Reduce and Reuse – but Recycle the Pickle Jar

by Ali on October 15, 2015

I’m a big fan of repurposing things. I’ve turned old glass bottles into soap dispensers, tiles into coasters, and old windows into a greenhouse box. But, my favorite repurposing technique is reusing containers and jars, often originally containing food, to store other things. However, it doesn’t always work out.

I especially hate throwing out glass jars. It seems such a waste, when they could be used for other things. After I use the contents of a jar, I wash it well and use it for something else. One day, after finishing a jar of dill pickles, I washed it and put it aside to use later. Not long afterwards, I picked up a big bag of dark chocolate Peanut M&Ms (yum!) at the grocery store. I brought them home and looked for something to keep my snack in. Remembering the pickle jar, I emptied the bag into it and put it high on a shelf (so no one stole my snack).

The next day, I went to get a few M&Ms. I opened the jar to a whiff of pickles. Hmmm. I tasted one. Yep, M&Ms infused with pickles. Not exactly what I was going for. And the longer the M&Ms were in the jar, the more they tasted like pickles. I still ate them because, c’mon, it’s still chocolate. And, on the bright side, no one wanted my snack.

So, lesson learned – put the pickle jar in the recycling bin!

Here are some other items I’ve repurposed (without the new contents smelling like the old contents):