I save any good glass container that I can get my hands on. Best part? They come free with our food! Like... jalapenos, pickles, jelly, salsa, cheez whiz, and peanut butter. I try to use them for all sorts of food storage, but especially for things that we are going to want to reheat in the microwave.
The peanut butter jars we buy (Smuckers natural creamy) are the perfect size for Jesse's lunch containers. Soup, chili, etc... no spills in his bag AND he can heat them in the microwave without getting cancer. Hopefully.
The mismatching lids were starting to bug me so I bought some enamel paint at the craft store on base.
Then I went back for some black for Jesse's peanut butter lids. Cause I wasn't thinking when I picked out all my favorite BRIGHT colors that maybe my husband wouldn't want sunshine yellow in his lunch ;o)
Two coats did the trick and now I have some matching lids!
I don't know what actual crafty people do to get oil based paints out of brushes (and off of hands) but I just mixed some baking soda with some coconut oil and a little water. Worked great!
Once the lids were dry they were ready for storing leftovers! Yay for being
In the past week, I accidentally washed two lids in the dishwasher. Don't do that. Also, be careful when stacking them in your pile of dishes to dry by the sink... apparently the paint scratches easily ;o)
Oh and don't lick the lid. It's smells awful and is surely toxic. Okay now I'm wondering if it was a good idea to paint our FOOD STORAGE jars with toxic paint. Hmm. Well, at least they look pretty!
Kitchen tip: you can write directly on glass with a sharpie. That way you can tell which jar of red stuff in your fridge is homemade salsa and which one is homemade pasta sauce. Or pizza sauce. You get the point. So all you have to do to remove the sharpie note is wash it and scrub gently with an abrasive sponge. Not the crazy kind that takes your skin off and scratches glass/metal... the gentle kind that doesn't.
My Dad taught me that... HI DAD!
such a good idea! maybe try sanding the lids first to scratch the surface? what about spray paint? you've got me thinking about all my mismatched lids!x0x0xx0x0x0x
ReplyDeleteI bought fire engine red spray paint but the mr said it wouldn't do what I wanted. So I went with this instead.
DeleteI would go for non-toxic paint for food storage... just a thought :)
ReplyDeleteDo you know of a better option that would work the same as the paint I used? I have more jar lids to make pretty!
Deletehmmm it seems most non-toxic paints are for interior walls or only stick to porous surfaces...
DeleteI'm wondering if the paint with which the lids are originally painted is non-toxic? My first thought is no- but they are also not chipping off into the food. So if you can find paint that doesn't chip- maybe that will work?
DeleteYeah that's my thought, too. It's on the outside so hopefully it's okay. And agreed, the original lid probably wasn't completely great for us. BPA on the inside or something. I'll try not to fill them to the point that the food comes into contact with the lid.
DeleteI totally would have painted the lids also. I usually just use my Smuckers lids for grease jars. Never thought to pack my lunch in them. I don't like plastic containers either. Two (or three?) summers ago I sewed about 30 reusable lunch bags so that we could stop using plastic bags in our lunches. We're still using that first batch!
ReplyDeleteDoes this make me a hippie?
Oh I totally want to have reusable lunch bags but I haven't gotten around to it, yet. So yes, that totally makes you a hippie... that and your cloth napkins ;o)
DeleteYou could just buy mod podge or mix a mixture of elmers glue-all and water until spreadable. Then paint over the freshly-painted lids. It will act as a "shellac". You could also buy non-toxic paints that will work equally well once "shellaced" with the mod podge or glue mixture.
ReplyDeleteOh good! Thanks for the tip!
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