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I have that same problem. These brownies I was making this week? The jar on the counter of a white flour? Is that regular flour, corn flour, or tortilla mix? Went with a new bag of flour for my divers.
SHRIEK!
I write on half an index card what it is, and tape it on the outside of the container. Then if you put something different in it, you can always easily change the label. Not fancy but it works.
Mice love flour. The hoosier cabinets were the best available at the time, but as plastic containers became available, they were clearly preferable. If a flour drawer had been preferable, they would have been available when fitted kitchens became the norm.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We had those in our 1930s California farmhouse. It was not very sanitary, lined with metal but not sealed, so bugs and even mice could get into them. We used canisters and put packaged foods like dry pasta in those drawers.
Our beach house still has the cabinet with the divided metal drawer. Grandma kept sugar in one, flour in the other. She used them... I remember the measuring cups being kept in the drawers to measure out with. I can't imagine doing that now, but I don't remember ever seeing evidence of mice in her kitchen.
We have a hoosier cabinet in our kitchen. It's got a flour sifter and a few bins. My wife stores her baking goods in it, but we do not use the flour sifter or store poured sugar in the bins.
The feet of the cabinet have wheels, and above the casters is an inverted 'cup' in which oil would be poured into- it was a ant trap.
You can buy bins for standard drawers at places like VanDykes or other places that sell old Hoosier hardware.
For glass jars, cut out the piece of label that says what it is, and slip it inside the jar. For non transparent containers, tape it to the outside.
I do that with products that go into canisters (flour, sugar, lentils, rice, etc). I cut out the name of the product and the best by/expiration date and keep it in the canister so I know how old something is.
In the Looney Tunes cartoon, "Feed the Kitty" (Bulldog Marc Anthony & Pussyfoot), the Misses is shown getting her flour out of a pull open slot drawer, being next to one marked sugar.
Why don't we do it that way? Was it because they are impossible to keep clean? Too easy for pests to occupy? Some other cleaniness reason?
Or is it just that we don't bake like we once did.....long ago.
Are you seriously asking this??? I mean, really???
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I mean, really???
