Food Storage

hathor

I will soon be having installed our new and long-awaited pantry cupboard in the kitchen. This takes the form, like traditional pantries, of lots of narrow-ish shelving with doors on the front to hide/protect it all..


I would love your opinions of the best way to store dry goods such as flour, sugar, lentils etc.


Everywhere you look on TV these days, flour & sugar seem to be stored in those clip-top glass jars, but is that because it's the best way or just because it's "trendy"? Would plastic-type containers such I am currently using for cereal (they have a split flip-up lid and taper to the edges so they are easier to pick up) be better/cheaper/good enough?


I want to make sure that the foods are protected, even from damp - can't abide clumpy sugar - but I also want to make the best use of space while being easy on the pocket. As OH has observed, I just want it all!


I did think square-ish glass jars would be more efficient on space than round ones, but are they big enough to hold at least 1.5kg of flour? Ideally, I'd like to decant the flour out of its paper bag altogether. I did a quick count up of how many products I want to find homes for, and all I will say is if you bake (better bread & cakes and better value) it's scary how many types of flour, sugar etc you find yourself with in the kitchen . Not all purchased at once, I must add!


I'd welcome everyone's advice. How do you store your groceries?

VfM4meplse

Congratulations, I have serious kitchen envy (runs off to drool at P'Interest board).

hathor wrote: »

I would love your opinions of the best way to store dry goods such as flour, sugar, lentils etc.


Everywhere you look on TV these days, flour & sugar seem to be stored in those clip-top glass jars, but is that because it's the best way or just because it's "trendy"? Would plastic-type containers such I am currently using for cereal (they have a split flip-up lid and taper to the edges so they are easier to pick up) be better/cheaper/good enough?

For lentils, beans, grains and other hardy dry food products clear glass jars are fine. Any shape that tessellates does well - for that reason I prefer cubes from the land of the pound - but equally so do old coffee jars, which have the added benefit of not costing any extra.

As for sugar, flour, powders that clump etc - for me these are "all or nothing" foods, ie I use a good amount at a time, or not at all. You can take a small amount out into a clear jar if you use teaspoons here and there, but I really don't see the point of decanting at all, it just creates more workand shortens the shelf life through exposure to oxygen as the item is used intermittently. I keep them all in a large airtight box; the open bag goes in the same box, but in a plastic bag first to deal with the inevitable spillages from the edges.

PollyWollyDoodle

I keep flour in cereal containers like you describe. I keep a small scoop in there, but often I'll just pour it into the scales till I'm nearly there. Sugar goes in rectangular plastic clip boxes. Now, I do a lot of baking, I currently have seven or eight different types of flour and six or seven types of sugar. Not all the flour gets a sealed container to itself, the less-used ones are in plastic bags in a box like VFM says.

I keep other stuff (oats, rice, lentils) in metal or plastic containers with clip lids. Some are nice stainless steel, others are coffee jars from a range on sale many years ago! Personally I think the glass jars look good but are heavy, awkward to open and they don't fit together well.

I'm also very envious of your new kitchen, and if it were me I think I'd invest in a lot of rectangular plastic boxes of varying sizes. They don't need to be top-range, pound shop or similar will be fine. Oh I long for a pantry!

Islandmaid

Hi,

I have been us8ng 'lock and lock' boxes for all my dry good, they fit into our kitchen deep drawers and works for us (plus I get to play with the label maker )

PollyWollyDoodle

Ooh that picture makes my heart beat faster! :rotfl:

RebeccaAnn

Flour goes in tins here but remains in the bag inside. I reuse glass sauce jars for small quantities of dried beans. Large quantities have to go in BPA free plastic containers or larger bought glass containers. Nothing matches but I'm too tight to replace it all!

maisie_cat

I have everything in glass jars, some of which I've had for decades though. My flour is in a couple of those glass cookie jars. I have a thing about glass jars, my spices are in 1950's small chemical jars "removed" from a closing laboratory. Everything looks so neat and there is no need for labels, that is unless your husband doesn't know the difference between basmati and arborio!

LameWolf

I decant into 3lb (or whatever the metric equivalent is) capacity locknlock boxes. A full one of these is as heavy as I can manage to lift; they fit nicely into the cupboard; and if I do happen to drop them, they don't break, and they stay closed, so no spillage.

Callie22

I use the Kilner type jars for dry goods as I don't want to use plastic - but they are quite heavy, a bit bulky and I would be wary of storing them on narrow shelves as they don't bounce when you drop them on hard surfaces I buy the square ones rather than the round ones as they seem to fit better in the cupboards, and make a better use of the space. I do find though that they sometimes don't fit a full bag of flour, which can be annoying.

suki1964

Sorry about the environment but its Lock n Lock for me as well

I do have small glass herb and spice jars from Ikea as I have a full pull out shelf for those and they sit nicely

My larder is all pull out shelves at different heights, the top ones are wired basket type and the locknlock mean I can see at a glance but aren't too heavy for me to lift

PasturesNew

I've got several lock & lock - as well as cheaper "generic look-a-likes". L&L are airtight, so I keep the flour in those... as for other stuff, it doesn't matter about being airtight. For me it's about being able to store stuff that could spill and being able to move things around without worrying about spills to clear up ... and, of course, "what if something has been in that packet....". Everything, once opened, is sealed with a freezer clip - even if it's going into a L&L.

The thing is .... only you can choose what you want because only you have/use the quantities and the range of dried goods etc that you have.

I'd just say "pick L&L for your flour needs" - and "get a selection of cheapo variations" - and then, over time, work out what you really want. You can't just buy what you think you'll want today and get it right. See how your needs and wants develop over time of using them.

For me .... I've got a ton of empty boxes because no matter how many you have you've never got "the right size" or "the right type"