Recycle those bigger shaker bottles that spices come in. I reuse them and fill with cinnamon sugar or flour (for that quick shot you need to make great gravy).
It is so much handier to have one bottle to grab while I'm cooking than having to go to the pantry for the canister of flour. I also like to use them to make my own spice blends. This saves so much time when you're putting dinner together.
By Maile from Onalaska, WA
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I have found that getting black pepper out of a paprika container is much easier than using the pepper shaker I keep on the stove top. Instead of going shake - shake - shake - shake - shake - shake, I just go sprinkle - sprinkle, and I'm done.
I use empty plastic spice containers to hold baby powder. Works great.
When spice bottles are empty, the plastic ones you get, wash them out with hot water and soap, remove labels and let air dry. When dry, you can store sewing pins, needles, buttons, small nails, tacks, anything small.
Save your empty spice bottles (the ones with the holes in the top). They are perfect for holding kids' small paint brushes or the fine paint brushes you use for arts and crafts.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I make jewelry. While at the craft store the other day I checked out the bead storage section. The bottles, etc. were very expensive. So I decided to improvise. I cleaned out my spice rack of old spices to reuse the plastic clear and semi-clear bottles for bead storage. It works great, except I don't know how to get the smell of some of the spices out of the plastic bottles and how to get the labels off! Any suggestions? Help!
By Maw-Maw from Athens, GA
Hey, I'm a beader too! If you half-fill the bottle with bicarb soda, close the lid and leave for a few days it should absob the odours, simply empty the bottle and rinse. Guaranteed method to remove sticky labels is to soak a cotton ball with Eucalyptus Oil and dab over the label, allow a few minutes for it to soak in and you should be able to gently remove the label.
Soak in a sink of hot bleach water. If stickers dont come all the way off which they should and they do leave a sticky residue use funiture polish believe it or not. The oils from the polish remove the sticky feeling on just about everything non porous that has sticker residue.
I use vinegar for the smell. Just put the vinegar in the bottle, and leave it for the day, and then wash with your dishes. I use a product called "goo gone" for the labels.
Any of those ideas will work for the spice odors. For labels I can usually peel off the top layer of the paper, then I soak it in water until I have only glue.
Goo Gone will remove labels. Fill with vinegar or baking soda until odor is gone
To remove labels, fill with water and microwave until water gets warm-to-hot. The label and residue should peel right off when water is the correct temperature. You might have to microwave it a few times.
To get the glue off the bottle...use peanut butter. Rub it on, let it sit for 15 minutes and rub with a dry paper towel
To get the glue off the bottle...use peanut butter. Rub it on, let it sit for 15 minutes and rub with a dry paper towel
Does anyone have any ideas for reusing glass spice jars? Thank you.
By Sheilah Link
You can refill them with spices bought in the bulk section.
Or make your own spice blends by mixing from your other spices...like pumpkin pie blend or taco blend or even a cinnamon/sugar blend for toast.
You can etch the bottles:
www.thekitchn.com/
Or google 'free printable spice labels' and print out new labels.
Put sugar or cocoa powder or flour in for sprinkling on foods or to flour the cutting board when rolling dough etc.
Keep Parmesan cheese in for a smaller table version.
Use as a small bud vase or flower vase.
Use for any kind of small storage like bobby pins, safety pins, paper clips, push pins, toothpicks, hardware like nails, nuts, bolts, screws, sewing notions like pins, needles, bobbins, buttons, snaps, beads, etc.
Also any kind of collection of small things like small toys, dice, marbles., coins..
Make small snow globes.
www.womansday.com/
makinggifts.blogspot.com/
Make little banks out of them:
giverslog.com/
I saw on a blog where they filled them with cake & candy sprinkles of various shapes and colors. You could prob do the same thing with small candies. (She also saved beach sand from various vacations in small bottles & labeled them.)
Fill them with layers of colored sand:
www.ehow.com/
A few more ideas:
planetgreen.discovery.com/
Maybe use to store buttons, needles, safety pins, paper clips, or for food like those small amounts of extra tomato paste, chopped chives etc in the fridge?
Great for packing things in for lunch (salad dressing, peanut butter, etc.).
I used spice bottles and baby food jars as well as storage for washers nuts bolts nails screws etc. I use a 1/2" x #3 screw to fasten the lids to the bottom of a cabinet above my work bench. (I have 20 spice and 16 baby food jars in my layout) Once attached I simply twist the jar onto the lid and I have the perfect out-of-the-way place for all those little odds and ends.
I use mine to store small amounts of paint that I mixed for a certain project. Usually it is acrylic paints that came from a craft project.
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To keep salt and pepper (or other spices) from spilling when traveling, camping, or picnicking re-use the smaller spice containers with lids.
