The Finnish Diet?

Back in 2008, my friend Lesley said she was having a Finnish Summer. I thought she meant a trip to Helsinki - she actually meant a finish summer- one where she planned to finish all her craft projects, so she could start the autumn with a clean conscience, and clean craft room - nothing hanging about waiting to be completed. I told Bob that in March we would be on a finish diet - attempting to eat up everything in the freezer, and the pantry. 

For a long time now, I have been accumulating glass clip top jars for storing dry goods. Vintage 'Le Parfait' and Kilner, and newer IKEA and Wilko. Mostly from Charity shops - a run through the dishwasher, and a fresh rubber seal and they are fine! 

But they are heavy even when empty. I had a number with just a small amount of rice, flour, lentils etc left in them. I decanted the contents into plastic boxes, and set the jars aside to wash and pack. Warning! Those fittings are not interchangeable - it took two of us 35 minutes to match up 4 jars, 4 lids, 4 seals and 4 pairs of wire clips!

Bob made me promise to label the parts next time I took them to bits for washing! But now the jars are packed, and we will work our way through these boxes [noodles, rice, couscous, lentils...]

I am very fond of pretty tins - especially ones where the design is printed on the metal, and not a paper label stuck on afterwards. These seem much more common in Europe than over here - I have a lovely French biscuit tin, and a can which held lobster bisque, a Spanish paprika container, and a Belgian coffee tin. But British ones seem less common - apart from the occasional Christmas Special or commemorative tin. Waitrose pilchard tins are fun- but the picture is on the lid which gets discarded and they are rather small to keep things in. My Mamade tins are in use as pencil pots, but again, they have no lids. Liz keeps her fancy teas in Tate&Lyle tins -green Golden Syrup and red Black Treacle. The iconic "lion & bees" design dates back to 1883

This is one of my favourite tins - bought on holiday in Belgium in 2001, from the Delhaize supermarket. I have refilled it with fairtrade cocoa countless times in the last 20 years. The Belgian Delhaize brothers started their grocery business around 150 years ago, choosing the lion for their logo, and the motto 'unity is strength'. Back in the Victorian era [when packaging first became a big thing] they commissioned artists to design beautiful labels and posters [much like Pears Soap did over here]

Aren't these amazing? I suppose nowadays people want their labels to be functional and informative - with words like essentials/basics/special/deluxe and traffic light warnings, and calorie counts.

I remember the year these first hit the shops - late 1980s I think. They were £1 a tin. A number of generous church members gave them to us at Christmas. We had fourteen tins stacked in the corner behind the tree! I have one tin left, and like many people, I keep basic sewing supplies in it. 

Poor Rosie- she was so disappointed the first time she saw the tin at Cornerstones, and thought it was full of cookies!

Do you have a favourite tin? Are you a zero-waste glass jar fanatic?  And have you kept tins for 20 years simply because you think they are lovely?