Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Works for Me Wednesday--Plastic Ice Cream Pails

In honor of Earth Day, today I thought I would share one thing that I reuse that works for me!

We like having ice cream, esp. homemade chocolate shakes, at our house so I get ice cream in 5qt. pails! Once the ice cream is gone, I wash and dry the pails good. I then reuse the 5qt. pails for my flour (all purpose and bread), sugar (white, brown, 10x), powdered milk, noodles and oatmeal that I buy in bulk from Sam's Club.

I also found that the pails are good for storing bags of dry beans or other poly bag type things(like small bags of candy or baking chips!) so the items don't get crushed or lost in the pantry.

For some of the smaller quantities items (like wheat flour) I reuse 5lb margarine tubs.

Also, I have heard that you can go to Sam's/Costco's bakery and ask them for their big tubs that they get frosting in to be able to take home and reuse for bulk items. I haven't tried this yet because I have found that for me using the 5qt. pails has worked better for my pantry space.

The main reason why I use plastic pails/tubs over glass jars is because I have "little hands" that like to be my helpers. I have had those "little hands" drop too many jars that have broken in their short life so I find the plastic route to be safer and easier for my little hands to handle. 

For more Works for me Wednesday, head over to We are THAT Family.

4 comments:

Taylor at Household Management 101 said...

What a wonderfully organized pantry, and I love the tip! Thanks for sharing your ideas at WFMW (that is where I found you).

Julie Willis said...

I really like how organized it all looks. I get a pail like that occasionally and use it for all the composting items the chickens won't eat. Someone carries it out evey day or so. Much cheaper than one of those $40 ones!
Again great pantry!

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet said...

Your pantry looks quite organized with the containers. :D Great idea!

Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

That is a great idea...why buy all those organizers for the same price when we can add in ice cream with it.
I did my Sams Club run yesterday as well.
Thanks for linking up the recipe for Tasty Tuesday. You are my kind of cook. We have to be with our 5 kiddos, don't we? :)