I buy a lot of stuff in bulk, usually from Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco. I tend to get carried away when I go there and stock up on things, which is great for having things, but not so great for storing them. My storage containers are an assortment of jars saved mainly from Trader Joe’s, mostly either the standard size Mason jars (used for jam) or the double-sized applesauce jars. When I get home and try to put away what I bought, I usually find out that I bought enough that I can’t fit all of, for example, the black lentils, in one container, so I end up using jars halfway or with some lentils in a plastic bag and some in a jar, which doesn’t appeal to my sense of order and isn’t as easy to store and label. (Remember, I have a labelmaker and I’m not afraid to use it.)

It only occurred to me tonight while shifting things between various jars that the smart thing to do would be to weigh the amount of lentils that fits exactly into a jar, and then next time, buy exactly that amount. I even have a kitchen scale, perfect for the purpose. It turns out that the amount is about 12 ounces for lentils. I often buy a pound or more, since that seems like a logical amount. Hence my frequent container troubles. Now I just need to also measure everything that’s significantly different in density from small lentils (large beans, flour, and flat grains like oats) and know how much of it to buy.

Why did such a simple thing, for which I had all the necessary information and tools, take me so long to realize?