Perfect Food Storage Containers and Canisters For Free!
by
Chandrima
1 Material
45 Minutes
Easy
I might have saved quite a few dollars by reusing glass jars such as jam/preserve containers, baby food containers, pasta sauce bottles etc. I have this tendency to just save any glass jar and over time have an awesome storage and canister collection that people ask me about, practically all free of cost! I realized why people find it hard to believe that the sparkling storage containers that line my kitchen shelf are jam bottles because most people cannot totally get rid of the labeling on the jars, there is always some paper or glue left on them which make them less appealing.
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Empty Baby Food Containers
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First I just collect a few bottles because it doesn't make sense cleaning them one by one, so I prefer doing them in a batch. I always wash them with warm water on the inside such that any food that is left over in them are washed off before putting them away.
Once I have few bottles, the first thing I do is take some lukewarm water in a large pot, temperature of the water should be comfortable enough for you to be able to dip your hands in it. Thats because excessive heat could break the glass jar.
Soak the bottles after opening the lids in the water. To this, add 1/2 TBSP of Baking Powder and 1 TBSP dish soap. Mix in and let the bottles be submerged for about 20-30 minutes. Baking powder will get rid of any lingering smells in the bottles.
After 20 minutes, you will be able to remove most of the label just by scraping with your fingers because the paper would have softened. At this point we will take off as much of the label comes off easy.
Next I wash them like regular dishes with a dish scrub and dish soap.
Most of the labels and glue might already have vanished if you are lucky. For the ones which are too tough, I have a magic trick. Take a few drops of hand sanitizer in a clean cloth piece.
Rub the cloth with the sanitizer on the tough glue and label stains. The glue will start to come off. Take sanitizer generously if needed. Repeat this for all the bottles which had hard glue attached on their surface. Soon all the glue will be gone and you will have sparkling brand new jars. I sometimes spray paint the lids as well to give them an extra spunk
There you go! Clean, smell free, mark free sparkling glass jars ready for use. It takes a little time to come up with a collection, but its totally worth it. I cringe every time I see canisters in the stores - "4 canisters for $10"! Hey, but I have mine for FREE!
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2 of 64 comments
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You can also use the Grapefruit spray by Method it’s all natural used for countertops. I’ve put the jars in the dishwasher too. Also can use coconut oil, or a hair dryer to loosen any tacky residue or a hand held steamer. My go to is the Method spray and the Palmolive oxyclean dishwashing liquid.
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I use goo gone on pasta sauce jars. Glue comes of in seconds. You can buy it at dollar tree.
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Baking powder? Not baking soda? Did not know about the hand sanitizer trick - thanks!
I use the 2 qt pickle jars to set on counter for dry goods & the 2 qt canning jars. Plastic jars for screws & misc & craft stuff. Big ice cream buckets for big idems & crafts (square ones work better). I never thought of using baby food jars for spices. To late now my baby is 44 & grandson almost 14. What kind of paint did you use on lids?