Greener Food Storage

So in my quest to live a little Greener, I’ve been trying to eliminate some of the plastic from our lives. I’m particularly concerned about plastic and food, so I’ve been slowly working toward non-plastic food storage solutions. While we do have some of these great Pyrex food storage containers, my hands-down favorite storage containers are glass jars. Boxes of canning jars are readily available at discount stores, hardware stores, some grocery stores or online. They are cheap, and they last forever! They also do not stain or retain odors the way plastic does, and most importantly, they don’t leach harmful chemicals into your food! Of course, you can also reuse glass jars from products you buy, which is even cheaper (FREE!) Here are some of the ways we use glass jars for food storage in our home:

This is our Grains and Dry Beans cabinet. We tend to buy this kind of stuff in bulk, so we need containers to store it in. Glass jars works perfectly, as we can see the contents. (and yes... that is some Annie's Mac-n-Cheese on the top right... my one concession to packaged food! Sometimes a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do)

Glass jars are perfect for storing things in the freezer! Just make sure to leave at least an inch of space at the top of the jar when you fill in, to allow for expansion when it freezes. If you don't the jar will break.

We also buy baking staples in bulk, so we use glass jars to store those things, too!

We do still use some plastic containers, particularly for packing food-to-go for the kiddos. And, I admit that I do like using ziplock bags in the freezer for some things, because they don’t take up much space. But I figure every little bit of plastic I replace with glass is a step toward a greener life, so I don’t fret too much about the occasional plastic bag or Gladware container. Baby steps!