Some More About Using What You Have – Containers, Part II

Containers, Part II: While Part I discussed primarily food and food-grade containers, in Part II we going to talk about the re-using of non- food-grade containers (primarily) from our own and friends experiences. These are the kinds of containers you come in contact with in your everyday life that can have multiple, valuable uses. Here are just a few;

Prescription Pill Containers/”Bottles”: The ones we’re referring to are the plastic, screw-top variety that generally come in a an orange color, see-through, with a white top. They are cylinder-shaped and vary in size, happily, with our two most common sizes used being about 1& 1/4in. wide X 2&3/4in. high and 1&1/2in. wide X 3 &3/4in high.

We peel the labels off and wash the containers in a luke-warm, dilute, dishwashing solution and rinse. We then turn them upside down until dry and use them for around-the-house storage of small nuts and bolts, nails and screws, small parts for household equipment, and sewing paraphernalia. They also lend themselves to back-pack (BOB, WOB, GOOD, and Get-Home Bags) uses as mini-kit containers (fishing, medical, repair, parts, etc.) and auto kits of similar types and uses. Labeling is mostly kept to a minimum because of their see-through feature.

PH Hint: If you can’t find enough of them around your house (or in the size you need), check with older parents or grandparents: they’re almost sure to have some and maybe in just the size you need.

The Pill Pouch: I first ran into these little jewels a while back when my wife used them to separate and store our vitamins and medicine for a vacation trip. These zip-lock type little pouches ( about 1& 3/4in. high X 3in. wide) are heavier and more sturdy in construction than sandwich-type baggies and although you can see through them, they also have the convenient feature of a designated and prepared section on the side to enable you to indicate contents and/or use, notes, etc.

These little pouches are described as air-tight, and both moisture and spill proof. They also lend themselves to being reusable.

Please note that these small pouches, while excellent for their advertised purposes, would also find use in your mini-fishing kit (to separate: fish hooks, swivels, and split shot, etc.), your fire-starting kit (to hold a few vasaline-soaked cotton balls), your glasses-repair kit (separating screws and/from parts), your mini-medical kit (for a quick-find of any small, important item), or any other small kit you carry in your pack. Also, please note that they will fit nicely into the larger of the two prescription pill containers we’ve described in the preceding section.

PH Hint: I found that we didn’t have enough pill pouches to meet our current (and expected future)‘kit’ needs so we broke down and purchased fifty for less that than $2 at our local big box store.

Next time, we’ll continue our discussion of non-food containers and their uses. In the meantime, keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers moving fast.