Last week, I asked “How long you financially support your adult children?” I received a lot of comments on this subject. Basically the same (it is fine to help them out short term, but they need to learn to stand on their own), but with different stipulations. Tara over at Streets Ahead Living said her mother might help her out initially, but then would insist she take a job at Costco so she would at least have good health benefits. In Tara’s opinion, “Any other form of financial support is only going to hurt your kids in the long run.” I completely agree.
Brad at Richmond Savers lived at home for two years rent-free while he saved up his money and was able to pay off his student loans. His wife’s parents gave her the same deal, too and it “…literally changed the course of our lives.”
My parents always told me that as long as I was in school, I could live with them rent-free. It was wonderful not to have to worry about finding enough money to pay rent, while also going to school. I graduated in June of 1996, and started a job as a seamstress for a traveling fashion show in August. I was allowed to live at home while waiting for my job to start, but I signed up at a temping agency in the meantime, because I wanted to have something to do and also have a little cash. I would never have asked my parents for money when I was capable of earning it myself.
I guess the clever segues have gone by the wayside for good. I cannot think of an easy way to transition to this next question, so let’s just jump in again.
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Do you repackage your food? I was at Costco recently, and they had a set of 3 plastic cereal containers on sale for $19.99. I looked at them, picked them up, and then came to my senses and realized my cereal already comes in a convenient package, that keeps it airtight if I remember to roll down the inside of the bag.
Looking at the containers, I was transported back to a time when I slept over at a friend-of-a-friend’s house. The wife of this friend had a mother who was a very VERY successful tupperware lady, and this mom had given the couple an entire set of tupperware. When I say an entire set, I don’t mean a few of this and a few of that. Every single item of food had been removed from its original packaging and repackaged in tupperware. She must have had 500 containers, I kid you not! While they all fit together nicely, it must have taken a ton of time to repackage, and it would cost your average, non-tupperware-sales-lady-mother-having person an absolute fortune.
Her pantry looked absolutely amazing, and for a long time I dreamed of having a pantry just like hers. Everything fit together so nicely, they stacked perfectly, it looked so neat and organized. But the sheer amount of money it would have taken to purchase all that Tupperware was ridiculous. Thousands of dollars, easily.
So, do you repackage your food in containers? If so, do you do this for organizational purposes, freshness, or another reason altogether?
I buy a lot of meat in Costco-sized packages, so I take those home and break them into meal quantities, repackage them, and freeze. Bulk flour and sugar get put into metal canisters (free since they were originally food packaging) because the paper bags are flimsy and prone to breakage. Otherwise food usually comes in an adequate container, so why bother?
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We repackage meat and sometimes cheese as well from costco 🙂 Basic Rule: If you need to use some now and freeze some for later – we repackage. Other than that we tend to try to use the original packaging.
Admittedly we do have some more convenient packages for higher use annoying items to deal with. Like Flour, Sugar, Brown Sugar, and we reuse salt and pepper shakers. I think that is everything on my list 🙂
OK, I didn’t even think about flour, sugar, etc when I posed this question. I bought some really nice glass containers from Ikea exactly for that purpose, so I could display them on my counter and they would look nice.
When I get large quantities home from Costco, I do repackage into smaller containers for freezer storage – think bagels in individual ziplocs for the freezer.
I rarely repackage food, but when I do it’s usually to keep it fresh longer. When my oldest was a baby and liked to snack on Cheerios, I found that the cereal got soft before we even made a dent in the box. So, I started using one of those plastic containers for his Cheerios, and it worked like a charm. I’m also thinking about getting some nice glass containers for baking staples, because getting flour and sugar out of bags can be annoying.
Ahhh, the humidity of the Midwest – I miss you not. I remember the cereal going stale in the humidity. In the arid climate we now live, you can leave the graham crackers open for a week and still have crisp crackers. I love it, because the bags graham crackers come in are too small to fold down and keep the rest fresh. Who eats a whole bag of grahams?
Good point, Jen.
I definitely repackage meat unless I’m going to use it right away. When I break up packages of steaks, chops, or ground meat, I put them in a meal size portion, wrap them in plastic wrap, and put in zip bags. This double layer really protects against freezer burn. Even the double layer freezer bags are not as good as this, as the plastic wrap really keeps the air from touching the food. Sometimes, I will get a bag of trail mix and try to repackage in 1/3 cup portions, or other, but for the less perishible dry goods, I don’t repackage as often. However, now that we’ve got my 13 yo grandson full time, maybe I should rethink that. Great question!
