For years, I kept all of my sugar (white, brown, and powdered) and flour (a couple of varieties) all in my pantry.
This wouldn't have been a huge deal, except I had a baking shelf, and it was near the bottom. This meant that I sometimes didn't know when I was about to run out of something, and sometimes I stocked up because I was just sure I was running low when I wasn't.
In fact, one year, I apparently kept being sure I was low on brown sugar, only to finally count bags of brown sugar to see that I had five bags in the pantry!
Plus, I have to be honest, I was afraid of putting my hand in the paper bags of flour and sugar (which I stored inside a large ziploc bag) because I got a paper cut on one once that got infected. Ouch! 
Then, one day, I had to get something for my Mom in her lazy susan to find that she kept all of her flour and sugars in large reusable containers. I was so excited! I just knew that I had to do that too.
So, I rearranged how we had some of our food stored, and went to Walmart and picked up two sets of containers. Each came with four containers of various sizes -- the largest was big enough to fit in an entire 10 lb bag of flour or sugar. I was able to use all but the smallest size of each set for various flours and sugars. (I am using those for leftovers instead.)
Not only do I not risk paper cuts now, but now I can see exactly how much I have (so I know when I will run out!). But, the best thing of all is that I love how easy it is to use these while I'm doing a lot of baking.
This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday and Things I Love Thursday
10 comments:
I just recently put my flour, sugar, etc. into reusable, sealed plastic containers and I love it! My pantry looks more organized and there is less mess from random holes in bags, etc.
I love storing my flour this way, and hopefully I'll eventually get the sugar and everything else into canisters!
I love the see-through containers. My canisters are opaque and I don't notice when I'm getting low on something. Great tip!
I definitely need to do this! I like your blog ~ just subscribed via RSS so I don't forget to read it :)
Come stop by my blog ~ I’m sharing a tasty thing I found that works for me and my daughter, which you’ll see LOL. Plus I have a little info on a Non-BlogHer party going on with GIVEAWAYS and fun!! http://www.garibaysoup.com
Brilliant! I have the same problem that can now be solved thanks to you :)
Just a note about flour storage: I store mine in an old ice cream bucket (one of those ones that the ice cream comes in when you buy the mega-amount). We keep it in the fridge; once, before I decided to keep it in the fridge, it became infested with small little bugs. It was disgusting. I threw it all out and am now paranoid about finding little bugs in it again. If it's in the fridge, there's no way bugs are getting in!
I'm working on getting my pantry stuff converted over into this system, but I'm taking it one thing at a time as I can afford new containers!
Congratulations on discovering a system that works for you!
I may have gone overboard on how I store our flour and sugar, but I have never run out. I buy the 25# bags at Costco and keep the unopened one in a bedroom closet. When I run out in the kitchen, I open the bag, pour what fits into our canister, and keep the rest in a rubbermaid bin in the kitchen pantry. (The canister goes on my baking shelf in a handy cupboard.) Since it takes at least a couple of months to go through the large bag, I have plenty of time to buy a replacement. That's what works for me - I guess I should do a post on it later!
Good idea! I need to do something like this.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
It looks so organized! Love it!
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