Use recycled glass jars in the kitchen - they don't leach any potentially harmful chemicals into your food like plastic can and they're reusable.
Glass jars in the kitchen
Ooh these are just too cute.
It was a breakfast buffet in Buenos Aires right at the beginning of a five-week trip around South America and Mum and I just had to have them.
Every morning for the four days we were there, we squirrelled them away like we were 007 on a secret mission hoping no one caught us in our maybe-a-little-shameful act.
It’s not stealing if they were destined for the bin right?
Then we struck a problem. How were we going to carry them all the way around South America for five weeks?
We were leaving from Buenos Aires so ended up packing our stash up and leaving it at the hotel.
The goods that were just so important we had to have them - little glass yoghurt pots.
They were the cutest little jars I’d ever seen and so perfect for all sorts of things. I’ve never really seen yoghurt in little jars here so we had to have them.
Check out tips on how to organise your pantry.
They made it back in one piece and have been used for everything from desserts to holding pretty flowers.
I’ve sort of been a bit of a jar hoarder for years but now I put them to very good use and am slowly transitioning all my pantry items into glass jars.
Why I love glass jars in the pantry:
- I love them for so many reasons but these are some from the top of the list.
- They look pretty - really they do, especially if you add pretty labels (scroll down to see how).
- Glass doesn’t leach any potentially harmful chemicals into our food like plastic can.
- You can easily see what’s inside.
- They can be re-used pretty much forever because glass doesn’t absorb colours, smells or germs from food and can be washed at really high temperatures to sterilize.
- If you recycle jars you can pretty much get them for free.
How to source jars:
This depends on whether you want a whole lot of perfectly matching jars all the same shape or you’re content with a mish-mash of recycled jars.
If you want them all to match then the place I get a lot of my jars from is Glass Bottles Direct
I like to recycle wherever I can though. I have a great method for removing the labels so there’s no sticky residue. If you like a visual click here to see how I do it.
How to wash jars:
One of the great things about jars is it doesn't really matter what they've had in them previously, it can be washed out.
First I rinse it as well as I can then fill it with hot water, put the lid on and give it a good shake to try and dislodge any stubborn bits then throw it in the dishwasher.
Otherwise a good wash with hot, soapy water should do the trick.
For the lids, I pop them in the dishwasher too. If the lid looks a bit tainted then I will use a new lid (I get them through Glass Bottles Direct too).
If you have a jar of something like peanut butter or honey, put the liquid for your smoothie in it, shake shake shake and then pour into your blender. No waste!
How to label jars:
There are a so many ways to label glass jars. From buying personalised super pretty labels on Etsy to writing on them with a sharpie.
You can also purchase chalkboard labels and write on them with liquid chalk, use printable labels or my favourite - make your own fancy labels.
I have created a little video tutorial showing how I make these cute little labels in less than five minutes without having to buy anything (as long as you have a printer). Click here to view.
I hope that has answered any questions you might have but if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask away in the comments. Here's to pretty pantries!