by Texas Homesteader ~
My baby sis knows that I reuse various containers. So she’s always checking with me before she sends something to the recycling bin. The other day she held up an empty container of Parmesan cheese (like you sprinkle on pizza) and asked if I’d like to have the empty container. RancherMan HATES that stuff so I’m never able to buy it. So I enthusiastically accepted her offer. She was a bit surprised at my excitement. But when I told her what I was gonna do with it…
Remember my battle cry: Use WhatCha Got! You see, the Parmesan lid fits a standard canning jar opening, whether 1/2 pint, pint or quart. I’ve wanted to get my hands on one of those lids for awhile. But again, RancherMan hates dried Parmesan cheese so I’ve never bought any. Now that I’ve gotten this empty jar from my sis I’ll get started repurposing it.
First I filled a small 1/2-pint jelly jar with baking soda. Then I took that lid off the flimsy plastic container it came with. Finally I screwed that super-functional lid onto my glass canning jar of baking soda. But why? Well I’m so glad you asked…
Ease When Baking
This is perfect to use when I’m baking! The small jar takes up very little space in my spice cabinet. And one side of the lid opens wide, making for easy measurement when I’m cooking.
Plus the top of the lid levels off the contents in my tablespoon. The excess simply falls back into the jar. No mess!
Non-Toxic Dish Powder
The other side of the flip-top lid has sprinkle holes. I’ll use this side when I’m scrubbing my pots & pans. I typically use baking soda for an environmentally-friendly option when a little extra cleaning uuuumph is needed. It’s cheap, it’s effective and it’s non toxic.
Since starting this simple-life journey I’ve begun looking at many things with a different eye. My sis looked a little sideways at me when I explained to her what I was gonna do with the lid. My guess is she won’t offer me her next Parmesan cheese jar. I think she might have the perfect idea about how to reuse it!
~TxH~
Other Kitchen Homestead Hacks
- Easy Reminder For Kitchen Stove
- Make Your Slow Cooker More Efficient
- No Cooking Fat Down The Drain
- Labeling A Glass Jar
- Cleaning A Narrow-Neck Jar
- Keep That Broccoli Fresh
- Don’t Waste Onion Trimmings
- Heat-Free Way to Peel Tomatoes
- Cleaner Vegetable Chopping
- Quick Baking Measurement Reminder System
- Easily Separating Cream From Milk
- Using Frozen Water Bottles In The Kitchen
- Don’t Waste It – Free Vegetable Broth
- Easier Deviled Eggs – No Mess!
- MYO Crispy Taco Shells CHEAP
- Tame Kitchen Appliance Cords
- Save Your Fingernails When Cleaning
- Paper Napkins In A Paperless Kitchen
- Use ALL Of Your Spray Cleaner
- Quick Coffee Stain Cleaning
- Repurposing Mesh Bags For Scrubbers
- Cute Windowsill Container For Herb Cuttings
- …and many MORE!
See All Homestead Hacks
Other Great Posts About Reducing Waste
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- I Love Mother Nature So I Recycle LESS!
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- Ditch The Plastic! Using Glass In The Refrigerator
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- Reducing Plastic In Personal Hygiene: Deodorant
- No More Plastic Razors – How To Use A Safety Razor
- Where Exactly Is ‘Away’?
- Replacing Plastic Wrap With Beeswax Wraps
- Eliminate Plastic Produce Bags
- Repurposing Empty Coffee Containers
- Denim Repurposed Into Fun Crafts
- 5 Zero-Waste Products We Love
- Easily Reduce Or Eliminate Junkmail
- Making Your Own Pourable Sugar Jar
- Paper Napkins In A Paperless Kitchen
- Repurposing A Parmesan Cheese Lid
- Zero-Waste Hygiene
- Natural Cleaning – Homemade Laundry Detergent
…and Many More Repurposing Posts
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great idea
great idea for a small sized parm container. we buy the huge ones from sam’s club. i haven’t repurposed any yet, but was thinking they might be great for holding spaghetti or angel hair. hummmm. thanks for getting me thinking!
I’ve got a huge Sam’s container of black pepper Karen, my mind is spinning on ways to use it when it’s empty. Oh I won’t kid myself, it WILL be empty sooner or later. LOL ~TMH~
Great post! Thank you for sharing it on our Simple Homestead Blog Hop, as one of the co-hosts I will be featuring your post this week! Look forward to seeing what you’ll be sharing this week! – Nancy ( Nancy On The Home Front )
Awesome Nancy, thanks for the feature! ~TMH~
Thanks for the inspiration. I made my own baking soda container and shared it on my blog this week. I get so many good ideas from your blog. – Margy
Awwww… Thanks for your sweet comment Margy. ~TMH~
I keep all sorts of empty containers and I may just have one of those. I hadn’t thought to use it that way, but it makes perfect sense! I keep empty herb containers to put my own in, too.
I keep those little spice bottles, but most of mine are plastic. I’m working on saving small glass bottles for my herbs. ~TMH~
Great re-purposing idea!
This is one of my favorite repurposing ideas Roseann – so helpful! ~TMH~
I use mine for homemade bathroom cleaner. 🙂 Stopping by from This is How We Roll Thursday hop.
PERFECT! Love your repurposing idea. So glad you stopped by Alicia. ~TMH~
Lids are great to put on glass jars that is filled with them candy sprinkles to sprinkle on ice cream, cupcakes, etc. One of my favorite uses :} Use as Powdered Sugar mason jar dispenser as well as a cornstarch dispenser. Keeping containers full of baking soda (I buy large bag of baking soda @ Sam’s Club) for at my kitchen sink and one in each of our bathrooms as well as my laundry room. It does an excellent job of cleaning, deodorizing and polishing my stainless steel sink and it’s cheap and non-toxic. The containers are also great for storing craft supplies in, buttons, small beads, glitter, paper clips, etc. Thing to do is repurpose and reuse as the Famous Tammy Quote: “Use WhatCha Got! “
LOL Colleen. Use WhatCha Got INDEED! Thanks for sharing all your great tips. ~TMH~
Simple but very effective way to re-purpose this container. I like it and your sister …well I too think see might not you the next one. Pinned it to my .. Discover Repurposing Board on Pinterest… @ https://www.pinterest.com/my4re1/discover-repurposing/ Greg
Awesome Greg, thanks for the pin! ~TMH~
I have been using those lids and jars for some time now. They work great with cinnamon and sugar to do toast and your cinnamon apple slices also an extra lid for leftovers on jars. I buy sodioum bicarbonate by the 50 pound bag at the feed store to use in laundry and my household mixes , it keeps in a bucket just fine. Love your website. Happy Holidays!
Humm…. Never thought about the feed store for such bulk. I’ll be sure to check it out – thanks for the tip, Teresa! ~TMH~
Great minds think alike- I did the same thing too! Great for scrubbing, or deodorizing carpets (& catboxes)
🙂 Indeed, Laurinda! ~TMH~
I just saved two after reading a post on another blog. I love to repurpose items now that I’m living away from town. Everything I take to our cabin home either has to get repurposed or hauled back to town for recycling or disposal. It’s a lot easier and more fun to find other uses. – Margy
Isn’t it funny how your mindset changes when you move away from town, Margy? It sure had an effect on us! ~TMH~
I did the same thing! I buy a big bag of baking soda from Costco and then fill my jar as I need to. Had to get used to screwing on the lid backwards though. I don’t know if thats true with all these lids or just the one I used. It’s very handy though!
Interesting, Pam. I don’t think mine screwed on differently. Wonder what the difference is? ~TMH~