To reduce your waste and preserve the environment, buying in bulk is one of the solutions to adopt on a daily basis. To do your zero waste shopping, you will need to store your food at home.
There are many choices of new and reused glass jars and in this article we will give you some criteria for choosing the right jars in which to store your food.
CONTENT:
Why use glass jars?
How to choose your glass jars?
1. The size/capacity of your glass jars
2. The number of glass jars you need
3. The opening mechanism of your glass jars
4. The shape of your glass jars
Why use glass jars?
In this article, I will talk exclusively about glass jars because unlike plastic containers, glass does not transfer any taste to food.
Glass jars have many advantages:
Glass jars are environmentally friendly
The glass jars are airtight and keep the flavours
Glass jars have a long shelf life
Glass jars are attractive and transparent
Glass jars are easy to clean
If you want to know more about the advantages of jars, please read our other article.
How to choose your glass jars?
To make the best choice for the glass jars you need, here are some criteria:
1. The size/capacity of your glass jars
The capacity of your glass jars is important because some foods take up more space and therefore need a large volume, such as cereals and spaghetti. On the other hand, some foods are more compact and require less space, so a smaller, more suitable container will be more suitable and storage in the cupboard will be easier, without losing space.
Here are some examples of jar volumes for different foods:
| Powdered sugar | Flour | Quinoa | Chia seeds | Coral lentils | White rice |
| 1 kg | 1 kg | 500 g | 500 g | 500 g | 500 g |
| 1,5 L | 1 L | 70 cl | 60 cl | 60 cl | 50 cl |
For pasta, this varies greatly depending on the type, so please see our specific article on this subject.
2. The number of glass jars you need
If you are starting out with bulk, I would advise you to buy a small number of jars at first, taking different sizes. This will allow you to adapt according to your needs and the progress of your transition to consumption without single-use packaging. In general, you don't switch to bulk from one day to the next, so the best thing is to acquire your jars little by little according to your needs, and above all to gradually acquire jars of all sizes.
Nomadic jars: These are stored on a storage shelf. This way, you have the right jar at hand at a glance. These jars are useful for storing leftovers, soup, washed vegetables, but also for preparing your shopping basket (cheese, meat, sausages, olives, etc.) when you make your menu.
Static jars: These are the jars needed to hold commonly used foods, pulses, pasta, rice, cereals, flours, snacks, dried fruit. The transparency of the glass storage jar makes it possible to quickly check whether it is necessary to restock or not.
3. The opening mechanism of your glass jars
There are 2 types of opening mechanisms for jars:
The "screw" type which is ideal for your bulk food
The "Le parfait" type which is ideal for making your own home-made preparations in canned form
4. The shape of your glass jars
The shape is of little importance if you have enough space at home. However, if you want to save space, choose rectangular jars instead of cylindrical ones.
Tip: Avoid stacking and use shallow shelves or drawers to store your jars.
To conclude...
Glass jars are the way to go for storing your food in bulk! I hope you've enjoyed this article and that you'll find lots of jars to choose from on your way to more responsible consumption.
See you soon!
