I’m always looking for any way to be more efficient when baking anything.
The two most daunting killers for any self-taught home baker is the prep and the clean up. I don’t want to wash 50 bowls. But I will if I’ve deluded myself into believing it’ll make my cake infinitely fluffier. But recently, as in like I’m working through the thought process now, I’m thinking vacuuming sealing, reusable containers, and freezing is the way to go.
I’ve tried the viral food storage containers for dry ingredients and I find that unless they’re in super accessible areas it’s inconvenient and heavy. Leaving ingredients in the package they came from is the sure fire way for ingredients to go bad but it’s also not cost efficient, especially when they get forgotten in the back of the pantry.
But vacuum sealing. This is what’s working for me.
I had bought a random vacuum sealer one random night at 3am. We all know that 3am shopping when you’ve tried to convince yourself to sleep but find your hand and your mind wandering to things you need and want. Well anyways I bought it for like $25. It had a 50% OFF sale and I snatched it up with some bags to go with. Initially the bags were meant to freeze leftover cookie batter to baked frozen for whenever I wanted whatever type of cookie.
It might seem tedious when prepping, but a little time at the beginning is the best for reducing mess and making time overall significantly easier and cleaner.
This simple hack works for literally all dry ingredients.
And if you really have the time you can even premix some ingredients like pancake mix to be stored for later use.
Here’s what to do.
For flour, you want to store in portions sizes of 1 cup, 2 cups, and 3 cups using the scoping method.
- 1 cup portion is for the everyday use like thickening soup or making a roux. Whatever’s left (if there is anything left) can be stored in a smaller leftover, loose flour container. You know something like a deli container.
- 2 Cup portions is for the even number. Anything can be done with an even number.
- 3 cups is the typical amount of flour used for most cookie recipes (at least that’s the truth for me. I like to make large batches and freeze the dough for later use. But that’s another story).
For brown sugar, you want to store it in portion sizes of 1/2 cup, 1 cup, and 2 cups using the packing method.
- 1/2 cup portions for the everyday use and for the recipes that require the extra 1/2 or 1/4 cup.
- 1 cup and 2 cups portions can be used for handy baking and syrup making.
This makes my life so much easier!
This little hack helps me stay mess-free, bake quicker than ever before, faster with the pre-portioned sizes, and even lets me know when I need to buy more ingredients and how much ingredients I need. This will be my favorite baking hack for the rest of eternity. Lol or at least until I find something better! Let me know what else fits!
