Quick Tip – Canisters and Cookie Jars

Do you have canisters on your kitchen counter?

I have three good size clear durable plastic ones that I use for all purpose flour, sugar, and cornmeal. They are well labeled to keep me from tossing flour into my morning coffee.  But I also have some that I use for alternative purposes and some alternative purposes for others you may have.

Seasonal Decoration

I have a another trio of heavy glass canisters that I fill and decorate for the seasons. For Christmas they hold big glass ornaments, glittered pine cones, and glittered snowflakes. We had little colored pumpkins, gourds, nuts, pine cones and fall leaves for Thanksgiving. At Halloween I labeled them with warning labels and filled them with things more gruesome like spiders in a web, a skull with candy ‘blood’ dripping down the sides of the glass and ‘poisoned’ apples with gummy worms. Then I perched a black crow on top of one of them.

I love adding a touch of the seasons to every room. Making small areas like this for decor changes all over the house make it very easy to swap things to make simple vignettes instead of all kinds of decoration clutter.

I really love not having to worry about keeping the dust bunnies and splattering food away from the decorations in the kitchen or worrying about glitter and such getting into the food. It is also fun to come up with new fillers. Think about trying something similar in your kitchen if you are a seasonal decorator.

Convenient Hiding Places

If you have kids in school, you know there always seems to be something that you are collecting in your kitchen.  There are box top and store receipt programs that can be given to teachers to help supplement their supply fund.  There are tidbits to be saved for classroom crafts and community service projects.  Everyone wants to keep them in a convenient space.  But even in a basket they are usually not very attractive.

Or maybe you are the one saving for a special craft project using some recycled items. (Right now I am saving various types of bottle caps for a couple of projects.)

Why not try to find a cookie jar or a single decorative canister to collect these items. You will be able to keep them in a convenient location while adding a little charm to your kitchen instead of an eyesore.

Making Use of the Ones Unused

It seems whenever I have had canister sets in the past, I never really used the smaller ones to hold coffee or whatever they were originally intended to hold. They just always seemed a tad too small for the bags of coffee I purchase. You may have a decorative set and do not really use the little ones either. Start making use of that empty canister for convenience or to free up space elsewhere.

If you do not want to use it for your hiding place, how about using it to hold a small bag of cough drops conveniently but out of sight for the winter? Just make sure to keep the expiration date. You can keep them in the bag or slip in a piece of paper with the date written down. (Make sure any children in the house are old enough not to mistake them for candy.)

You could use it to hold salt, bay leaves, a small notepad and pen, pet treats, crayons, lotion and nail files, or a plethora of other items. Just because it says coffee in the design does not mean you have to stick to that purpose.

In the Pantry

If you are trying to select canisters for use in your cabinets or pantry, keep an eye out for those with square or rectangular shapes. Just as I mentioned for your food leftover storage.

• They use space more efficiently.
• They stack well.
• They usually sit more stably, so less spills will occur.

Just make sure to label them well or keep the original packaging inside the canisters. I would hate for you to realize you do not know if your flour container holds all purpose, self rising or bread flour just as you are starting to dip in for a recipe. (It happens to the best of us! ) And also remember that most things have an expiration date that you might also want to add to the label.

What other ways do YOU use canisters in your kitchen?

photo credits:  All photos in this article are advertiser product samplings and linked directly to the source where I swiped the photos for these individual products.