Using What You Have – Containers, Part I

Containers, Part I: “Waste Not, Want Not” is the title of the Wayne Hayes article published in Charlie  Richie’s fine magazine “The Backwoodsman” for Sept./Oct. 2009. Mr. Richie’s magazine is one of the few I try to read cover-to-cover (and save every copy for reference and enjoyment) and this practical and timely article on the re-use of food  containers is an excellent example of why. Here are some of the articles key examples and points:

• “… the re-using of certain items you buy. Mostly food containers. How many food grade containers do we discard everyday, from plastic peanut butter containers to bread bags? All of these items are safe for reuse and are already food grade.”
• “Take for instance plastic peanut butter jars. The big ones can be used to store things in the fridge just like Tupperware.”
• “I recalled … my grandmother and my great grandmother. Both of these women lived through extremely hard times, and I remember them saving every bread bag and food grade container. I remember them washing out the bread bags and paper milk cartons for re-use. We used these for everything from taking lunch to the garden to freezing butchered chickens and rabbits.”
• “My list of re-usable items is easy: any plastic food grade container you can think of.”
• “My recommendations for preparation of the plastic containers, is soak the label off the container in hot water. Try to scrub as much of the adhesive off the jar as possible. There is not a reason to make sure the adhesive is gone other than how it looks. If you have a dish washer, wash your plastic containers in the top shelf of the dish washer to sterilize them. Don’t put them on the bottom shelf because it will melt them.”
• “The plastic containers that can be sterilized in the dishwasher, I only see them going bad if you get tired of them.”
• “Bread bags are simply washed out with water, taking care not to get the outside wet if you can. Turn the bags inside out and hang up open end down. After about an hour turn the bag back right and let dry again. Now simply roll them up of fold them and put them in a drawer.”
• “Do not forget from whence you came.”

There is a lot more in Mr. Hayes informative article and we recommend that you read it in it’s entirety.

If you want to get a quick idea about “the Backwoodsman” you can visit them at www.backwoodsmanmag.com. The magazine purports to be “The Magazine for the Twenty-First century Frontiersman” and that description may very well fit a great many Americans in these times.

Next mid-week, PrudentHome will continue the “Using What You Have” theme with a Part II that will discuss some non-food containers commonly found around and some of their other uses. We might also throw in one or two containers that could be valuable enough to actually go out and purchase by themselves.

Until next time; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers moving fast.