These two little pint size containers are my kitchen staple for storage. To break our soda habit we switched to powdered lemonade drink mix (any brand works!) There is a gallon size pitcher in the refrigerator
always full of lemonade. I always make it weaker in flavor as our family prefers it made that way, a bit less sugar, too!
After the lemonade powder is gone I whip off the paper label and tada! I have a handy dandy storage container for spices, salad dressing, leftover pancake batter, sourdough starter, dried fruit, etc. etc. etc. (If I start on various uses of this container in the garage, to help organize my husband's paraphernalia, the list would be long enough to go to the moon and back. But you can see the amazing re-uses of a powdered drink container that just happens to also wash up nicely in the top rack of the dishwasher.)
For those of you that don't drink powdered drinks I have also used the Rubbermaid pint size storage container. At this particular time I have over 46 of these two varieties of versatile food containers being used in my kitchen to hold spices. Yes....spices!
Through adversity we can learn some wonderful lessons and new ideas. A few years ago when my husband was told he needed a heart transplant we immediately cut all sodium from our diet!
Drum rolllllllllll....I discovered spices! The good news is that with exercise, lots of medication, and a no sodium or potassium diet Jim's heart has returned to a more normal size and is pumping at full capacity again! (Prayers and many miracles occurred of course, but our doctor credits my husband for completely following his doctor's orders!)
Our spices are arranged in alphabetical order, labeled on the lid and the side of the bottle. I have a long narrow spice shelf in two cupboards that connect, but alas, I needed more room as my collection grew. Now I also have two shallow drawers filled with my pint size spice bottles and an even shallower drawer filled with the regular tiny spice bottles from the store. However, spices are sooooooooo much cheaper in bulk (hence the beginning of the pint size bottles.) I know of gals that throw their spices away after a year saying they have lost their flavor, but not me. Sometimes you have to use a bit more spice if the flavor has waned, but some of my spices are very old and they aren't buggy, gross or bland.
How in the world could someone have over 45 spice containers? Well, alphabetically they start with anise (which I very very very seldom use) to my yeast which I quite often (my extra yeast is in the freezer, this is just a daily working supply at my fingertips.) A few things I love and use often are sesame seeds, poppy seeds, tri-tip seasoning, pork rub, powdered chicken bouillon, lemon pepper, citrus sugar, citrus salt, taco seasoning, pizza sauce seasonings, onion soup mix and magic mixes! Because of our no sodium diet, which has been upgraded to low sodium (I use Redmond Real Salt) we make all of our food from scratch. That can be a real hassle every time you cook so I make big batches of seasonings and mixes storing them in my handy dandy containers!
Unfortunately I don't have sources for some of my favorite mixes, but will cite sources when available. These mixes all store well in tightly covered containers in the cupboard, where we live anyway. The temperature in our home ranges from 60 to 85 degrees, low humidity, and no critters lerking nearby to attack our food supplies (except for pesky ants sometimes when it's raining. For whatever reason ants seem to like my warm oven and the stray pieces of popcorn left behind on the floor after a movie festival!)
Tri-tip Rub
5 tbls ground black pepper
3 tbls garlic powder
2 tbls onion powder
2 tbls paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbls rosemary
1 tbls salt
Measure all ingredients into your storage container, then shake, shake, shake to mix well.
I rub this on the tri-tip the night before and keep it in the refrigerator until BBQ time!
If I use this seasoning on pot roast I just rub shake it on top of the roast in the crock pot, with 1 tsp of beef flavored bouillon to 1 cup of water mixture already at the bottom (don't want to wash the spices off the top!)
Taco Seasoning
16 tbls flour (I use wheat flour for everything)
5 tbls + 1 tsp chili powder (taste your chili powder! I have very hot chili powder, bought in bulk, so I use it sparingly...hence I would only put in maybe 2 tbls in this batch. When totally mixed I do a little taste test adding more chili if needed.)
4 tbls dried onions
2 tbls salt (I would only use 1, but that would be bland to most families.)
3 tbls paprika (remember paprika is also a from the chili family, you gotta know your own spices and their strength!)
6 tsps beef bouillon powder
2 tsps garlic powder
2 tsps onion powder
Measure all ingredients into your storage container, then shake, shake, shake to mix well. Add desired amount to ground beef for yummy tacos. (This is where some creativity comes to play...if I want to have a meatless taco I can sprinkle a bit of this seasoning on top of the normal lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, beans, rice, etc. fixings! Plus if we experiment with cracked wheat as a meat replacement this flavoring would still work and be tasty. Remember we are scientists in our own kitchens. Please forget here that I flunked chemistry, but do remember that my brilliant twin sister assists as needed with my culinary feats. The blessing of Verizon Wireless cell phones saves our food from certain disaster over and over and over!