How Do You Keep Pantry Items Like Cereal and Baking Ingredients Fresh?

[Jessie_Roos]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying to improve how I store pantry staples like flour, sugar and cereals to keep them fresh for as long as possible. While airtight containers are always an option, sometimes it’s not practical to transfer everything, especially when the original packaging could work if sealed properly.

For instance, I came across a detailed guide on how to close cereal boxes effectively that offers some clever tips. It got me wondering, what about other items like flour bags or sugar packs? Do you fold them in a specific way, use clips or have other creative hacks to seal them up?

I’d also love to know if you think it’s worth investing in specialized pantry tools like bag sealers or just sticking to simple solutions.

As a baking enthusiast, I’ve learned how important it is to keep ingredients fresh for better results in the kitchen. I’m curious to hear how others handle this challenge. Let’s exchange ideas and help each other make our pantry storage more efficient!

Looking forward to your suggestions and insights!

 

[retired baker]

keep the rodents out , the rest is use it or lose it.
The only stuff I freeze is almond flour, its pricey and needs to be cared for.
If in doubt, throw it out.

 

[Justfoodandlife]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying to improve how I store pantry staples like flour, sugar and cereals to keep them fresh for as long as possible. While airtight containers are always an option, sometimes it’s not practical to transfer everything, especially when the original packaging could work if sealed properly.

For instance, I came across a detailed guide on how to close cereal boxes effectively that offers some clever tips. It got me wondering, what about other items like flour bags or sugar packs? Do you fold them in a specific way, use clips or have other creative hacks to seal them up?

I’d also love to know if you think it’s worth investing in specialized pantry tools like bag sealers or just sticking to simple solutions.

As a baking enthusiast, I’ve learned how important it is to keep ingredients fresh for better results in the kitchen. I’m curious to hear how others handle this challenge. Let’s exchange ideas and help each other make our pantry storage more efficient!

Looking forward to your suggestions and insights!

I used to buy large portions of pantry goods and had a hard time finishing them. Now, I gauge how much I will use within a certain time period to keep everything fresh.

 

[letmepicyou]

There is only one answer, and 4 words on the subject...vacuum sealed mason jars.
You'll of course need a bunch of Mason jars (the bigger the better, wide mouth is great), you'll want to invest in the best lids you can possibly buy because you'll be cold-vacuuming not hot, so they will need good quality gaskets, and some decent funnels, and of course a Mason Jar vacuum sealer. You can see in the photo I have some corn meal that expired back in August of this year (still perfectly good when kept under vacuum), brown sugar (will last until the apocalypse under vacuum), sugar (once again, pretty much forever), flour (will extend life at least 6 months past the expiration date if vacuum sealed when fresh), rice (which has a ridiculous shelf life anyway, but once again, lasts almost forever under vacuum), and I saved the best for last.

The last jar contains an important chemistry lesson for bakers. It's a lesson in why baking soda causes things to rise. In the jar is an extremely hygroscopic (meaning it loves to absorb water straight from the air) substance known as "Sodium Carbonate" (Na2CO3). It is made from a substance you all have in your kitchen, "Sodium Bicarbonate" (NaHCO3), which is commonly known as "Baking Soda".

Baking soda works as a leavening agent because the bond which holds the hydrogen molecule to Sodium Bicarbonate is very weak, so weak that this bond will break down starting at 176 degrees Fahrenheit. When it breaks down (a process known to chemists as "thermal decomposition"), Sodium Bicarbonate releases water vapor and carbon dioxide to leave behind Sodium Carbonate. It is this release of carbon dioxide (and water vapor) which produces tiny gas pockets inside your chocolate chip cookies as they bake, causing them to rise.

Sodium Carbonate has a MUCH higher degradation temperature than Sodium Bicarbonate (over 750 degrees f, compared to 176 degrees f!). When it digests in your stomach, the left-behind Sodium Carbonate will react with the weak hydrochloric acid in your stomach, and the Sodium atom will complete its chemical journey by becoming Sodium Chloride, or ordinary table salt, inside you where it will remain in this form until you go to the bathroom.

And the point of all that, is that Sodium Carbonate is extremely hygroscopic (as previously stated), and so the vacuum seal is so effective it keeps this Sodium Carbonate in absolutely perfectly dry powder form, where it slips and slides over itself effortlessly. If you were to open that jar and leave it overnight, you would wake up in the morning to find it has turned into a gooey paste, after having absorbed all the moisture it could from the atmosphere. If it's good enough for that, it's certainly good enough for some flour, lol.

Hope you enjoyed the suggestion as well as the chemistry lesson. Happy baking!