We enjoy peanut butter in our house, and as a result, we end
up with a lot of empty peanut butter jars. There was a time when I would have thrown an empty peanut butter jar in the garbage, but now rather than throw them away and have them end up in a landfill, I save them and reuse them whenever I can. Since todays peanut butter jars are made of
plastic they are lightweight and easy to use. Make sure that you wash them thoroughly and then you can use them for many things not only in your kitchen, but in other areas of the house as well.
Here are some ideas:
Popcorn
Storage
Popcorn bought in a plastic bottle at the grocery store is
generally more expensive than popcorn bought in a plastic bag like the one you
see here. Instead of paying for the convenience of the plastic bottle you can
store your popcorn in a recycled peanut butter jar. I keep my popcorn kernels in
the freezer because they stay fresher longer that way and I don’t know about you,
but I’ve had more than one bag of popcorn develop a hole in it somewhere and spill out
wherever it was stored. The recycled peanut butter jar solves that problem! They also fit much better on the freezer door than
the bags do too.
Leftover
Storage
Peanut butter jars are great for leftover storage not only because they are
clear, so you can see what's inside the jar, but also because you are using something that you basically obtained for free making them economical as well.
Food Storage
My friend Barbara, over at Fun and Frugal living, uses
recycled peanut butter jars to store cooked bacon in her freezer.
I love, love, love this idea from Nike at Choose to Thrive: Fill an empty jar with an inch or two of peanut butter and then fill with celery sticks. What a great idea for a summer road trip.
Image: http://choosetothrive.blogspot.com/2011/07/summer-road-trip-1-car-snacks.html
Gift
Giving
I always thought homemade granola would make a nice gift for
someone. Anna over at Cookie Madness has the same idea here. A peanut butter jar
would be the perfect container to use in this case. This is her granola in the photo,
by the way.
Image: http://www.cookiemadness.net/2012/05/tropical-granola-for-gift-giving/
Grease
Disposal
No one should pour grease from draining meat down the sink drain because it will solidify and could end up as a costly repair job. One way I get rid of cooking grease is to put it in a jar for disposal in the garbage can. When I make tacos, I put the meat in my strainer, which has been set over my large glass handled measuring cup. I let the grease cool a little bit first, and then it pours very easily into one of these jars, which I can then dispose of easily.
In Conclusion
These are some basic ideas for what you can do in the
kitchen with peanut butter jars. There are many
more ways to reuse these jars. You can Google "reuse peanut butter jars" and get some good ideas. I saw a really cute idea where someone drilled holes in the lid and put string through it to make it look like a button and then stored buttons in the jar. Whatever you decide to do with your jars, remember to "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without".
Belinda
© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”
Hi Belinda,
ReplyDeleteI can think of so many ways we reuse our jars. Sourdough starter in the fridge, playdough for the kidlets I babysit each week, freezer storage for leftovers, vegetable seed storage to keep leftover seeds till next years garden, putting soap scraps into with water, for making liquid soap, storing nails and screws in the garage.
Great reminder to get as mush use out of things we bring into our homes!
Sounds like you put them to very good use, Lili! :) I like the soap scrap idea because I don't like to use my regular dishes for this because they end up tasting like soap. Great tip. :)
DeleteHi again,
DeleteKris (in my comments section) just gave me another use for peanut butter jars. To froth milk for lattes. She pours skim milk into a jar that can seal tight (like a used peanut butter jar), shakes vigorously for 30 seconds, then heats in the microwave to add to coffee, for a frothy latte.
Something a lot of folks don't think about, but when you buy that jar of peanut butter, you are paying for the jar, too. Just like I wouldn't throw out a couple of spoonfuls of the peanut butter, I'm not going to throw out the jar, until I'm sure I've gotten at least some use out of them. I'm the same way with plastic bags inside of boxed foods. I paid for that bag, too. So I use it again, to package brown bag lunch items in. Then it gets tossed.
Have a great weekend!
That is a good tip, Lili, thanks! So true about paying for that jar as well and the plastic bags inside the boxed foods. I know Carol saves the bags her bread (like buns) comes in, in a reused tissue box and then will reuse them for a sandwich or something similar.
DeleteHope you have a great weekend too!
I save Coke caps for mycokerewards. Peanut butter and Miracle Whip jars hold them so they don't scatter all over the counters, floors.
ReplyDeleteGood idea! I save the Coke caps too, Linda. I don't like the new website though as it is hard for me to navigate anymore. I still save them though. :)
Delete