Disclosure: I was provided OXO products for the #POPtober Challenge sponsored by OXO and The Container Store. By posting this, I am eligible to win prizes associated with the challenge. I was not compensated for my time, and my thoughts are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that keep me going in the kitchen!
Friends, I’m about to show you something that is a bit embarrassing . . . the mess that is my pantry! Yikes! ::Cue horror music::
I am a firm believer in buying ingredients from bulk bins:
(1) I buy only what I need, plus a tad extra in case I mess up a recipe (yes, that happens all the time);
(2) It saves money so that I can buy other things like books I don’t have time to read; and
(3) It’s more environmentally friendly (less packaging = fewer transport needed to ship the goods = smaller ecological footprint).
The only problem with buying from bulk bins is that you succumb to the wrath of the PLASTIC BAGS. ::Cure more horror music:: Lots and lots of plastic bags.
It has been a long while since I was able to see the back of this shelf. I can’t tell you how many times things have fallen out of it and landed in my tea or coffee. This area needed a “Caution: Hard Hats Required” sign, and the situation was dire.
When I found out I was selected for the #POPtober challenge to reorganize my kitchen with OXO POP containers, my immediate reaction was, “YES. YES. YES! Let’s tame this beast.”
The lovely people at OXO sent me a 10-Piece POP Container Set and 3 POP Cereal Dispensers to get me started on the clean-up that the HNB kitchen desperately needed.
I use OXO products in the kitchen all the time, so it was no surprise that I would be very happy with the POP containers. Overall, I was impressed with the sturdy quality of all the pieces and the fact that you could just open and close these containers with one hand. The lids for the container set has a simple locking mechanism—just lay the lid on top of the container, press the big circular button down to close, and push it again to open. The cereal dispensers have a lid that flips open and a rounded edge to make pouring out my morning sustenance (aka granola/cereal) so much easier. And, yay, I finally have a designated container for my homemade granola! No more wasted gallon-size freezer bags!
This beast took me a few hours to tame. Along the way, I learned several things about myself:
(1) I am a flour/sugar/nuts/grains hoarder. I counted about 7 types of flour, 5 types of sugar, 8 types of nuts and seeds, and 8 types of grains in my pantry before I began the big clean-up. I suppose it comes with the territory if you are a food blogger.
(2) I managed to stash away 3 separate bags of bulk bin amaranth and 3 bags of almonds in that jungle of plastic bags.
(3) There were a ton of nuts and seeds that have gone stale from neglect, mainly because couldn’t see that I shoved them in the shelf.
My strategy for the #POPtober Challenge was to divide and conquer. Instead of focusing on one spot, I wanted to conquer three: (1) nuts/dried fruit shelf; (2) grains shelf; and (3) flour/sugar shelf. For the most part, I left the bags of nuts and flour with sealable tops alone because they were the worst of my troubles. The nuts and dried fruit shelf is the smallest, so I saved the smallest containers for that shelf. The POP containers are completely flat and stackable, so I easily stacked a few of them and pushed them to the back corner of my shelf to save space.
I saved the bigger containers for the flour and gains. Ideally, I would have designated a separate container for each type of flour or sugar, but my shelves are way too small to facilitate that. Instead, I packed in several smaller bags of grains and flours into the larger containers, which has worked out well so far!
Finally, I’m able to see everything in the shelves in one quick glance instead of massive piles of bags!! HNB #POPtober Challenge: successfully completed.
If you like any of the POP containers that you see in this post, they’re available at The Container Store locations or at www.containerstore.com.
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