When I worked in a Hilton Hotel, the kitchen staff gave me some of those big jars that food like pickles came in. I was in Texas so needed to use glass jars against the bugs. They were great! But a little bulky to use, needing two hands to take out of the cabinet. When I moved north and had kids, I switched to clear-ish Tupperware. I still have the big jars, though!

There are a few things I store in containers but the chance of spoilage especially of things that contain natural oils are too high to put them in anything plastic. Some metal containers like the last picture have enough gap but the gap also will allow grain beetles and moths to lay their eggs in the crack between lid and container. They can work their way up if the top is light enough and spoil the whole thing. I purchase the smallest size that I can use and if it spoils or develops bugs I just pitch it. I do not like the smell of oil that has gone rancid in so many things.

I do wonder how you tell where and when you purchased something if you toss away the container. I seldom purchase everything from one store or brand.

Well, I dont really have trouble remembering any of that. For certain things I am brand loyal so that's a no brainer. For other things like sugar I feel like one brand is the same as the other, so again, no brainer for me.

As for when, well if it's been so long that i cant remember that, i dont feel bad about tossing it and replacing it. I buy smaller amounts and rotate frequently,since it's just 2 of us.

maifleur, when I lived in Texas we always put bags of flour etc in the freezer for a week or so before decanting into jars. It seemed to take care of the eggs.

I don’t cook or bake as much as I used to so I don’t keep a lot in the way of staples, I do keep some flour bagged and in the freezer. Rice and any other staples are in air tight containers in the pantry.

Maefleur, If I think I’ll need that information for later, I put it on a sticky note and tape it on the inside of the container lid.

Amylou what a beautiful pink set!! I store in large plastic containers. Some of the containers are stored in the refrigerator to deter grain beetles and weevils, particularly more expensive stuff like the Muesli mix I buy that has nuts and grains and raisins.

bpath we had a major infestation a couple of years ago of grain moths and occasionally, like today, I find one some where. One moth if bred can lay lots of eggs so while putting things in the freezer will prevent those from hatching it does not prevent new eggs from being laid. I have the moth traps scattered around the house an the last time I checked I had 5 moths. Seeing that one today is a reminder to open the last ones and purchase more. For some reason you can buy in the store during the winter but not the summer when they are more active.

FLour, sugar and powdered sugar are in stainless canisters that are tightly sealed. Extra flour is in the basement refrigerator's freezer. Extra sugar is in a drawer in it's own bag.

Rice is stored in clear plastic OXO "Pop" containers. Love those things! Great for oatmeal and granola as well. I like that they're clear - can see what I have and how much. I also store brown sugar in one. They come in multiple shapes and sizes. Target and other such places carry them.

No mice or bugs. I keep a glass jar of sugar on the counter just for convenience and it's cute, for filling the hummingbird feeders. I have about 80lbs of sugar still in the paper bags it comes in, stored in the pantry. I have a large yellow plastic tupperware exactly like Rose has I store regular flour in. Just keeps it separate from the King Arthur self rising flour still sitting in the paper bags it comes in.

No mice or bugs here either. I keep rice in a cabinet, along with oatmeal, corn meal etc. Flour and sugar are in tin canisters in my baking cupboard, powdered sugar and brown sugar in plastic tightly lidded containers alongside.

I do keep specialty flours like my flour for bread and self rising in the bags it comes in - but the largest I typically buy of any of that type product is 10 #s. I do Costco sizes on lots of things including rice sometimes but not flour or sugar.

My Aunt lived on Guam approx 28 years...everything was frozen. Sugar, flour, cereals, bread, her spices...she couldn't keep staples in a cupboard without getting bugs.

I have these in the pantry for flour, sugar and baking soda. They are the last plastic storage containers that I own. I'd like to replace them with glass, but I haven't found any container that I like as well.

Tupperware. The real trademarked product. I use some TW canisters along with a lot of Modular Mates and Freezer Mates. Smaller items like nuts, baking chips, rice or beans are sometime grouped in larger Modular mates in their original packaging.

Everything gets stored in the freezer in glass or plastic containers or the packaging they came in. We have had both mice and moth problems but not for the last 15 years since I started storing things in the fridge and freezer. It is very bad here in BC. Many places that I work at have an ongoing moth problem particularly but mice encroach as well.

In the freezer.

