I’m judgmental about food packaging. Some of it I find infuriating: All that waste! You know what I mean: lettuce in plastic boxes, green beans trapped in sealed bags. But there is packaging that’s admirable, especially when it lends itself to upcycling.
To Christopher’s annoyance, I have a little obsession with Bonne Maman jars. You know the ones I mean, those handsome, faceted, sturdy jars that started out full of jam. At our house they are deployed in every room, repurposed in a multitude of ways.
My collection started with the idea that we ought to use the jars as party glasses. I’m sure versions nearly identical to these are being marketed somewhere as Cape-casual cocktail glasses.
But that was just the beginning for these Goldilocksian jars and their no-nonsense lids.
In the kitchen, they’re great for storing sauces and condiments, dried herbs and spices, for mixing up dressings, keeping cut citrus from drying out, and making refrigerator pickles. And you can put them in the microwave should the need arise.
In the studio and the garden shed, they keep all kinds of supplies neat and easily accessible. The clear glass makes it easy to see what you’ve stored in them: seeds, screws sorted by size, pushpins, buttons. I use them to keep open tubes of paint from drying out.
All this and I still have plenty left over for drinks on the deck. If it’s a particularly raucous affair, and a few are smashed — well, there are plenty more in the basement.
