How to Organize Dry Goods with the Best Pantry Storage Containers

Pros and cons of 6 affordable pantry storage containers

If you’re planning on moving to the tropics as your personal paradise, you’re going to have to deal with bugs. They’re everywhere. Especially ants.

Unless you want to throw out your dry goods as soon as you open the package, you need ant-proof storage containers. That means air-tight pantry storage containers.

You can buy individual containers. Our realtor told us that every time she goes to the states, she loads up on IKEA pantry containers. I prefer to buy sets of containers. I also don’t like glass containers, since they’re heavy and prone to breaking.

Here are the pantry storage container systems that I purchased, and the pros and cons of using them.

Air-tight metal storage canisters

These affordable stainless steel storage canisters were around $10 for a set of four at Target. They have clear lids to see the contents, and a hook-and-latch system to form an air-tight seal. They’re intended to be used for flour, sugar, coffee, and tea, but you can store whatever you want in them. I stored flour, sugar, confectioner’s sugar, and cocoa powder.

Pros: Inexpensive, multi-purpose, easy to scoop contents

Cons: Shows fingerprints, lid does not detach, poorly sized

I liked that they were inexpensive and easy to use. They were small enough to easily carry from the pantry to the kitchen counter while baking. And the wide openings made scooping ingredients with a full cup measure easy. I hate having to use another scoop to fill a measuring cup, because I always spill whatever I’m measuring.

The attached lid was kind of annoying when I was trying to wash them before use. It also had a tendency to overbalance the smaller containers when they were empty, making them hard to fill. The biggest problem with them, though, was that they were poorly sized. A standard bag of flour or sugar was too big for the amount they stored, requiring overflow storage.

They were a good starter set, and worked fine in Colorado. But I wouldn’t recommend them for a tropical environment. They’re just too awkward.

OXO POP cereal dispensers

The POP line of storage containers, by OXO, is normally outside of the price range I want to spend. However, I got this set of two cereal containers at Costco, dropping them into the range I was willing to spend. They are large enough to hold an entire “Family size” box of cereal. Once you figure out the pour spout, they’re easy to use.

Pros: Large size, comfortable grip, easy pour spout, removable lid

Cons: Best for cereal, tall, expensive

If what you want is an easy way to store and serve cereal, these containers are ideal. They were designed to be optimized for that purpose, so they have a number of good features. The container has an ergonomic shape to make it easy to lift and pour directly from the container. The lid removes for easy filling, and has a flip-top (air-tight) pour spout for easy dispensing.

Because they’re sized to fit a large box of cereal, they don’t fit standing upright in a standard pantry. We had to store ours on top our refrigerator. (If you have adjustable height pantry shelves, this may not be an issue for you.) Also, the retail price on these is around $20 per container. If they hadn’t been deeply discounted at Costco, I wouldn’t have bought them.

If you eat a lot of cereal, spending the extra money on this will pay off in the long run with ease of use.

Ou kitchen pantry storage containers

I picked up this set of 4 kitchen pantry storage containers by Ou from World Market, because I had a gift card and they were on sale. I ended up paying $17 for the set. They are multi-purpose storage containers, which I chose to use for storing pasta.

Pros: Multi-purpose, fit easily in standard pantry

Cons: Lids do not lock

These storage containers came in a variety of fashion colors. I picked white, to match my other storage containers. This is the only set of kitchen pantry storage I bought where the “tall” container fit in my existing pantry shelves.

The flip side to that is that “tall” was not tall enough to store spaghetti. I had to break the spaghetti in half before putting it into the storage container. That made it more difficult to retrieve for cooking. The big problem with these is the air-tight lids. They don’t have any sort of locking mechanism, which makes them both difficult to pull off (they’re held in place by suction), and too easy to pull off if you pick up a filled container by the top.

I’ll keep these, now that I have them, but I wouldn’t recommend them. They’re just too difficult to use. That’s probably why they were on sale in the first place.

OXO POP storage containers

This set of 9 pantry storage containers by OXO was sold as a bundle through Costco. Even discounted, it was more than I wanted to spend, until it went on sale for an additional $20 off. The bundle I purchased came with 2 small square short containers, 2 big square short containers (pictured), 2 rectangular short containers, 2 rectangular tall containers (pictured), and 1 small square tall container.