Growing up, my mom decanted flour, sugar, rice, and cornmeal into rubbermaid containers. So of course I did the same, for most of my adult life. Recently I've purged my ancient rubbermaid for new, BPA-free plastic containers. The new containers are sized to take the product, bag and all. Came in handy this week for the KAF flour recall, I was able to confirm my flour was okay. In the past I wouldn't have had a clue because the bag would have been long gone. I keep backup flour, sugar, etc on the pantry shelf wrapped in the plastic grocery bag it was bought in. We enjoy grocery shopping almost every day, so no need to store much in the way of spare product.

Once I had to discard a paper bag of specialty flour (seminola) due to bugs, but to be fair it was two or three years old.

We've had mice in the house a few times over the years, but the only thing they've eaten is a stick of butter I left on the counter to thaw. Little tiny teeth marks all along the top, lol! (and yuck).

Some flour and sugar are stored in Rubbermaid containers in the pantry. Any backup supply is stored in the freezer, along with rice and cornmeal.. We've never had bugs or mice except one time when I brought some stuff home from my Moms. She was cleaning out her pantry and, oops, it had bugs. But that was years ago.

I have numerous air tight stainless steel containers for my dry goods storage and prefer them over the glass, which is so heavy. I use Dry Erase markers to keep track of purchase dates, types of flour, etc., though I usually keep the product in its original packaging while in the stainless container.

When I lived in the deep south, we all had to be vigilant against flour moths and grain beetles, it was terrible. Haven't seen the first one here in the upper south location.

I live next to a dairy farm so everything is in a plastic or glass container to discourage the mice. Mine is not as pretty as the other picture, so I won’t show you guys!

I keep the bag of flour in an airtight plastic pail. For everyday use, I keep it in a cookie jar on the counter (along with white sugar and tea bags in the others)

For several years my mother bought a brand of instant coffee that came in tall, square glass jars. She saved them and shared with me, and I also kept the ones she had. I keep all my pasta, dried beans and peas, rice, sugar, flour, nuts, popcorn and so forth in those jars ( and smaller quantities of such things are in pint glass canning jars). Because they are square they fit efficiently into storage space. I've changed many of the lids from the original plastic to tighter sealing ones.

I don't go through flour quickly at all so those jars stay in the freezer. The dried legumes and any excess pasta, sugar, nuts stay in the cool, dry basement, where a dehumidifier runs much of the year, until I've used up the current jar in the kitchen.

I haven't had a mouse in the house for a few years, but have in the past, so instead of keeping boxed mixes in the kitchen I have a clean plastic lidded cat litter bin that I store them in, also in the basement even though with my kitchen remodel I now have room to keep them upstairs.

I'm thinking about replacing my Rubbermaid containers since I can't find any information as to if they are BPA free or not. Looking at Sistema brand.

BPA was used in polycarbonate plastics. Those are the harder, clearer plastics that you could see through. The harder surface was more stain resistant. The more rubbery or flexible opaque type of food storage containers never had BPA in them.

The trend now is to put the BPA Free label on everything. That is like putting a trans fat free label on a package of dried peas.

Rose, I have the same green Tupperware containers from 40+ years ago. Still working just fine, and I have a couple of other colors too and a few Rubbermaid containers. I also have some Oxo containers I purchased for pasta and rice. They are ok but I don’t think they seal as well as Tupperware.

Watchme, this is what I found about the Rubbermaid containors: http://www.rubbermaid.com/en-US/learn-bpa#bpa

Apparently there was a line of containers that did have BPA in them, fortunately I don't have them.

most of staples are in mason jars, easy to see and relatively cheap.

got rid of all my plastic containers. they stained and i felt were never clean. i use all glass containers now, mostly pyrex. its great b/c we can heat up our leftovers in the container. i would never microwave food in plastic container, afraid of chemicals leaching into the food.

We had the dreaded pantry moths in our Dallas house. They came in bird seed for my bird. What a pain. I had those same Tupperware canisters too! Lost my last one in the flood. Several of them had the lids crack. I was pushing down in the center as you were supposed to do to seal them and my hand went right through. Just split open. I hated losing them. Now I use the old style locking lid jars with the metal lock down clamps and heavy rubber seals. I have a couple that are hard plastics too. Rice is always kept in the freezer. I buy small bags of flour and sugar which fit bag and all into the jars for storage in the pantry.

I have the same canisters for flour, sugar etc in a dusty blue. Had to have been bought in early 80's! Throw mixes such as pancake, cake, muffin in freezer.

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S - I never microwave plastic either! Anymore when I put something I've made like cookies in a plastic container I line it with waxpaper first.