Organizing your pantry with mason jars is my number one hack for storing food long term and keeping your kitchen cupboards clean and tidy, with easy access to your favorite foods. I’ve been using glass jars for 15 years, and they’ve become an essential part of my kitchen, making life a lot easier.
I love using mason jars for organizing, as they look good, are easy to open, and allow me to easily see what I am looking for. When I first lived with one of my sisters out of high school while studying in Vancouver, I shared the kitchen cupboards with her and a roommate. Since my sister and I did our groceries together, we shared the same food cupboards and drawers.
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My sister was not very organized and always bought nuts and seeds but kept them in plastic bags and never seemed to clean the drawers out or finish the bag. Thus, I wasted so much time looking through the drawer to find what I was looking for. Not to mention, half of the items were stale as she never knew what she had in the mess and frequently bought the exact foods over again, so they were always 2-3 bags of the same half-empty food, and you never knew which ones were fresh or how stale some were!
After moving into our next shared place, I invested in mason jars to store our food and maintain an organized pantry. Mason jars are the best way to organize kitchen cupboards and store essential food items that are frequently used. I hate searching through messy cupboards or twisting ties to keep plastic bags closed.
Mason jars are great for storing food, as the airtight glass containers keep dried goods tasting fresh. When I moved overseas to Australia and, more recently, back again to Canada, mason jars were among my top initial purchases, as I love keeping my whole foods organized in them.
Ideas For Organizing Your Pantry With Mason Jars
There are so many ways to organize with mason jars. If you have limited cupboard space, mason jars look great along the back of a kitchen counter, on open shelves, or even on top of the fridge. In fact, storing food in mason jars is great for small spaces as they can be stored outside of vital kitchen cupboard space while making a kitchen look great.
I have used mason jars to store food inside and outside my kitchen cupboards. Storing the glass jars on open shelving added a warm, homely feeling that was clean and tidy with a lovely ambiance.
When my partner and I bought our first apartment, I realized how limited our kitchen cupboard space was when we moved in. I was filling up the kitchen cupboards with all my glass jars when I realized there would not be enough space to store all our food and tableware. Since I love having my kitchen stocked with all my whole food and frequently used kitchen staples, I placed the mason jars along my kitchen counters, and it added a colorful vibrance that everyone commented on.
Organizing food cupboards with mason jars is a great way to store essential pantry items. Mason jars are also great for storing food in your fridge or freezer. I use them to store my fresh vegetable juices, such as celery or these three liver detox juices. When storing food in the refrigerator, such as my homemade salad dressings, jams, or sauces, I use plastic mason jar lids and metal lids to create an airtight seal for storing the dry goods in my cupboards.
The one thing I love about mason jars is that they come in various sizes yet only have two different lid sizes; thus, you can have a drawer full of the two lid sizes to fit all your jars. You don’t have to waste time looking for a lid size that fits only one specific jar. I find it so annoying when drawers are filled with various-sized Tupperware that each requires its own particular lid; thus, you have to be careful never to lose a lid; otherwise, the storage container is useless.
I use the large mason jars to store my bulky kitchen essentials such as rice, beans, granola, and nuts. The smaller jars are great for storing foods or spices you use less frequently. I use the wide mouth medium-sized mason jar to make salad dressings; then I use the smaller two-jar sizes to store fresh juices and sauces in the fridge or freezer.
If you want clean, organized cupboards and BPA-free glass storage containers, mason jars will be your top kitchen essential for storing dry foods in your cupboards and leftovers in your fridge or freezer. These versatile storage jars of different sizes are the best way to organize your pantry. The clear glass jars make it easy to find what you’re looking for, while the airtight lids keep your pantry staples fresh.
Kitchen Counter Organization Using Mason Jars
Using mason jars for kitchen counter organization is one of the easiest ways to create a clean, organized, and functional kitchen, especially if you are limited on cupboard space. Instead of overcrowding your cabinets, storing your frequently used foods in glass jars along the back of your kitchen counter keeps everything easily accessible while also making your kitchen look more put together.
