Where can I buy odd-shaped boxes?

March 4, 2009 2:52 AM

Where can I buy small plastic boxes which have one square (or mostly square) side, but a very shallow depth? As depicted in this drawing. I want them for holding spices.

... instead of having unwieldy round jars. I'm interested in anything that roughly fits these requirements; it doesn't have to be perfect.

posted by beerbajay to food & drink (13 comments total)

Tic Tacs. You buy them and empty them and use the containers.
posted by watercarrier at 2:58 AM on March 4

Also - contact the lady who put together this site - she purchased a set. Her email is on the bottom left.
posted by watercarrier at 3:02 AM on March 4

I don't have a vendor for you, but: Alton Brown tells us not to store our spices in plastic, because plastic absorbs some of the essential oils (and presumably leaks something back?)

Just his two cents, here.
posted by Dunwitty at 3:09 AM on March 4

I agree with Alton Brown and Dunwitty re plastics and spices.

I think these are the boxes that watercarrier' link refers to. They may not be exactly what you are looking for but they are a nice small storage solution and very reasonably priced.
posted by zoel at 4:33 AM on March 4

Check out American science and surplus, they may have something you like.
posted by ghost of a past number at 5:05 AM on March 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

I think tic tac boxes are bit too small for my purposes, though they fit the other requirements quite well.

As for plastic boxes being bad, that's true, but spices in my house are consumed very rapidly so I'm not too worried about it, and the boxes would probably be better than the plastic bags i've purchased (and keep) the spices in currently. Maybe there's some glass containers that are relatively small and stackable?
posted by beerbajay at 6:26 AM on March 4

Yeah the Tic Tac containers are way too small. Check this out - I think it might be what you're looking for and the plastic is food grade.
posted by watercarrier at 7:07 AM on March 4

I use watchmakers cases, as recommended by Zoel.
posted by craven_morhead at 7:11 AM on March 4

How about Tupperware Spice Containers? The proportions aren't exactly what you specified (6.4cm H x 4.4cm W x 8.9cm), but they are stackable.
posted by bcwinters at 7:13 AM on March 4

Wooooooah those Tupperware ones look ace.
posted by beerbajay at 7:24 AM on March 4

The tupperware ones work nicely, especially when you go through your spices quickly. The tall ones hold 2 glass jars worth.
posted by onhazier at 8:09 AM on March 4

Interesting spice storage ideas from the Container Store.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:34 AM on March 4

Oh yeah, Alton specified that spices need to be protected from light, also. So you might want to consider opaque containers.

That Alton.
posted by Dunwitty at 9:49 PM on March 4