Canned goods are one of the most convenient and shelf-stable foods for your pantry. But they can become annoying. Trying to stack them and store them in order while they fall or take up too much space.
Since most of our canned goods are the standard sized can (16oz), rather than the large #10 cans, I thought we could do without a rotation rack for a while. Nope. Cans were falling all over the cupboard. The use-by dates were getting mixed up and the whole thing was a rolling, denting and foot bruising fiasco.
With space and budget at a premium, I looked for the best way to organize a small mountain of store-bought canned goods. I also knew that we needed the storage option for them to be portable, not a mounted, heavy wall rack. In the hunt for a solution, I found The Can Organizer.
Below are my opinions, the pros and cons, a product review if you will, of The Can Organizer.
Pros:
For the amount they store, they are far less expensive than that of the metal canned goods storage shelves/units.
There are multiple size options to fit on almost every depth of a standard shelf or cupboard.
Portability is possible. You can pick one of these up, fully loaded with cans and move it to a more suitable location if you move or rearrange your kitchen.
They are quite surprisingly sturdy. Although made of cardboard, we simply used shipping tape to reinforce the edges and areas where they fold together. Ours are 10 years old now and have been moved multiple times.
You can organize by buying just a few at a time. They come in packs so you can start small and grow your pantry as time and budget allow.
One box holds a LOT of cans! More soup cans fit than anything else, but also short meat cans can be stacked into fours and roll through nicely.
Con:
Larger and #10 size cans do not fit.
Pro or a Con … based upon Your Opinion:
Some people don’t like that the each of the organizers comes unassembled. But there is a short video on the site which instructs you via step by step, how to assemble them quite easily. You can view that video even before you buy to help you make up your mind first.
I personally like that they fold down flat for moving them. In my opinion, it was much easier than building (or breaking down) a huge wall unit.
In conclusion – I highly recommend The Can Organizer as a budget-friendly, portable option for organizing and storing store-bought canned goods.
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About Donna Miller
Donna Miller is the wife of 30 years to the love of her life Joseph, the mother of three home-school graduates and has one daughter-in-law and one son-in-law.
She is the hostess of the radio shows “Your Preparation Station”, and “Encouragement in the Kitchen”. Both found on iTunes & BlogTalkRadio.com
Donna teaches local classes & ladies retreats for people to learn hands-on lost skills. She is a teacher, author, sought-after speaker and trainer.
The Millers are the owners of Millers Grain House, are the founders of PREPARE Magazine and the Organizers of WNC Preparedness Group in Asheville, NC.
Here is the synopsis of my initial product review of the WonderMix Deluxe. Today felt like Christmas and my birthday wrapped into one as I unpacked the WonderMix Deluxe on my counter to ‘play’ with it.
When it arrived it was packed as a box within a box – very sturdy and all the form fitting cardboard one could ask for to hold things steady!
Ok so this box was inside an even sturdier cardboard box but what fun is it to see that plain thing. 🙂
Now I’m not going to get into all the features of this yet (that will come in some YouTube Videos and other reviews – besides you can read the list of features here.) But I am going to go into my take on the quality and functionality at first glance and set up. So…
As I took out each component and inspected it for quality and durability I was struck how ‘natural’ the components all seemed to fit together. What I mean is, most of it made perfect sense even BEFORE I looked at the user manual (which I do suggest because of the great tips and recipes). It just ‘flows’ naturally together; how it all fits together will make sense to you.
The special introductory price of this actually is lower than the Bosch Universal, Electrolux or KitchenAid Professional (like almost half the price – yeah, I’m not kidding) but in my opinion, the quality is absolutely just as good if not better than those multi-use mixers. Even the regular price of the WonderMix Deluxe beats the prices of the other mixers that have far less versatility.
Let’s look at the parts that come with the WonderMix Deluxe, shall we?
Yes…let’s …do that. (:
First the bowl and lid. The bowl is sturdy, yet also slightly flexible, can mix up to 5 1/2 quarts (22 cups) of mixture! That’s about 5 loaves of bread being kneaded at once!
The lid has both a splash guard and an easy smaller flour guide to put in items such as nuts, raisins or more ingredients as it mixes without risking a ‘spill’ or having to stop the machine
Most important to me is how sturdy is the Dough Hook for kneading. This one is heavy duty and sure not to disappoint as compared to some. Even the design makes sense how the sides differ from each other for real-life kneading. Also included is a small item called the Divider which helps make sure the batch of dough does not simply spin in circles around the driver as it mixes. What an ingenious do-dad!
The Whip and Housing fit together like clock work. No seriously, like clocks work… deep tines and teeth so as not to be stripped when mixing with that powerful 900 watt motor (the most powerful on the market). In fact, all the notches and gears on the WonderMix are deep and sturdy. I find that to be the mark of a truly well made machine.
The blender has a sturdy body, a funnel lid (smaller hole for pouring) and a very tight seal. The tines in the base of the blender do not need to be removed for cleaning – meaning the whole thing is very very leak proof! Also the tines are not wimpy low-to-the-base ones, but seriously make an impact upon the food (or ice snow) you’re blending up!
The fine folks at The WonderMill Company have even take into account some exterior features such as the storage for the cord and the ‘no walk’ feet on the base. These no walk feet are also on the side for when using other optional attachments that fit the WonderMix such as the Meat Grinder, Slicer Shredder and more.
In conclusion of today’s unpacking, inspecting event and review… it’s safe to say I can’t wait to play with this tomorrow!! If you want to see reviews in action, subscribe to my YouTube Channel and you should see some soon!