I started using mason jars on my kitchen counters when I realized I simply did not have enough cupboard space to store all of my pantry staples. At first, I was unsure how it would look, but once everything was lined up in matching glass jars, it completely transformed the space. The jars added a natural, organized feel to the kitchen while also making it much easier to see exactly what I had on hand.
One of the biggest benefits of organizing your kitchen counters with mason jars is that it eliminates the need to constantly open and search through cupboards. Having your everyday essentials like oats, rice, nuts, and seeds visible and within reach makes cooking much quicker and more enjoyable. It also helps prevent overbuying, as you can instantly see when you are running low on something.
Mason jars also work beautifully for small kitchen organization, as they allow you to use vertical and unused counter space more efficiently. Placing jars neatly along the backsplash or under cabinets keeps your counters functional without feeling cluttered. When styled intentionally, they can even add a warm, minimal aesthetic that makes your kitchen feel more inviting.
My Top Foods for Storing in Mason Jars
Every time I come home from a Costco grocery shop or have bought items from the bulk foods section at the grocery store, I immediately take the foods out of the plastic bag or packaging that they came in and pour them into glass food jars. I then recycle all my soft plastics and cardboard food packaging, as I hate creating waste that goes to the landfill.
A crucial tip for eating healthy is to have your cupboards stocked full of whole foods so that you always have something to cook without having to go to the grocery store or eat out. Having your mason jars stocked full of all the whole food essentials that you use often is a great way to create healthy eating habits, especially when you remove the processed junk food from your cupboards.
Shop in the bulk section of your grocery store to stock up on whole foods, including nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes. A huge part of my success in maintaining a healthy whole-food diet is not stocking my cupboards with processed junk food and always ensuring that I have a variety of healthy whole foods on hand to cook with.
Below is a list of my pantry staples and some of the recipes I use them in on my blog:
- dried cranberries (kale apple cranberry salad)
- red lentils (sweet potato red lentil soup)
- slivered almonds, blanched almonds & whole almonds (creamy citrus salad dressing)
- pistachios (a new addition that is so yummy in salads)
- nutritional yeast (glory bowl & nutritional yeast salad dressing)
- whole oats & quick oats (healthy oatmeal & oil free granola)
- walnuts (chocolate bliss balls)
- chia seeds (blueberry chia pudding, apple chia pudding & mango chia pudding)
- brown rice (serve along side this high protein chickpea curry)
- coconut sugar
- white beans (white bean mushroom soup)
- basmati rice (low fodmap stir fry)
- sunflower seeds (low fodmap granola)
- flax seeds (chia flaxseed pudding)
- pinto beans (pinto bean burritos)
- erythritol monk fruit sweetener (great sweetener for diabetics)
- chickpea flour
- shredded coconut (air fryer granola)
- cashews – (oil free cashew dressing)
- cocoa powder (black bean brownies)
- popcorn kernels
- quinoa (low fodmap quinoa salad)
- homemade chocolate granola
- Gluten-free cereal blend (Nature Path mesa sunrise)
- pecans
- dates (date paste & date sweetened ice cream)
I also often store a gluten-free flour blend, black beans, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, chickpeas, and other homemade granola in my jars. I have two different sizes of wide-mouth mason jars and one taller small size. When I start running low in one of my big mason jars, I often pour the contents into a smaller jar, clean the jar, and refill it with more bulk items that I have.
The smallest mason jars are great spice jars or for storing a small fresh juice. I often make a big batch of vegetable juice and then pour it into the small mason jars, where it lasts for up to three days in the fridge or months in the freezer. Having a small amount of vegetable juice in the morning is a great way to get a boost of antioxidants and phytonutrients into your diet.
Mason jars of all sizes are the best food storage containers. You can buy them online at Amazon, or if you live in Canada, I purchased mine from Canadian Tire and Thrifty Foods.
If you ever need replacement lids, you can buy them separately, so you will always be able to use your glass mason jars even if you lose a lid, as they are easily replaceable. I hope you love organizing your kitchen cupboards using mason jars as much as I have!
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