Gransnet forums

House and home

Storing blinking storage containers........ Any ideas?

(53 Posts)
loopylou Sun 08-Nov-15 16:07:54

I've cleared out the cupboard used for storing containers, matched up lids with bottoms, chucked out miscellaneous misfits and now don't know how to store them without ending up trying to match them up again.

How do you store yours? Ideally they'd all be neatly stacked but that'll take up too much room.

Thank you smile

loopylou Mon 09-Nov-15 07:53:58

Sigh.....
Might be the easiest solution I guess!

kittylester Mon 09-Nov-15 09:58:36

Lots of my lids have clip down sides which makes then a b****r to store. Also, I freeze in different portion sizes eg: 4 people, 2 people, 1 person and very small people, so have a huge variety of boxes.

henetha Mon 09-Nov-15 10:08:35

Mine are on a top shelf in the big cupboard, and fall out regularly.
About twice a year I climb up and give them a good sorting out, but they soon revert to mayhem.

loopylou Mon 09-Nov-15 10:18:04

They're like mine then kitty.......

Dee Mon 09-Nov-15 11:26:52

I can't believe there are so many gransnetters out there who are as obsessive about plastic containers as I am, thought I was the only one.
When my future daughter in law first stayed with us and saw my 'Tupperware' cupboard she burst out laughing as her mum (originally from rural Bangladesh) had one exactly the same, it was a perfect bonding moment.
Re writing on them, I have a roll of masking tape in my kitchen 'useful drawer' - now thats a whole new thread - and its ideal for tearing bits off for labelling, easy to write on, cheap and comes off easily when you need it to.

kittylester Mon 09-Nov-15 11:39:17

Our drawer is just called 'The drawer', Dee. We also have a 'big cupboard' and 'the other big cupboard' and the twirly cupboard which is where I keep my tupperware!

Synonymous Mon 09-Nov-15 11:48:49

These boxes can clearly be a bugbear in every home in the land - and not just in mine!
We downsized and moved recently so when I was choosing what went where I decided that to ensure order I would use the top 'Le Mans' tray in one corner cupboard to hold all the boxes because they wouldn't be able to fall out. All the lids are on their sides in one large box and particular sizes and shapes, that are too similar to want to sort out every time I need one, are bagged within that box.
We put a new kitchen into our bungalow before we moved in and chose to have drawers rather than cupboards and what a difference it has made. Where necessary the top shelves in the wall cupboards have very light plastic take out baskets so that I can pull them right out and see all the contents at a glance. Finding any item is much easier nowadays. smile
Moving is a pain at the best of times even when you are young but since we hope not to move again we have really tried to organise everything better than we ever have before. When DD visited recently she was most impressed and since she is very organised herself that was high praise indeed. grin

GrandmaH Mon 09-Nov-15 12:15:11

Elegran- you are not human!
How I wish I could be that organised.
My large floor cupboard is full of mis-matched containers & every time I open the door they all fall out.
Every now & then I have a massive clear out & it is Ok for about a week.
DH is terrified t go near it.
I would love to be a tidy person but I am just NOT.
Don't even mention the under stairs cupboard.

grannylyn65 Mon 09-Nov-15 12:27:34

I only ever find the base when I've thrown away lid, there is a boxful under stairs and a carrier bag full in Granny's shed!!

suelowe Mon 09-Nov-15 15:36:04

Apart from a few left-over oddities , I use only big Total yogurt tubs in the fridge and freezer . Easy to store empty , ready for re-use , as lids and tubs stack inside each other .Total lids are transparent AND Total tubs are white to write on with black markers once the outside sleeve has been edged off whole . Sorted !!

Glassie Mon 09-Nov-15 15:36:51

Elegran you win hands down in my book. I have been looking for the right idea and now I have it. Bottom cupboard, now that the old Chip Fryer has been consigned to the tip !! Thank you.

loopylou Mon 09-Nov-15 16:29:05

grin grin. I'm just so pleased I'm not the only one becoming defeated by blasted plastic boxes....perhaps it's a shameful secret that's now out in the open -- sort of a storage container slut?--

Elrel Mon 09-Nov-15 17:31:38

Oh yes, so many posts I could have written myself. Sisters under the skin indeed!

loopylou Mon 09-Nov-15 18:14:05

I had a brainwave painless ! I have a small butcher's block / sort of little trolley cupboard, normally storing my casseroles.
My sorted containers fit neatly into the cupboard bit, the casseroles are stacked in the former container shelf!