I’d like to thank the folks at The WonderMill Company for giving me the opportunity to review this fantastic machine. Years ago, when they first released the WonderMill Jr. Deluxe they blessed me with the opportunity to review it and share feedback as well. This is one company that I can fully stand behind stating that they really strive to meet and exceed the needs of the public. So again, I am humbled and honored with the opportunity to play with… I mean, review this fantastic new WonderMix Deluxe.
Look for more updates and reviews about the WonderMix Deluxe as I enjoy my holiday baking more than EVER this year! 🙂
Best Blessings,
Donna Miller
It’s always a joy for me to teach my Solar Cooking class that I have this upcoming Saturday. Cooking with the sun is not only economical, but also resourceful! Think about what you would do if your power were down?
The sun is (Lord Willing) a renewable source of energy on which we can usually rely most days. Why not harness it to do something we usually do most days – cook!
Not only am I teaching this class to show folks the difference between a home-made pizza box solar cooker, another solar 
cooker (which I do not carry) and the Global Sun Oven – but also the NEW All AMERICAN Sun Oven with some really great features specific to our American cookware and more.
The updates and new features really do make this like a grown up ‘easy bake oven’ (I’ve said that a lot – because it’s more fun and work to use it!)
Also this Saturday (right after the class) I have an interview with the Executive President of Global Sun Ovens International, Paul Munsen. You can listen to that interview and get even more info: HERE
So easy to use and so fun!
If you’re reading this blog – we would like to offer you a discount for a limited time on either of the Sun Oven Options we carry (Global Sun Oven OR All American Sun Oven).
Just put the code MGHBLOG in at check out and save $10 on any purchase of a Sun Oven (shipping is included for free) … as our way saying ‘Thank you!’ and our hope that you too will enjoy this versatile alternative cooking option!
Take a little trip with me, if you will, down memory lane…
The first crock pot that I ever owned looked quite similar to the one pictured here that I saw for sale on eBay. I really don’t know the year, make or model but I do know the sentimental attachment to it. It had two settings – high and low. No automatic turn off time, no warming option if we came home later, no removable crock (this puppy was all one piece) and only one compartment for food.
The one thing it did do was a realistic LOW setting.
There were several models like this that seemed to be like our right hand in the kitchen when the kids were little, work was late and family was busy that helped many of us put a hot home-made meal on the table!
Then, enter the idea that we could improve on the one chamber simpleton that we reminisce about with fondness and we opted for one with more variations….like this one pictured here
. The singular interior crock came out making it much easier to wash and could be replaced with an equally easy to clean dual chamber ceramic crock, thus allowing two different items to be slow cooked at the same time. Also there were multiple time and temp settings with a warming time if we perhaps were a bit delayed getting home to avoid over cooking.
This seemed to be a great improvement on the one-pot wonder from years gone by. I did move to making many a meal in the larger crock pot both for the ease of wash up and the need for larger meals – the kids were in fact growing, as kids will do. But one flaw I never quite overcame puzzled me until just recently. Even when set on low, this crock pot got too hot!
All the kids are grown and gone now – but I finally figured out how to make a too-hot low heat work better. Now please note, this will not work if your crock pot turns off with the break in electrical current (such as the one above does)…but if you have one that is too hot but stays on a simple setting, you can fix it this way.
Plug it in to a lamp timer.
Chances are you have something like this or you can find them at thrift stores and garage sales for pennies. Simply set it to go on an hour and off the next all the way around the timer. Plug in the crock pot (one that stays on even if the current breaks) and set it on low.
This will work well if you are hoping to warm soup that has pasta or rice (which can become obliterated in too high of heat) or you simply want to make sure you don’t scorch the sides of a smaller serving while keeping it on the lowest possible simmer all day.
I found this to work well for heating food that had already been cooked and keeping things hot enough to avoid spoilage without over cooking them.
Here’s a confession: I still have and frequently use my old, one pot wonder…it still works fine!
Best Blessings!
Donna Miller
Millers Grain House – Bulk Route
Millers Grain House – FAQ’s, Blog, Radio & MoreThank you for allowing us to serve you. It is our pleasure!
Deut 28:5 – “A blessing upon your grain-basket and kneading-bowl.”
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COOK WITH SOLAR POWER
Next week on April 10th, 2012 Millers Grain House is delighted to be offering a Solar Cooking Class at the local fairgrounds. Given the price of electricity and the need to practice greener, self-sustaining skills, the Global Sun Oven is becoming one of our new favorite cooking options.
The Dehydrating Prep Pack makes this a very versatile oven that does far more than slow cook! It’s not your chintzy solar cooker.
The Global Sun Oven bakes, broils, steams, dry boils eggs, purifies water, dehydrates and can be used to sprout! This is the only solar cooking device that we have found to reach baking temperatures of up to 400 degrees. Most people know that to bake muffins or bread, it must reach and sustain this temperature. It does!
At the upcoming class we will demonstrate baking muffins and meat and dehydrating a 
variety of foods. Each participant with get to play with the Global Sun Oven and see just how easy it is to use. This is my favorite new toy, I mean, tool! So much so, that it feels like I’m playing with an easy bake oven!
The versatility and durability of the Global Sun Oven has made it to be my only recommended Solar Oven to date. There really is no match to it.
Stop by here and see how my very first loaf of freshly milled whole wheat bread in the Global Sun Oven did! It’s the video in the lowest left hand corner. EnJOY!
FOR A SELF-SUSTAINING LIFE
