This weekend, I opened a cabinet door and a box of cocoa came flying out. Does that ever happen to you? Sometimes I think the food is trying to run for it''s life. Anyway, the box landed on the counter, popped open, and cocoa went flying all over the kitchen. On the counter, on the stove, in the stove grills, on the sink, on the floor, on the floor mat....I felt like I was cleaning up after a toddler again. Fun.

Turns out, temperature fluctuations in the kitchen had caused the plastic lid on the cocoa box to relax. The lid no longer fit the container. When I was done cleaning cocoa off everything, I put what cocoa was still in the container in a canning jar for fresher - and safer! - keeping. But I'm a busy mom - plus I'm nearing menopause - so I knew I'd forget what was in the jar...unless I labeled it.

It's not uncommon for me to put homemade condiments or store bought stuff that takes up too much room in a box in a canning jar. And, like I said, it's always best to label them or my hair-brain will never know what's inside. (Sweetened cocoa? Unsweetened? Who knows!) Since I'm frugal, I don't like to use new, unused canning lids for this purpose. Instead, I use canning lids that have come off home canned goods. I run them through the dishwasher, and they are perfect for storage purposes.

I don't like to keep a ton of them around, though, or they get in my way. (If food flies out of my cupboards, imagine what would happen with a drawer full of used canning lids!) So I keep only a handful. And I've found an easy way to remove the writing from these lids, so I can neatly and easily write on them again:

Rubbing alcohol.

Just dip a Q-tip (or the corner of a towel) in some rubbing alcohol and rub it over the pen markings on the lid.


Easy! And when you're a harried mom with food flying out of the cupboards, easy is very, very good.