Does the Container Matter?

After 3 a three year battle with pantry moths, we keep many items in plastic, glass or acrylic containers. Keeps food fresh and bugs out but as importantly, I also like being able to see how much of something is left at a glance. My kids are famous for putting empty boxes back into the cabinets and then later wonder why I didn't buy more cereal, crackers, whatever.

The absence of boxes also means that they don't know if I bought Honey Nut Cheerios or "Honey Nut Tastee O's," or Ritz Crackers or "Buttery Entertaining Crackers," etc.

I use glass Pyrex containers with sealing lids, and Mason jars with reuseable lids. Nice and fresh, and no plastic! :)

I don't know if it makes food last longer or not. Bread, crackers, cookies, and cereal never stay in my pantry long enough to get stale.
I do put flour, corn meal, sugar, rice, and beans into airtight containers.

Cereal doesn't last in my house. However, flour and cornmeal will invite little buggies if not kept in airtight containers. I use big ziplock bags. Tupperware is overpriced.

Cereal does not last long enough in my house to get stale.

S.:

Yes, for me the containers matter.

For cereal? Nope. As it really does not last long enough around here to get stale. Maybe one box does - but that's Raisin Bran and I don't eat that. YUCK! LOL!!

Flour, sugar, corn meal, brown sugar, corn starch (not this so much) but all the others - even rice and boxed mashed potatoes - just call for ants and bugs to come in and eat...so they are properly stored in sealed containers...

Not sure the "container" matters but more that it is sealed shut and that most air is drawn out. You can do it with Tupperware or cheap off brand Ziploc bag. I have about 4-5 clear Tupperware containers that we keep various cereal in. It lasts a loooong time because we don't eat cereal every day but I like the options there.

I don't keep cereal around long enough to worry about it staying fresh.

I think the biggest issue with cereal is the shape. The containers are more tidy and don't turn over on their side and spill out everywhere.

I just think it's handier if I have them. Since we moved I haven't gone to the trouble of washing and doing them. We don't have the free standing pantry like we used to so there's no where to put the containers except inside the cabinet so I don't see any use of making dirty dishes.

The bags of cereal look messy when you open the cabinet but seriously, I am not that OCD that I can't just get over it.

I've never bothered with any of the special containers.
I've never had moths, bugs, weevils, etc.

Maybe if I had I would bother.

But, IMO, no need.

It may depend on where you live. We're in a dry area, so things don't tend to get moldy (a container might help keep the mold from forming), but I like containers to discourage bugs from snacking on my food.

I find that keeping both cereal and crackers in plastic containers does help it to keep longer, especially in humid weather.

Saltine crackers last longer and stay fresher in a container. But I hardly ever use them and I left them there for probably a yr and they were stale and left an awful smell in my plastic container. It doesnt give them eternal life!

Depends. We generally do not put cereal in a container, but we only had a short battle with the moths (threw out everything, called pest control) and are perhaps not as traumatized. I would buy a few containers to test. You may also find it helps children serve themselves without your food going stale.

I would think containers would be a mess. Something to clean. Something to grow stuff in. Yuck. And plastic isn't very safe to store food in anyway.

I know plastic is everywhere. We just use what it comes in (we try not to buy plastic containers if at all possible) but the food goes fast, no time to get stale.

For us it does. We have those cereal containers that you can get at Fred Meyer. Some weeks we go through cereal like water, other weeks it just sits there. Placing the bags of cereal from Safeway into those containers does keep it fresher longer in my house.

We just have 2-3 boxes open at a time and use them up before opening another box. But my kids are young and not helping themselves yet. Maybe if you have a lot of open boxes and they are sitting for a while, then it may help.

I just can't stand the look of inconsistency in my pantry, personally. I have everything in containers, and I label the containers using a label-maker. Anything that can't go in its own container goes into a labeled bin, for instance: "chips and crackers," or "breakfast foods" (including oatmeal, maple syrup, Bisquick, etc.), or "snacks" (which currently contains Goldfish, popcorn, and chile lime almonds). I like that my pantry is a thing of beauty, and as an added bonus, I can always see if we're about to run out of Cheerios without having to open a box and take out the plastic liner.

That said, it does seem like the Cheerios stay fresh in the plastic containers.

I expect it would help keep things fresher. But, even though I would LOVE to have a beautiful pantry (a la Hell on Heels), I can never quite figure out what to do about the cooking instructions on all those items. And I also "stockpile" certain things and like to have the expiration date still available on the package.

I have had a few items that were stale upon opening for the first time. It is nice to have all the manufacturer's labeling information right there, so that when I fire off an email to the company, I can give them what they need. They will then send me coupons for free replacements, often multiples.

Probably wouldn't happen without the info off the box so that they can track which production batch the items were in.