Flour & sugar bins

Keeping flour fresh and free from invaders was the main reason for having flour stored in airtight containers. With the majority of baking being done at home, our ancestors needed large bins. Many were stoneware or terracotta, although the Victorians also used japanned tin. Hunts patent flour crock was designed to allow string or rope across it for extra security !

Sugar was largely stored in wooden firkins - round bins that got their name from the fact that they held a gallon. The round bentwood bins had lids and eventually came in a variety of sizes, although 5lb was the most common.

By the inter-war years, bins had got smaller and were largely enamel. Mostly white, they could also be found in cream and green and blue. During the thirties, Pride O' Home flour produced their own promotional flour bins for customers.

By the fifties and sixties, bins had become smaller again, and made from tin. Colour-co-ordinated for the fashionable kitchen,  this was the age of the convenient sliced loaf and Lyons sandwich cake.

More bins & jars can be found in our Kitchenware ranges.