Pros: Multi-purpose, excellent lid design, wide range of sizes

Cons: Expensive, lids are difficult to clean

The first thing I have to comment on is the “pop” lid mechanism, that the line of storage containers is named for. The lid goes on and off easily while the “pop” is up. When you press it down, the lid makes an extremely secure air-tight seal. You can pick these containers up by the lid with no worries. The wide range of sizes have suggested uses, such as the small square tall container for spaghetti. But you can put whatever you want in them — like a 25 pound bag of oatmeal.

The downside of the complex lid locking mechanism is that the lids are extremely difficult to clean and dry. Even after I thought I’d gotten all of the water out of them, I noticed a few drops running down the inside of one of the containers. There is also a metal spring inside it, which might corrode and rust in high-humidity climates.

If you can buy these on sale, do so. They are easy to use, secure, and come in a variety of useful sizes.

ProKeepers pantry storage set by Prepworks

This was another set of pantry storage containers that was sold as a bundle by Costco. Rather than multi-purpose containers, each container is optimized for a specific type of dry goods content. It is sized to hold a standard bag or box of that ingredient, with bonuses for each container.

Pros: Optimized for specific ingredients, measuring scale on the side

Cons: Attached lid is awkward, lack of flexibility

These containers were thoughtfully designed for each intended ingredient. Baking ingredients, like flour and sugar, hold the volume of a standard bag, and contain detachable levelers to make measuring easier. When not in use, the levelers are stored on the underside of the lid. The brown sugar keeper includes a terra cotta disk to prevent the sugar from drying out. The coffee keeper is tinted and contains a scoop. The confectioner’s sugar keeper includes a dusting spoon.

The measuring scale on the side is difficult to read against white ingredients, such as sugar or flour. And the attached lids are overly heavy for the smaller containers, making them fall over when open. The biggest problem with these containers is that, because they are optimized for specific ingredients, you aren’t able to repurpose them easily.

I’m on the fence about these containers. The flour, sugar, and brown sugar are extremely well designed and useful. The other containers (do I really need a baking soda container?) are overly optimized so that they are not widely useful as general pantry storage containers.

Ello kitchen pantry storage containers

I picked up the Ello kitchen pantry storage containers during the Black Friday sale at Target. Otherwise, they normally retail at about $10 per container. I got the 6.6 cup, 9 cup, and 16 cup sizes. 5 pounds of flour is about 15 cups, which makes this a perfect size for pantry staples. It also fits neatly on a standard height pantry shelf. The small and medium sizes have the same square lid size, while the large size is rectangular.

Pros: Stay-put silicon base, easy to clean, locking lid

Cons: Quality control, expensive, multi-colored

The lids on these storage containers are extremely well designed. They snap closed on the sides with plastic latches that are color-coordinated to the silicon. Underneath the latch is a small hole, allowing air inside when the latches are undone. This makes the lids super easy to get on and off, but secure once they’re in place. They’re also the easiest to clean of the locking lids. And the sizes are excellent, fitting two deep on my pantry shelf.

Unfortunately, the company’s quality control is not the best. The silicon bases were frequently off-center. I had to manually adjust them to fit correctly. The plastic containers have a lip where they meet the silicon, so it was extremely obvious when the bases didn’t fit correctly. One of the large containers also arrived badly scratched — fortunately I was able to put the chalkboard label over the scratches, or I would have had to return it. And while I like the multi-colored containers, some people may prefer all-white accents to match the rest of their pantry storage.

If you can buy these on sale, and don’t mind a splash of color in your pantry, get them. They’re the easiest to use, easiest to store containers of all of the ones I purchased.

Conclusion

I would recommend the OXO POP, Prepworks ProKeepers, and Ello kitchen pantry storage containers. OXO and Prepworks had well-designed content-specific containers. OXO and Ello had a mix of general storage containers in various sizes. All are air-tight and secure.

I would not recommend the stainless steel storage containers, because they were not well sized for their intended ingredients. I would also not recommend the Ou storage containers, because the lids were difficult to use.

Whichever kitchen pantry storage containers you choose for your new home in paradise, try them out in your existing home, first. You’ll learn which ones you like and work best for you, while you can still conveniently buy more.

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Jennifer Dunne is originally from New York, has lived in Colorado for the last 12 years, and will soon be moving to the Caribbean nation of Nevis.