I am definitely going to try that double-wrap meat thing. I try not to have a ton of meat in my freezer because I don’t want the burn. When I buy large quantities of ground meat, I try to make at least 3 pounds of meatballs and cook them up so I have an easy go-to in case I run out of time during the day.
We buy a lot of items at the co-op, so I will use zip-loc bags to get my flour, sugar, quinoa, rice, etc. and then transfer everything to empty glass jars when we get home so they stack more neatly in the cabinet. I do have a few glass canisters that were purchased, but mostly we re-use jars from spaghetti sauce or salsa. But cereal, crackers, etc. that comes with a bag and a box (which already seems like overkill) just stays in its packaging. I know pantrys like the one you have shown are all the rage on DIY blogs and Pinterest, but I’m not willing to invest the time and money.
OK, I swear I didn’t read this note before answering the comment above. How funny we both use spaghetti sauce and salsa jars! I have seen them on Pinterest, too but what I was trying to illustrate was the sheer number of tupperware containers this woman had. It was astonishing.
Flour, white sugar, brown sugar get put into plastic storage containers. Rice, beans, raisins, chocolate chips etc – I have a bag of plastic clips from ikea that I use to close up the original bags, and call it good. I do have a plastic basket/bin that I throw all these odd shaped bags into, to corral them and keep them from getting lost behind other items in my pantry. I also use these clips on the bags inside the boxes to keep cereal and crackers fresh.
I live alone, so when I buy meat, I repackage into single portions before freezing. And on the odd occasion when I buy a loaf of French bread, I will repackage it into a ziploc to keep it fresh longer.
I really like the basket-to-keep-everything-from-getting-lost idea. And I LOVE those Ikea clips!
The only stuff I repackage is baking items like flour and sugar. I only repackage those things because I have some canisters that are large enough to hold them, and it helps keep the kitchen clean because flour doesn’t come flying out of the bag every time I open or close it.
I like how easily those bags rip, too. Nothing like sweeping up granulated sugar from a wood floor. I love how it sticks in the cracks… (Here is a tip that really works! If your brown sugar gets hard, don’t throw it away. Put a sliced apple in the container for a few hours, and the sugar softens right up. I did this and it really works!)
What a cool concept! I have never thought of doing this before. We don’t buy in bulk often enough…but I will show my wife this and we will find out if it will be a new habit soon!
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Just make sure you can use everything you buy before it goes bad. Or split it with someone else.
I repackage everything but not because I want too! Here bugs get into everything and once you find a bug in something the whole bag has to get thrown out something I loath to do. So every item I buy has a special container and a special place in my cupboards.
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I went through a period where I somehow got pantry moths in my cupboard, and had to bag everything that came home until they were all gone. It took a few months, if I recall. I feel for you.
I have clear airtight containers that I use for baking staples, and recently I’ve started recycling used oatmeal cylinders. I wrap them in brown paper bags and label them with what goes inside.”beans”, “fancy grains”,”rice”, “nuts”. Otherwise I have too many half used packages of dry goods around making a mess. This keeps them tidy and easy to find what I’m looking for.
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So what constitutes a “fancy grain”?
I totally repackage most of my food. Not just because of sizes, but because of bugs and humidity. I’ve slowly been collecting the Oxo pop-top containers over the last few years, and replacing the zip top bags that were previously in the pantry (mine *almost* looks like that picture, except 1/4th the size). I’ve had enough bug infestations in flour and rice that *everything* is airtight, so bugs can’t escape from the container, and if they do, it’s unlikely they’ll get into anything else. In the freezer, we still use the zip top bags though.
I would also like to introduce you to this wonderful concept of humidity, which I know is lacking in your part of the country (and I’d love to be there instead of here!). I had college roommates from arid west Texas, and when we moved in made fun of me for putting every last piece of food I had into some kind of airtight container. A week later, when my chips and cereal were still crisp and theirs were soggy thanks to the humidity, they made a run to Wal-Mart to pick up airtight containers! We were all sitting pretty when the dorm got invaded by ants and roaches 🙂
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Yes, humidity is something I do not miss.
I don’t repackage too much of the food I buy. If I get a larger package of meat, I’ll divide it into smaller pieces and freeze them. I always put clips on my cereal and chip bags so they don’t go bad. My mom used to repackage rice and put it in a container (not sure why). She also had three canisters – one for tea bags, one for sugar and one for flour. We don’t have enough counter space for that!
