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Dispensing Tips using Parmesan Cheese Containers

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Today I want to show you several different ways to reuse Parmesan Cheese Containers to dispense and store food. Instead of opening a food container, getting a spoon out, and serving these foods, it is much easier and faster to just pour it out of an upcycled Parmesan Cheese container.

Parmesan Cheese containers have useful flip top lids. One flips up with a few holes for dispensing a small amount of food. The other side flips up to open a large section of the top, and this is the side I usually use for dispensing all of the foods that I am going to tell you about!

Parmesan cheese containers come in large or small sizes, and in name brand or off brand. But all of them have flip top lids! I have been saving and reusing mine for years and years (lest you think I eat an exorbitant amount of parmesan cheese!) .

Before

parmesan cheese container

A wide mouth funnel is very useful for refilling parmesan cheese containers, because where the lid fits is rather small.

Bacon

I filled this container with my favorite real bacon bits that I like to buy at Sam’s Club or Walmart. I’ve never liked imitation bacon toppings, and it was only in writing this post that I realized imitation bacon bits already come in a dispenser!

bacon bits being poured through a wide mouth blue funnel into a clear container

I almost always have these bacon bits in my fridge. They never go bad on me. Of course it takes awhile to use the entire container. A whole bag doesn’t fit in the container, so I freeze the rest until I need it. We like sprinkling bacon bits in our scrambled eggs, on a baked potato, or on salad. Bacon makes everything taste better! These bacon bits have a lot less fat than regular bacon, too.

bacon bits in a clear container with a green lid

Shredded Cheese

I also keep a container of shredded cheese in the fridge. We like to use shredded cheese when we add sour cream to tortilla chips or Doritoes. Then we sprinkle some cheese on top of the sour cream. Or, you can sprinkle the cheese on the chips first, microwave it to melt the cheese, and then add sour cream and other toppings. I like to add cheese to soup, and it is so convenient to dispense it out of this container!

Do you open your bag of shredded cheese, and use your fingers to get a pinch or two out to use? Well, this is a much more hygienic and sanitary way to use shredded cheese. It is also less messy, because you are bound to drop a few pieces whether you use your fingers or a spoon. With this method, there is no waste! Even children are able to help themselves without the extra hassle of getting into a ziplocked bag.

closeup of shredded cheese container

Crackers

This is a great way to serve soup toppings. Maybe for chili, broccoli soup or potato soup you would use all three toppings– bacon, crackers, and cheese. We have chili pretty often, so that is what we would use these toppings for. Even a salad could use all three of these.

bacon bits, crackers, and cheddar cheese in three separate containers

Ranch Dressing Mix

This pictures shows some of the different sizes of containers…. Third from the left is my homemade Ranch Dressing Mix that I keep in the refrigerator. The powdered buttermilk in the recipe needs to be refrigerated. When I need a veggie or chip dip, all I do is sprinkle some of my ranch dressing mix into some sour cream and stir it up until it tastes good. Yes, I do a lot of cooking without measuring….

cheddar cheese, bacon bits, ranch dressing mix, and oyster crackers

Ranch Dressing Recipe

  • 1/2 c. dry buttermilk
  • 1 TBLSP dried parsley, crushed
  • 1 tsp. dried dill weed
  • 1 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Stir. Keep in Fridge.

For Dip: Combine with sour cream to taste. For Salad Dressing: Whisk 1 TBLSP mix with 1 c. mayonnaise and 1 c. milk.

In addition to reusing Parmesan Cheese containers, you can also reuse a large seasoning container.

I use a lot of taco seasoning making chili, so I reused a taco seasoning container for my oyster crackers.

oyster crackers next to a large Taco Seasoning container

The containers are shaped differently, but their lids are a similar style, with two flip tops.

parmesan cheese container and a taco seasoning container

Powdered Sugar

If you need just a dash of powdered sugar for a recipe, it is handy to have it in a dispenser like this instead of getting into the powdered sugar bag.

Flour

If you make pies and pie crusts, or cookies that need rolling out, then having the flour in this container to sprinkle out is very convenient. I use the flour container a lot more than I do the powdered sugar. Just don’t get them mixed up! You can write on the clear plastic with a permanent marker if you like.

M+Ms

While we are on the topic of baking, M+Ms are very handy to have in a dispenser, especially if they are mini M+Ms. I keep mine in my baking cabinet.

powdered sugar, M+Ms, flour in clear containers
powdered sugar, M+Ms, and flour

Recently I put some blueberries in a parmesan cheese container. Really, anything small and crumbly, or small and round, is the perfect thing to put in a parmesan cheese dispenser. What would you put in one?

7 containers of food that can be poured out through convenient lids
graphic of Diispensing Tip with bacon bits on the left and shredded cheese on the right urging people to "Use a wide mouth funnel to fill a former parmesan cheese container. Then store it in the fridge for next time."
dispensing tips using parmesan containers

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