8 Ways to Recycle your Beerenberg Jars
After removing those sticky labels from an assortment of your Beerenberg glass jars, it’s time to get creative and recycle with purpose. From gardening DIY to productive life hacks, storage solutions and gifts - the possibilities are endless.
Here are some of our favourite ways to recycle your finished Beerenberg jars:
1. Magnetic Spice Jars (or advent calendars)
Our mini 30g jars are perfect for turning into magnet spice jars! A small lick of paint on the bottom of the jars will provide the perfect surface to scribe the names of your favourite herbs and spices. If you want a rotating variety, use chalkboard paint and chalk. Then, using a healthy dab of superglue, secure circular magnets to the lid. Then, simply fill them up with aromatic goodies and stick them to the side of your fridge. You can also use this method to create an advent calendar for special occasions and countdowns.
2. Healthy on-the-go Breakfast
There’s nothing worse than sacrificing a healthy breakfast when you’re running late for work or school. These chia seed breakfast jars will make sure you don’t skip the most important meal of the day. You can prepare these jars at the start of the week, and they will last you right up to the weekend. Blitz your choice of milk in a blender with any combination of ingredients that make you smile in the morning, from ripe bananas and Beerenberg Farm strawberries, to cacao powder and coffee. Stir the chia seeds into this mix and divide portions in your jars, lastly adding any whole ingredients for added texture (try: fresh berries, mint leaves, nuts, or shaved coconut). Don’t forget to keep the lids, so you can chuck them straight into your bag as you’re running out the door. Use either our regular jam/condiment jars.
3. The Gift of a Gourmet Cuppa
Store bought stocking fillers, party bag presents, and wedding favours often lack personality, while still managing to leave a dent in the pocket. Try creating a Hot Cocoa in a Jar the next time you want to pass on a small homemade gift. Layer hot chocolate powder, chocolate drops and mini-marshmallows in the jar, before screwing the lid back on. Add crushed candy canes for Christmas-themed peppermint hot chocolate. Tie a small handwritten card to the neck of your jar with a piece of brown string or ribbon. You can make a Chai variation by layering loose leaf tea, cloves, fennel seeds, cardamom seeds, a cinnamon stick, a bay leaf and a couple of peppercorns - make sure that your handwritten card includes instructions and a list of any necessary wet ingredients needed.
4. Cool Country Style Storage and Organisation
It’s more important than ever to do our bit for the environment, by reducing our use of plastic and by recycling our waste. Using your cleaned Beerenberg jars as a means of storage and organisation is an easy and stylish way to do just that. In the kitchen, store grains, dried fruits, cake decorations, homemade baby food, nuts and trail mix, fresh berries and anything else that would normally be stored in small plastic containers or bags. In the bathroom, store cotton buds and cotton balls, makeup brushes, baby powder (stab small holes in the lid to create a shaker), makeup remover pads and bath salts. In the office, store paperclips, spare change, or use as a pen holder. For the ultimate emergency sewing kit, keep spare buttons, a small spool of cotton thread, a quick-unpick, some sewing needles and safety pins in a jar to keep in your bag, car, or to take with you travelling.
5. Decorative Table Centres
Use your green-thumb and love of succulents, by filling a quarter of the jar with pebbles for drainage, then crushed charcoal, topping with a mix of potting soil and sand, burying the roots of a small succulent in it. If you want to plant the cuttings from larger succulents that you already have, you can find a guide to propagating succulents here. Otherwise, keep the empty jars with your tablecloths and fine china, simply placing tea light candles or small bunches of fresh-cut flowers in them for your next dinner party.
6. Make Small-batch Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut is a deliciously crunchy and pungent condiment that adds the perfect sour tang to hot dogs and sandwiches. Often made in jars, it develops as the shredded cabbage and salt ferments, creating the kind of good bacteria that you find in yoghurts and probiotics. It’s a fun little experiment that you can come back to throughout the week, with a rewarding snack at the end.
7. Refill with your own Beerenberg Creations
Aside from crafting many loved products, we also have plenty of products that come with recipes to serve in jars. Fill our Condiments for Cheese Jars with with some Taka Tala Bean Dip. If you’re finishing off some of our Blue Gum Honey, try whipping up a smoothie and serving it in one of our jars - talk about coming full circle!
8. Money Saving Jam Jars
Teach your kids to be savvy with their money with a little guidance from the Barefoot Investor for Families. Use your recycled Beerenberg jars to create fee-free bank accounts where the kids can keep their money and see it multiplying. They'll learn the importance of saving, when it's smart to spend and when you need to give a little of your own to help someone else.
We hope you feel inspired to reuse your Beerenberg glass jars around the house and come up with your own brilliant ideas and nifty life hacks. The life-span of our packaging is up to you, so why not extend it as much as possible by making fun, crafty activities from what may otherwise end up in the bin? If you need more jars, you know where to find us. Shop online here.