The Lettuce Crisper Incident

When Dan and I got married, as we put away gifts that we received from our wedding, we would go through items that he already had. I love to organize things and purge my house of stuff I do not use to simplify life, so when I came across a lettuce crisper I thought, I have never used one before, why do I need one of these? I may or may not have tossed it. Years later we were putting away groceries, including iceberg lettuce, and Dan wondered where the lettuce crisper was, and I was like-yes that would be nice to put our lettuce in. We could not find it anywhere. Then I remembered seeing it when we first were married and told him that I might have donated it. I honestly was not sure what had happened to it. My husband did not understand why I would want to get rid of a lettuce crisper. We then ended up buying another one-which we do not use very much I might add, but I have not donated this one....yet.

I have tried to donate items in my kitchen that I don't use often, partly because we have limited space. Therefore, being short on space and with a limited budget, I have had to be creative. One effective way I have learned to use my space is using clear glass canning jars of different shapes and sizes for storage.They work great because you can see how much is left in them, so I know when I need to go to the store to replenish my food items.

I also use a label maker to label my jars, but you could use store bought labels, like ones for chalk and chalk pens, which you could find at a craft store. You really do not have to label everything (labeling them just makes me happy), just focus on goods that look similar-you would not want to confuse the baking powder and baking soda. I would also recommend purchasing the plastic lids for basic jars, instead of the two piece metal ones, because of the convenience.

I have purchased jars overtime-it did not happen over night. You can find canning jars just about anywhere. I use them for flour, sugar, chocolate chips, oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder, nuts, popcorn etc. Just not iceberg lettuce.  

Feel free to share any storage tips you have for kitchen goods in the comments.