Day 3 – gluten-free, dairy-free. So far so good…and look, I organized my flours! If you’ve baked GF, then you know that it’s an art. You need to have a variety of flours to really have success. You can, of course, buy any number of gluten-free flour blends on the market. I’ve had good results with several. Most recently, I’ve used this all-purpose gluten-free baking flour. But I also like to have individual flours on hand. Sometimes I like to experiment! I keep flax and chia seeds around as well, they add a great nutritional boost to a variety of foods and they both make a good egg substitutes.
So, with this myriad of ingredients stashed in my fridge (which is where they maintain a better shelf life) I was having trouble keeping them all organized! The bags tend to rip and/or spill, and digging through them to find what I needed was a pain!
I decided that labeled containers would be a great solution. I thought glass would be best, but after checking around a bit I really didn’t want to spend that much on expensive storage containers. Then: lightbulb!! I had been seeing mason jars used for storage lately…probably on Pinterest:-) And, I happened to have a whole box of mason jars not presently occupied – score!
All that was left was figuring out labels. Because you know I wanted them to be functional and pretty, right? Right. A quick search landed me on Limeshot where I found these adorable labels specifically made for mason jars. Sweet, huh?
These free printables come pre-printed with a variety of pantry items on them but you can also print them blank. I needed mine to be pretty specific so I printed off the blank labels. I jotted down the ingredients I tend to keep on hand. Then….major nerd alert….I laminated them. After cutting them out I used a bit of masking tape to attach them to the lid. Easy peasy. I didn’t even have to cut all that carefully since the edge is hidden under the band anyway.
Now all that’s left is filling up my jars! I’m so happy with this storage solution. It’s pretty and practical and super easy on the budget.
What are your must have gluten-free baking ingredients? Any other storage tips?
I loved this idea for flour storage but I bet it would work great with other pantry items as well!
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Love this! I, too, store most of my baking stuff and even pasta, whatever else is laying around the pantry in glass jars. I have yet to find a good supply of Mason or Ball jars, but anything that I have previously purchased that came in a glass jar I saved — so I’ve used jelly jars, pickle jars, and any other kind of glass jars to store my stuff in. It works great!
Great idea to re-purpose glass jars! I’m going to keep that in mind!
What size mason jars are those? such a good idea!
Hey Jen, I suppose that would be helpful info;-) I believe they are 4 qt. jars.
Great idea! Do you keep all those listed (from the labels pictured) in the fridge? I have some of those items now like quinoa and flax but I keep them in the pantry, should I keep them in the fridge? Look forward to trying some of your gluten and dairy free recipes once I get my pantry stocked.
Hi Jackie! It is my understanding that gluten-free flours can become rancid more quickly than their highly processed counterparts. The same is true for flaxseed. The quinoa label pictured is for quinoa flour. I do store regular quinoa in the pantry. I am fortunate enough to have an extra refrigerator at my disposal so I realize that storing extra ingredients in the fridge may not be the easiest for everyone! Does that help?
Thanks Becky, that’s very helpful. You are always quick to respond so thank you for that.
Happy to help, Jackie:-)