me. I’m hoping to find more at garage or estate sales.
Zengirl @ happy heart and mind says
I have been reading here some while, but posting comment first time :-) We too have been eliminating plastic in our lives, and not using plastic in microwave for years. We buy pyrex for lunch boxes and leftovers. I have not been able to find it in used store for long time, so we went ahead and bought new, but at sale, now we have some and adding more slowly. But having little ones, we also need plastic cups and plates, (as they can break and hurt kids) not to mention adding to replacement costs.
Sense says
I’ve tried storing food in glass jars before (rice, oats, lentils, tea), and bugs always get into the glass jars. Do you have problems with that? If not, how do you keep things bug-free??
BigNan says
When our children were small, we had two milk cows. I was always on the lookout for suitable glass containers to store milk in the refrigerator. I found that restaurants often got their dill pickles in gallon glass jars, so asked them to save a few for me. Worked great.
It is worth comparing the prices at various thrift stores. Our ARC usually charges $1 for a quart canning jar, but our Goodwill wants 25¢. The difference adds up if you start canning much.
FrugalBabe says
Zengirl – One possible solution to the kids + glass problem is to use stainless steel for them. I sometimes find stainless steel plates at thrift stores, and they’re great for our son, whose plate sometimes ends up on the floor.
Sense – Hmm. That’s a tough one. How in the world do the bugs get in if the lids are sealed? I wonder if the bugs were already in the grains when you bought them? (I have had that happen occasionally). Fortunately, we live in a very dry area, and don’t have much in the way of bugs other than mosquitoes and flies in the summer (neither of which are interested in our food, thankfully!). So I don’t have much in the way of advice for that problem. How do you store your food to prevent bugs, if glass jars don’t work?
BigNan – that is a great idea. I will have to look around and see if any restaurants have big glass jars that I can take off their hands. Thanks!
Alissa says
That’s great, Frugal Babe! We’re slooooowwwwly building our glass jar collection as well. Whenever we buy things at the Farmer’s Market I try to buy things in nice-sized mason jars so that we can re-purpose them. I buy honey in the largest sized jar I can get so that I can use the jar when it’s empty. It’s a slow process, and a lot of our stuff is still in plastic bags, but we’re getting there. :) Plus it just looks so much prettier in jars!
As for Sense, I have heard that when you buy grains you should put them in the freezer for a period of time. Often there are bug eggs already present in your grains (doesn’t that sound lovely!!), but by freezing them you kill them before they have a chance to hatch.
Molly On Money says
I have found putting grains in the freezer works well.
In the winter we have a pantry on our porch- the grains go there and freeze so I don’t have to use valuable freezer space. For whatever reason the mice have not found the grains in the outdoor pantry-YET!
Christi says
Great idea! I also love how pretty foods look in glass containers. Obviously not the primary purpose behind using them, but a nice perk, anyway. ;)
This Thrifted Life says
I love love love my glass sorage containers and have even gotten my MIL considering a switch from plastic. I’ve been able to score thrifted pyrex baking dishes, but never any storage containers. Very nice!
Kay says
We’re almost all glass storage too, except for the rice and wheat flour which is huge.
I’m glad you found the sun tea glass jar for storing rice. Wonderful idea!! I’m going to look for one as well.
Rosalia says
Having my 2nd child on the way has opened this door to frugal living & it’s so exciting. I’m still trying to figure out just how much food we need for a family of four. it’s been an interesting journey, but I’m glad to have found this blog because it’s a good motivator to let me know I’m not alone & trying to be a better parent & person!
I’m going to add a sun tea jar to my list of things to look for @ the thrift! :)
sam says
What I was told in a bulk food stoarge class is that bugs can’t survive freezing. So freeze the grain before you put it in the cupboard….
My freezer isn’t that empty so I was told by an lady at an Indian market to put a bay leaf in with it. A friend of mine uses cloves with good results.
What do I do? I combine the two & go for overkill….. I put a few bay leaves in there (sometimes loosely wrapped in wax paper so broken leaves don’t mix with the grain) and then I bought a huge bag of cloves at an Asian or Indian market. I took old spagetti jars and punctured the lids, filled them with cloves and have four of those jars in my pantry (that’s how many jars the bag filled). So far, so good. I do mix the cloves every once in a while to keep it aromatic.
We ditched plastic about 2-3 yrs ago and it’s been going OK. I (and my parents before me) use corelle dishes & never had a problem with my kids breaking those.
I’ve been transitioning my mixing bowls & bake ware away from glass to metal due to the glass chipping if it gets bumped & we have had a couple of those pieces break.
Regardless, I love not having to worry about bowls cracking form use (like my plastic mixing bowls did) or about having a million different lids to go with different containers. We do have some 64oz yogurt tubs I can’t seem to part with however, they are made of a low risk grade plastic & we use them less & less all the time.
Zengirl @ happy heart and mind says
Frugal babe,
Yes, steel plates! we do use it, but not often enough. I need to get those section plates, perfect for finger food and little hand.