Every house sale had a kitchen cupboard filled with old cans, bottles and boxes of food needed for everyday cooking. Small tin boxes for spices like pepper, sage, chili powder, dry mustard, etc. attracted the advertising collector. They were colorful, inexpensive, easy to display, and thousands of different companies and products had their own collectible design. The tin boxes, first made in 1911, were almost all replaced with plastic bottles in 1985, except for pepper. Only Old Bay has remained in the same style tin can since McCormick acquired the brand in 1990. The hot news for collectors is that last week at their annual meeting, McCormick & Co. announced that the last of the metal tins are being replaced with environmentally friendly recyclable plastic containers. They will reduce carbon emissions by 16 percent. The company plans to get rid of BPA and other dangerous chemicals in all packaging by 2018. The new plastic packages are the same shape as the tins and will have new art. Attendees at the meeting got the new plastic containers as a gift. The public will see them in stores by late summer. Check the kitchens of those over 60 to see if a few tin spice containers are lurking at the back of a shelf. The tins sell for about $25 and up at flea markets.
You might want to check the label on your peanut butter. Any all natural, organic, etc. says to refrigerate after opening….because there are no preservatives.
Your other peanut butters like Skippy they are filled with preservatives & sugar so can be stored in the pantry. I only eat the all natural brands, Costco has a Kirkland brand that is the best tasting & not as expensive as Laura Scudders. If you do a side by side taste test (natural vs Skippy) you will see what I mean by best tasting. If your peanut butter is going bad it is the oil that has becomes rancid. Peanut butter is expensive these days so I would refrigerate if not eating soon enough.
I have a small collection of vintage spices tins…..LOVE them!
About 10 yrs ago I helped a friend clean out her kitchen cupboards that had not seen the light in 2 decades. She had these old tins from the 50s! I said, you’re not using these spices are you?? No, but they were my mom’s and I never got rid of them. Throw them out. But I asked for them because I loved them, the look, the feel, the time it represented, and I hauled them away. $25 and up for 1? I’m surprised but I guess others feel the same way I do–it’s beautifully historic, of women in kitchens, mistresses of their domains, the family waiting on them for their sustenance, a time of less, and yet more. The world is changing, McCormick too, and I guess some of us are going kicking and grasping our tins. If you don’t like plastic: buy glass and transfer. I find them in Dollar stores with cheap spices…empty the jars and put in my better ones. Voila, the best of both worlds. (At least I tried.)
Why does your peanut butter go bad so quickly sitting on a shelf at room temperature? That doesn’t make sense. I have eaten tons of Skippy and never once had it go-I assume yours is turning rancid-I have never had that happen. And I would think natural peanut butter would go rancid before the other. And never put peanut butter in the fridge! That’s just not right!
I threw away several outdated tins of spice 2 years ago.I wish you’d told me sooner!
This really makes me sad. I really dislike “plastic” of most all kinds, mostly because it is not ideal for keeping any type of foodstuffs, for any amount of time.
Specifically, Peanut butter for example. The new plastic containers do not keep the peanut butter fresh, in fact it does spoil almost immediately after opening. Up till the early 2000’s I could keep peanut butter in glass, in my pantry for at least a month before it would turn. Now, I only purchase the natural version and keep it in the fridge, because it’s the only one that is still spreadable when cold.
UGH, now it seems I will need to do the same for all my spices, and I use many. Perhaps I need a much larger fridge? Due to these companies BAD (in my opinion) ideas on “helping environment” I disagree entirely, because If I’m throwing it out due to spoilage, how is that “saving” anything?
help… I’m looking to depart with a bunch of older metal shifts with plastic tops & some that are completely metal. I have (4) McCormick metal shifts with plastic covers, (1) all metal McCormick, (1) Ann Page with a plastic lid, (1) Schilling Cayenne pepper all metal, (1) Durkee’s all metal, (1) Monarch red pepper all metal & (1) Yuban coffee can all metal.