# Products with useful packaging **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 24, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183 "2018-08-24T12:48:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/81 "2018-09-02T23:06:15Z")
> [@blob](#): > > Sorry for digressing, but what is used now instead? Bacti-cinerators. They plug in and can heat up a loop to glowing orange in a few seconds. Safer than an open flame. ---
**Author:** ![race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/race_to_the_bottom)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/82 "2018-09-03T00:37:26Z")
16,32,and 64 oz margarine and yogurt containers. 30 oz, (formerly quart) mayonnaise containers, wide mouth quart-size pickle jars, small glass jars in general. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/83 "2018-09-03T05:13:55Z")
There are several pickle jars full of nuts, washers, screws and bolts in my garage. Small coffee cans and Altoids mint tins are also useful. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/84 "2018-09-03T06:34:31Z")
An ice cream cone. The package is edible! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/85 "2018-09-03T08:00:28Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Kitty litter is sometimes sold in a perfectly good bucket. Yes, but it’s cheaper in the big bags. So buy a couple of the buckets of kitty litter, then when they are used up refill them from a bag. > [@Kimballkid](#): > > A classic example would be the old tin Band-Aid containers. I still have a couple, from Grandma’s estate sale. I just keep refilling them with bandaids, and keep them in the medicine cabinets. Now tyhe stores just sell bandaids in cheap cardboard containers. > [@E-DUB](#): > > Does baby food still come in those little glass bottles? Every garage I saw as a kid used them for screws, nails, etc. Grandpa’s workbench had a full row of the metal screw tops nailed to a board overhead. Clear pint glass jars were screwed into them, containing the various screws & other hardware. You could easily see the ones you wanted through the glass jar; just unscrew the whole jar & take it down to get the hardware you needed. Worked real well, and didn’t use up any space on his workbench. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/86 "2018-09-04T02:36:10Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > A classic example would be the old tin Band-Aid containers. > > Also, those plastic containers some lunch meats come in. They are the same thing as the Glad/Ziplock storage containers. It even says they are reusable on them. I was surprised that the Band-Aid tins were mentioned so far down the list! Back in the day, they were the go-to stash holder. When I noticed the metal ones were being phased out in favor of cardboard boxes, I saved the last metal one I had and just refill it when I run out of band-aids. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/87 "2018-09-04T02:50:59Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Yes, but it’s cheaper in the big bags. So buy a couple of the buckets of kitty litter, then when they are used up refill them from a bag. > > I still have a couple, from Grandma’s estate sale. I just keep refilling them with bandaids, and keep them in the medicine cabinets. Now tyhe stores just sell bandaids in cheap cardboard containers. > > Grandpa’s workbench had a full row of the metal screw tops nailed to a board overhead. Clear pint glass jars were screwed into them, containing the various screws & other hardware. You could easily see the ones you wanted through the glass jar; just unscrew the whole jar & take it down to get the hardware you needed. Worked real well, and didn’t use up any space on his workbench. Ha, I should have read ALL the way to the end of the thread before posting. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/88 "2018-09-04T06:02:34Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > My parents buy whole cashews in a plastic jar containing 2.5lb from [Costco](https://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Signature-Whole-Fancy-Cashews%2C-2.5-lbs..product.100334751.html) and I see that my mother has reused many of those jars. Back when I had more kitchen space, I kept several of these handy for when I bought three pound bags of frozen blueberries from Costco. Not to store the blueberries in but to hold quart sized Zipper bags open so I could pour the berries in them. Slip an opened bag into the jar and then run the top around the jar’s mouth. Pour the berries in and pull the bag out and seal. I liked having the berries in smaller bags because frost doesn’t build up in them as much as repeatedly opening a bigger bag. Also, the lids of those jars are good for putting under smaller houseplants. When I get something packaged in thick clear plastic that’s mostly flat, I’ll cut out the flat parts to make templates with for art projects. I keep my crochet hooks in an eyeglass case. Altoids tins are good for emergency sewing kits. I also keep a couple of tatting shuttles, tatting thread and a tiny pair of scissors in one. Oh, and I discovered that a five gallon bucket is a good container to stash a 100 foot extension cord in. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/89 "2018-09-04T06:14:54Z")
Bakery Salinas in Tudela used to sell their star product, [_mantecadas_](https://www.google.com/search?q=mantecadas+salinas&client=avast&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvh_fv2KDdAhWKzoUKHWaRCiMQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631), in two different sizes of hinged tin cans. They also sold them in cardboard boxes the same size as the smaller can. At one point they got a cardboard box the size of the larger can and phased the cans out, because can prices had risen and they didn’t want to raise theirs. And then they got customers who’d ask “oh, don’t you have any cans?” “uh no, we’re not selling in cans any more” “really? But I really wanted one!” There were even people who didn’t particularly like the sweets themselves, but would buy a box because they wanted the can. I’ve seen people make someone else a present of the sweets “but I want the can back”. The cans did come back. One of the antiques sellers who work in Barcelona’s Sants train station is from a town near Tudela; when she goes home she makes sure to get a few cans, as the _mantecadas_ themselves are very popular with her friends and family and the cans “run like water”. I’ve seen her sell one, wait until the customer had moved away, take another one from a pile under the counter and sell this second one while we were still chatting about recipes from Back Home. Salinas went out of business a few years ago (the sixth generation wasn’t keen on taking up the business), but they sold the recipe to another bakery which still sells them under the original name and, of course, in the original tins. Or cardboard boxes, if you don’t want the can. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/90 "2018-09-04T21:33:36Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Back in the day, I’d guess a cigar box was the classic example after a cookie tin. I can go you one better: as a child, I stored my marbles in an oval tin that had a lid that you pressed into the wide rim with an attached lever for popping the lid off. It had a guy with a sword painted on the side by the name “Cavalier”, which was apparently a brand of cigarette. It was about 3" x 6" for a hundred cigarettes, so I am guessing they must have been stacked double inside. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [Less than useful packaging](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/6g6sj2/a_package_opener_in_the_same_packaging_its_meant/). That is both hilarious and sad. But I suppose if you cut those plastic packages open just right, they could be useful in a street fight. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/91 "2018-09-04T22:26:50Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I can go you one better: as a child, I stored my marbles in an oval tin that had a lid that you pressed into the wide rim with an attached lever for popping the lid off. It had a guy with a sword painted on the side by the name “Cavalier”, which was apparently a brand of cigarette. It was about 3" x 6" for a hundred cigarettes, so I am guessing they must have been stacked double inside. > > That is both hilarious and sad. But I suppose if you cut those plastic packages open just right, they could be useful in a street fight. In the 50s I was always gifted my Grandfather’s pipe tobacco tins. They were round as I recall, but had the same lever you describe. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/92 "2018-09-04T22:29:33Z")
Altoids tins. You can make almost anything out of them. The I[nstructables pages](https://www.instructables.com/howto/Altoids+tin/)alone are worth the read. My faithful D & D dice are still in the Crown Royal bag I “acquired” from my Dad’s liquor cabinet. Kind of packaging, but ammo boxes have a lot of alternate uses as well. The 20mm versions make great saddle bags on a dual sport bike. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183/93 "2018-09-04T22:44:30Z")
Another fan of the deli meat containers getting a 2nd life as food storage. I have not heated anything in them, tho, just storage. You can reuse ketchup bottles, the squeezable ones with the special top, for any number of your home-made sauces (e.g. BBQ sauce, with the aid of a small funnel). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-with-useful-packaging/820183.md?page=4)