Those who are participating in The Kitchen Cure know that Week Three's Assignment has you stocking the kitchen. This is a nice opportunity to stream-line your cabinets by replacing some of that ugly, clunky packaging with jars.
I love storing our food this way because I get a good seal and I can see what's inside. In particular, I like to keep my pasta, grains, dried herbs and spices, dried mushrooms, raisins and other dried fruit, baking ingredients like sugars and flours and tea bags in glass jars. That's a lot, I guess you could call it an obsession.
If you keep a well-stocked pantry you will probably want many jars and would appreciate jars stack safely and neatly. Look for jars with square, or easily-nesting lids, or add a few non-skid pads to the bottom of your jars. For my more wiggly jars, I use these Clear Self-Adhesive Rubber Pads (Container Store, 18 for $2.99) and here are some nice Cork Pads (Aubuchon Hardware, 24 for $2.99).
Here are some of my favorite jars for organizing the pantry:
• Sur La Table's Bormioli Rocco Fido Canning Jars have rubber gaskets and will stack, although not securely. (1/2 liter - 2 liter, $3 - $6)
• Ball Canning Jars come in a variety of sizes, I use the 1/2 gallon size is for rice, oats, and tea bags. (Set of 6, $17.95, far left in above image)
• Ikea's Droppar Jars will stack, although not securely, and they have a frosted central band that seems to be asking for a label written in permanent marker (anyone want to try and send us a photo?) (14oz - 118oz, $2.99 - $9.99, middle right in above image)
• Crate & Barrel's Old Fashioned Lidded Jars are reminiscent of 1950s candy shop jars. These are large enough to hold big batches of cereal or pasta. (1/2 gallon - 2 gallons, $9.95- $18.95, far right in above image)
• Saved jars from foods you've bought like spaghetti and pizza sauce jars, old applesauce jars, jam jars, little jars for capers, big jars for pickles, even tiny jars for spices or dried herbs — all of these can be saved, washed, and reused.
• Oxo's POP Containers are square, stackable and air-tight. (.3 quarts - 5.5 quarts, $7.99 - $18.99, also available in reduced-price sets)
• Weck 1L Tulip Jars at Lehman's Non-Electric Catalog (These stack nicely. I keep snacks like dried fruit and fig cookies in mine. Set of 4, $32.95)
• Target's Libbey 3-pc. Set of Big Mouth Glass Jars have glass lids. (50oz, 70oz, 92oz, $24.99)
• Container Store's Glass & Brushed Aluminum Canisters are square, so they fit together nicely. (28oz - 2 quarts, $6.99 - $8.99)
The jars look pretty, but doesn't a flat, square container that can be stacked use the space more efficiently?
view heather77's profile
I use the Ball canning jars. If you use the right size they're actually quite efficient, and if your space it tall, they can be stacked (the bottoms nest into the tops nicely.)
http://embritadesign.blogspot.com
view EmmieB's profile
I like the idea of repurposing empty jars from pasta sauce. Any ideas/knowledge on how to make the lids cuter though? Are they easily painted?
view clampers's profile
like clampers, i keep jars but would like to see cuter lids. there are online stores that sell just the lids--but i am pressuring my favorite sources of pasta sauce to stop branding the lids, so they're cuter for reuse. painted lids is something Martha Stewart has featured, but it's polluting and more work.
view avianmission's profile
I use mason jars and reusable plastic lids. The lids aren't amazing, but they are white and they all match so it works for me.
view Hanna's profile
For items that I really buy in bulk (flours, sugar, lentils, popcorn) I use very large Click-Clack containers. I like the wide mouth and the fact that they are air-tight and relatively light. For items that I buy in bulk but in smaller quantities (whole spelt, wheat, barlet, oats, cornmeal, etc.) I use a variety of glass containers, but am slowly transitioning to quart or half-gallon mason jars with reuseable plastic lids. Although I would like to use glass (mainly for aesthetic reasons for items like flour and sugar, I was worried that a large glass container more than five pounds of flour/sugar = accident waiting to happen.
view asprygal's profile
I like using jars from Classico pasta sauce.
They are squarish, have a built in rough measure marks on the side.
view wunami's profile
I too prefer to repurpose (the few) jars I purchase. I use Hellman's mayo jars -- they are the same size with the same color lids, and look great in the pantry. The lids are flat, so I am able to stack them.
view MadamW's profile
i feel like thekitchn has an unfortunate tendency to attribute items to their stores instead of their manufacturers. bormioli rocco products are available from places other than sur la table, and the "crate and barrel" jars are anchor hocking.
i mean, you didn't say that the ball jars were lehman's, because they're ball jars. but bormioli jars are bormioli jars.
view oofs's profile