Yippee!! Sorted....until next time grin woe betide the b....r who messes them up (I'm glaring at DH here)

rosequartz Mon 09-Nov-15 20:38:25

I have a big plastic storage box that all my plastic storage containers go into in the bottom of a kitchen cupboard. There is another one filled with plastic jugs, etc, which goes into the awkward corner, so I only have to pull out the big plastic box to get at the other one.
However, I do seem to have a lot of lids without bottoms!

I would love big deep drawers in the kitchen!

rosequartz Mon 09-Nov-15 20:39:58

Similar to these, but I don't bother with the lid:

www.google.co.uk/search?q=big+plastic+storage+box&biw=1024&bih=677&tbm=isch&imgil=Uf2NOlfdFQOfGM%253A%253BGygWUMau-04xmM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Flargeplasticstoragecontainers.org%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=Uf2NOlfdFQOfGM%253A%252CGygWUMau-04xmM%252C_&ved=0CFoQyjdqFQoTCPG56KeZhMkCFQIcDwod2EEIug&ei=XwRBVrGOHoK4PNiDodAL&usg=__43prc94fPJtsfnaNyS0byk2XjGg%3D#imgrc=Uf2NOlfdFQOfGM%3A&usg=__43prc94fPJtsfnaNyS0byk2XjGg%3D

shock?

TriciaF Tue 10-Nov-15 10:17:02

rosequartz - Husband loves those big containers, he has loads of them for storing things in the barn.
Most of my small ones have disappeared now. Apart from some medium sized ones for flour cereals etc which are always in use.
I put things to be frozen into plastic bags, if necessary a few plastic bagfuls into one of my old containers, without lid.
I also have some glass containers with lids, 3 sizes, which stack on top of eachother, for things like salads. I don't think it would be safe to put them in the freezer.

rosequartz Tue 10-Nov-15 10:29:56

I would love to have some big drawers!

However, I find those very large plastic storage boxes very useful, I have cake tins in another one, odds and ends of rarely used kitchen eqipment eg a potato ricer etc, in another.

Funnygran Tue 10-Nov-15 10:33:22

I can never work out why I have so many 'odd' lids but I have to keep them in case the boxes ever reappear. Our local Indian takeout does fantastic plastic boxes with clip on lids and they go through the dishwasher. A good size for individual portions and doesn't matter if they do eventually split. As to keeping the drawer tidy.......!

kittylester Tue 10-Nov-15 11:38:28

Roseq, I have big drawers and some in the kitchen too!! grin And, you do realise that the things on the link are just more storage boxes, don't you?

rosequartz Tue 10-Nov-15 20:30:28

Yes kitty - but they are large storage boxes in which can go medium storage boxes in which can be stored small storage boxes
Or yarn, or photos, or all the junk that DD left at home!
Or even big drawers - except I don't have any of those grin

Purpledaffodil Sat 14-Nov-15 20:00:52

Well thanks to this thread, I now have organised plastic containers. The bottoms are stacked in a drawer ( The table cloths that were there have gone into linen trunk) then the lids are in two small plastic baskets in the next cupboard. I have round lids in one basket and square/rectangular lids in the other. I feel amazingly organised and cannot imagine why I never did it before. Even after 4 days, they are still organised too shock

rosequartz Sat 14-Nov-15 20:14:56

Purpledaffodil

After years of hauling everything out from under the sink in the kitchen to get at one item lurking at the back, I organised mine into plastic baskets, smaller than the ones holding the plastic boxes.

The more I organise the cupboards the less likely I am to get a new kitchen with those whizzy carousels, so it is self-defeating in a way!

NfkDumpling Sat 14-Nov-15 21:03:16

This thread is wonderful and it's so nice to realise I'm pretty normal - except for the likes of Elegran!

Our boxes are on a cupboard shelf and most do not stack. (Himself bought them and i daren't criticise his choice). Given the least opportunity they delight in falling all about the floor. However, I have recently discovered a spare folding box which exactly fits the shelf, so at least they no longer leap out at me when I open the cupboard door. It remains to be seen how long they keep in order.

simranpatel Tue 02-Aug-16 13:30:14

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.