pantry jars

Symptomatic of not being able to paint or wallpaper, I channel my domestic energy (if you will) into organizing. When we moved to the South, I had a shock. My old ways of keeping dry goods in their original packaging was absolutely not working! Everything went stale within a day, clumped or worse - became bug infested. Within twenty four hours of opening, snacks were inedible and I would need to buy more flour! So I had to come up with a solution.

My husband's family had once been in the dry goods business and we started talking about old cracker jars. I did some research of old dry goods stores for inspiration. Then one afternoon I caught myself watching Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and decided my pantry ought to look like the candy shop... only I don't really eat refined sugar so not nearly as fun.

Image from Little Things, check out her thin mints recipe!

I decided jars were the way to do it. My cupboards are now a lot like these of Emerson's (of EmersonMade) pantry via Design Sponge. I also love these from BHG and Pinterest via decorology


Although, I'm not going to lie. I am terribly frugal about things that are out of sight. So nice French hermetic jars were a no go. I did cave and use hermetic jars for spices. I hate opening that cabinet and smelling spices so I decided not to mess around and invest instead of keeping them in the original plastic containers. As for the rest of it I have been using the Ball Canning Jars in the Pint Size to hold small quantities and the Wide Mouth Quart size for other thing. Finally, I chose full size cracker jars for very large quantity dry goods. I wish I had the discipline to just collect jars, but no. Honestly, this system makes me happy every time I open my pantry cupboards and it looks truly organized.
And lastly, my snack solution has to be more sloth-friendly (i.e. light, portable and dishwasher safe for the lazy person, i.e. me) so I use large, disposable glad containers. Honestly, this was the best thing I ever did. They stack wonderfully in my cabinets, are inexpensive and they are light enough to carry cereal to the table. When dropped, they don't break and they don't open. I know, not as aesthetically pleasing as glass but I've used this system for horse supplements (no glass in the barn) and dog meds, too. I love it!

Another great resource was found by Ready Made, Specialty Bottle. I love how she etched hers. I'm not that fancy, I just use my label maker on the lids and call it a day!