Something to try for those that may be thinking of Christmas gifts....

While placing my order for just five things I'm out of, I thought about
a soon to be family member that's a learning chef. He's recently moved
into his own place and often runs to prospective mother-in-law to
snatch bits of spicesseasonings/herbs for his infrequent home cooking.
I checked out all of the gift packs. and saw the pack-it-yourself boxes
designed to hold eight 1/2 cup bottles offered. So I started a list
that could somewhat give him all of the kitchen basics, instead of too
much that he would not care about. While doing this I decided the 1/4
cup sizes would be best for two reasons: he could retain best
freshness by the smaller sizes needing replacement more often, and I
could also gift-pack two per one for a wider selection, instead of just
the eight half-cuppers per the two boxes I'll pack myself.

What fun! I called his bride-to-be for her advice on what I'd picked,
as to what he probably may not care about or use, and ended up with 5
half-cups and 22 quarter-cuppers, plus the "Pepper Lovers" three
half-cup set with the smaller pepper mill included. Overall I spent a
good deal less than the "21 (1/2 cup) Piece American Kitchen" plus the
Pepper Lovers would have been, and he'll have a very usable, good
starter set that we are sure he'll love being surprised with.

....Picky