The answer to this question, in my opinion, is a resounding “yes!.” Not only does decanting make your pantry look organized, but also it minimizes mess, makes measuring easier, protects against spoilage and more. Read on for all the details.

The Benefits of Decanting Baking Ingredients

Prevents Spilled Ingredients

I’m a decanter (and proud of it) because I despise a mess. My bed is always made, my dishes always washed and my kitchen always spotless (I clean as I go when I bake, in case you were wondering). In short: decanting is the baker’s answer to spilled ingredients. How many times have you opened a bag of powdery flour, cocoa powder or confectioners’ sugar, only to have its contents fly all over your kitchen? And I’m not only talking about the first time you open the bag: each time you reopen it, the same thing happens. Both flour and sugar, for instance, like to hide in the creases of their folded down bags, and once the bags are unfolded, they fly this way and that landing wherever they see fit (aka the hard-to-access seams between the wood planks on the floor of my kitchen).

Makes Scooping Ingredients Easier

Things only get worse when you try to stick a measuring cup inside said ingredient bags. First of all, it is sometimes hard to fit a measuring cup with a handle in a slender paper bag of sugar, for instance, particularly when said bag is almost empty and you are plunging the cup deep into the bag. Inevitably when you pull it back up and attempt to level off the top with a knife, sugar enthusiastically sprinkles over the counter and onto the floor (been there done that). This same thing happens with the rest of your baking ingredients. Cocoa powder, in particular, is frustratingly difficult to sponge up without leaving unattractive brown streaks along your counters and floor.

Makes Pouring Ingredients Easier

Decanting plays a role in how clean my kitchen is when I bake, but it also just makes baking easier (and not only do I love clean, but I also love easy). Let’s say you use a scale when you bake: pouring ingredients from a big bag of flour into a bowl sitting on your scale is always going to be unwieldy. But pouring flour from its designated container, with a slightly tapered top, to boot (more on which one I like below), maybe using my your hand to gently nudge the flour out of the bag and into the bowl? Well that’s just a straight up dream.

Preserves Ingredients Better Than the Original Containers

If you’re thinking, “decanting isn’t for me, I’ll stick to storing ingredients in the bags they arrived in,” it’s important to note that the bags that flour and sugar are packaged in are not great protection from spoilage due to moisture and heat.

How to Keep Track of Expiration Dates

Now in case you’re thinking, “I don’t bake that often, and I’m worried about missing an expiration date, since I will no longer have the ingredient’s bag at my fingertips,” cut the expiration info from the bag and tape it to the side of the container you’ve decanted it into. Expiration worries, be gone!

The Best Storage Containers for Baking Ingredients

If You Don’t Want to Buy Storage Containers…

A zippered plastic bag can come in handy. A zippered bag usually can’t handle a whole bag of flour, but once you’ve used some of it, try placing the partially empty bag inside. Although it won’t protect the ingredient from the elements as well as a reusable container, it does the job in a pinch.

If You Want to Buy Reusable Storage Containers…

My favorite option is Sistema’s BAKE IT line of containers. Here’s why. They have slightly tapered tops that make easy work of pouring the ingredient into a bowl on my scale, they are relatively large (they don’t hold all 5 pounds of my bag of flour, but most of it), they are dishwasher safe and have lasted me for YEARS. But truly any airtight container will work and if it has some of the features mentioned above, all the better.

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