For me cleaning is not exactly an "adventure," however, when I get to buy new supplies for any reason I get excited. Maybe a little too excited. I have been storing the majority of my kitchen dried goods in various jars, but this weekend I decided to get serious and REALLY sort out all of the nuts, flours, and beans (as well as cereals) and keep the shelves sorted for good!
Haul Time!
Budget is always a big concern when it comes to any project of mine. Although we do have some Dollar Stores near me, they tend to have very few organizational items and those they do carry are usually flimsy and made of plastic. Luckily there is a Walmart and IKEA within a mile from my home, IKEA being the one I usually turn to for storage since they offer a wider assortment of glass storage as opposed to plastic bins, which are not ideal for any long term food storage. IKEA products are pretty versatile as well, so items in the kids section could actually work in the kitchen and vice versa. For this project I needed items that were air tight to keeps things like bugs (flour bugs in particular) out and keep the products IN and fresh. I keep a lot of dried goods on hand like rice, baking flours and sugars, dried beans, grains, and, especially, nuts. They help to keep meals versatile and work well at adding nutrition like fat and protein. It is also a good idea to keep a variety of dried goods around in case of emergencies since not only do they have a great shelf life, you can store fats, carbs, and proteins without refrigeration. Unfortunately, in order to make everything uniform for this project, I would need over 40 containers! (That's a lot of dried foods.) With prices ranging from $3.49 - $4.49 each, that's a lot of money being spent for the sake of my OCD. In reality it took me quite some time to actually finish this project (buying a few jars every trip to lessen the burden) my trip Saturday was actually for the last few and to grab something to keep my cereals in. This is another reason I prefer IKEA for a lot of my organization: they offer similar items ( as well as durable items ) in a variety of sizes. Living in a small home, this is greatly appreciated.
As the jars ate up so much of my budget, I needed to think of something economical that would actually work to keep the jars labeled. Labeling is a must for any organizational project, IMO. As chalkboard labels were not available at any shop in my area and ordering them online would cost about a dollar a label plus shipping, I tried homemade chalkboard labels made by spray painting a sheet of Avery 5163 printing labels from the office supply store (or from work, he he) I had on hand with chalkboard paint leftover from other crafty adventures, and, although they looks quite cute, the plain labels did not withstand humidity and the occasional splashes of water that are inevitable in a kitchen (they do, however, work on other surfaces quite nicely). To come up with a solution to this problem, I turned to the school supplies and applied a strip of clear contact paper right over the label. It works like a charm, and, 45 jars later, all of my dried goods are labeled and ready to...well...eat. Mission accomplished.
The Korken series jars are available in three difference sizes and have an airtight seal. The range from $2.49 to $4.49 a jar. There are several other shops that carry similar items, such as Target and Williams & Sonoma, but expect to pay up to twice the amount. In addition I used:
- Avery 5163 Labels
- Printer
- Clear Contact Paper
I'm not going to disclose how much I actually spent on this madness, but you can do the math. Was it worth it? Heck yea! Everything I need is neatly labeled and put in its place. Anxiety resolved, and the next time hubby wants to know where to find the cashews I need not open my mouth.
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