I took a nutrition class on whole grains and filled my cabinet with millet, quinoa, couscous, steel-cut oats. And now my cabinet had a bunch of bags of grains.
Before
The same Goodwill that I found the water bottle basket, I found a big, clear plastic tub. Perfect size for all my grains. Now instead of sorting through all the grains in the cabinet I pull down the tub and find the grain I want right away.
After
What needs containerizing in your cabinets?
I save wide-mouth glass jars (pickles, salsa, sauces) for dry storage. I wash and sterilize them, print quick labels on the printer (sometimes just regular paper, attached with packing tape) and store the grains that way. I have one for lentils, quinoa, etc. all in the sizes that approximate the volumes I buy them in. Plus, if you reuse the same jars, you take them in and weigh the jar, reset the scale (tare) and weigh the items. Less bags! 🙂 It’s easy when you have just “X” amount of barley to buy, but carting around jars is definitely harder if you have high volumes. Then you could reuse plastic bags to transport bulk grains back and forth.
I use canning jars for grain, pasta and legume storage. I like the uniformity of the containers. If you can find the older ‘squarish’ jars with the latching tops, all the better.
And glass keeps ‘critters’ out better than baggies. I had a problem with miller moths once years ago when I was living in an apartment with some not so great (or clean) neighbors, and I’ve kept my pantry items under glass ever since.
BTW, – If you can possibly make it to your nephew’s boot camp graduation in three months, do so. You’ll have a blast – San Diego or Paris Island?
(Mom of a Marine here – Semper Fi!)
Many grains keep better in the frig or freezer, but storage is a problem there usually. Without that refrigeration, they will go bad sooner. So use them often!
Thanks for the whole grain storage tips. I wish I could have a container for each, but we have very little storage space so I need to keep them in bags.
I have organized my pantry with baskets from Signature and is so easy to find exactly what I need when I need. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your ideas!