Kitchenhack: Labeling

In this instructable I will show you our kitchen life hack for labeling: painters tape! Easy to remove without leaving remnants.

We use this tape for labeling everything we want, examples are:
-Dried herbs in glass jars
-Containers we put in the freezer
-Opening/due dates for fresh products like sandwich meet, cheese, etc.
-.......

Supplies

The only supplies really required are:
-Painters tape
-Pen/marker/....
And to make your labels more neat scissors can come in handy.

Step 1: Nice Labels - Step 1: Tape the Tape

To make writing easy, tape the beginning of the painters tape on your kitchen counter.

Step 2: Nice Labels - Step 2: Write Your Label

1. Make a nice outline around your label. Start with the top part.
2. Write your label, in my case Garlic (sorry for my handwriting ;))
3. Make the rest of the outline.
By first doing the top part of the outline and the rest at the end you can make the bottom part fit nicely to the size of your text.

Experiment with your own outline and make is as fancy and nice as you want, here some ideas. We went for an easy dotted line.

Step 3: Nice Labels - Step 3: Cut Your Label

The second advantage of taping the painters tape to the kitchen counter is when you start cutting the label. Cut while pulling the tape, this makes it easy to get a nice straight cut.

Step 4: Nice Labels - Step 4: Apply Your Label

Apply your label to whatever you need it for. We use the 'fancy' labels for our herbs in glass jars we re-use when the are empty.

Step 5: Quick, Short Use Labels

For labels we use shortly, we just write on the painters tape while it is still on the roll and just tear it off. As you see, tearing straight is a challenge ;).

You can use these labels for containers you put in the freezer, due/opening dates of fresh products, etc. Here the biggest advantage of the painters tape comes in, it is easy to remove and does not leave remnants.

Comments

[jessyratfink]

Labeling things is my jaaaaaam. I have all my spices on a huge lazy susan and love having labels right on the top :)

[dragon flyer]

Me too, but I'm trying to picture how you store yours. I have my spices on a double-decker lazy susan, but I label the sides of the bottles, which are at eye-level on a top cupboard shelf...

[jessyratfink]

Mine are in a bottom corner cabinet, so I'm always looking down at them :D

[dragon flyer]

I'm curious about exactly what kind of tape that is. What's called painter's tape where I am is green, and is designed for very short term use. White or beige tape like yours is called masking tape here, and has a much stronger adhesive. I use it for labelling things, but it can polymerize over a long time, which makes it much harder to remove should you ever want to do that...!

[rikbouwmans]

Hi, I'm from the Netherlands and this is our standard painters-tape, brand tesa. The cheaper brands are less adhesive and comr loose over time.
I am also fimiliar with blue tape of tesa which is used for windows and 3d printing. But this is more expensive and for more 'high-end' usage so to say.
Hope this helps you.

[kymyst]

As a chemist I would recommend sticking the label on the glass jar instead of the lid. If you mix up the lids you will have your contents incorrectly labelled !

[rikbouwmans]

That's true, but reading the labels is easier when the jars are stacked next to eachother in the drawer like we have. We do have the risk of getting funky dishes ;). But usually your smell can also help if you doubt the label.

[audreyobscura]

I'm a strong believer in keeping label tape in the kitchen! It's so handy!

[rikbouwmans]

Indeed! And I thought, let's tell the world after finding out none of my friends are doing it this way.