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I repackage certain foods. There are only two of us here but the best deals on meats are in the value packs. So I take it home, divide into smaller freezer bags and save some money. The thing about this is I HATE it… and sometimes it freezer burns easier this way, even when I try to get all the air out. I repackage a few things in the pantry like dried beans, rice, or quinoa. This started out of necessity after having one too many dried-goods-showers.
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I have started saving all my glass jars that come with metal lids – think spaghetti sauce and salsa. I want to have a pantry filled with whole foods, rather than prepared and processed. I imagine it will look lovely when I spray the lids all the same shade of pink so everything matches. But is it really repackaging when you buy items in bulk, like beans? I shop at the bulk store, where nothing is in a package…
Similar to Anna in her above comment, we usually repackage items that we buy in bulk that can be apportioned into single cooking sizes and pulled out of our freezer at a later date.
We bought a stand-alone freezer for our garage and get a whole lot of use out of it!
My wife Laura tries to batch cooking as much as possible, as much of the time is spent in setup and cleanup anyway, so it’s quite efficient to cook many nights worth of the same meal all at once (for instance frying chicken cutlets) to freeze them for a later date.
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Sounds like none of us are rabid re packagers! I’m pretty much like everyone else…repackage sugar and flour because I hardly use it except to make hummingbird food. I usually cook large meat purchases then baggie and freeze the cooked left overs for future use.
I actually hate plastic containers because the lids always get divorced from their mates, which drives me nutto…oh, as for nuts, I do buy them in bulk and repackage into zip locks 🙂
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1500! I cannot imagine wasting a second of my time on repackaging our food. The containers in which the food is bought has never failed to keep the food fresh – that I know of. I have scales to play and posts to write, so no repackaging for me. Glad you saved $20 and put the cereal containers back on the shelf;)
Have a marvy one!!!
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I make sure sugar and flour get sealed up in some form of tupper ware. I tend to buy the 20 lb bags because both items can last forever as long as you keep them dry. The other reason is it helps keep any bugs that may make their way through my cupboards. The other area is meat. I’ll buy in bulk so I will go and divide the portions up and use a vacuum sealer I bought a while back to help ward off freezer burn. Also works good if you purchase a giant block of sliced cheese. Divide them up into smaller quantities, freeze, and use as needed.
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Funny how we’re all on the same page! I repackage meat, fish and stuff I buy in bulk. Otherwise, I find plastic clips work for securing plastic bags (with the humidity here, the “roll down” doesn’t work for long!)
However, I do transfer the contents of partially empty containers into smaller containers because the less air surrounding food, the better. Sometimes if I buy a large container of something, I’ll transfer the contents into a smaller jar for more frequent use. (Some foods will stay fresher if you aren’t constantly opening and closing the container.)
Just a note for those who reuse food containers from the store — the plastic ones aren’t made for long-term storage or reuse. If you’re worried about chemicals leaching into your food, buy good quality storage containers or use glass.
I break meat in to individual serving sizes and freeze in milk bags.
I don’t bake much in the summer so I put the bag of flour a plastic container that help cheap ice cream. Nothing worse than creaming butter and sugar and then having to stop because you can see movement in your flour bag.
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Hi Mrs. 1500! I’m pretty allergic to cooking altogether, so the less time I can spend around food the better. I can’t imagine taking time to do that every month when, like you said, the food tastes fresh as long as you remember to fold the bag over. Since I would have come within an inch of my life if I’d forgotten to do that when I was a kid, I have made quite a habit of it. I’d rather do wash dishes than repackage food. The less time it takes me to prepare food (and I do love healthy eating), the better!
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That organization…it’s…mesmerizing…
How’s this for classy – whatever pot we cooked the food in, tends be the storage container until the next day when we eat the leftovers.
Refrigerated of course, we’re not animals.
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We only will use those sorts of plastic containers for leftovers. The rest of our food just stays in the packaging it came from. That said, I recently did go through all our containers and matched them up with lids, and threw out all the stragglers…it was a good feeling to get organized.
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We rarely repackage because well, we don’t buy much stuff in bulk. Then again, when I consider the time it would take to do it and the hassle, from buying containers etc, it gets even the more discouraging. Meat though we divide into meal size portions for freezing, not much repackaging there.
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