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I LOVE these little orange beauties! I wait for them to show up at the grocery store each year and yesterday was my lucky day! They are so easy to peel and so sweet!

I always assumed they were tangerines but I looked them up online and it seems they're in the Mandarin orange family. Who knew? I didn't! See here ~~~~~> Clementine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I also love the little crates they come in and I always feel like I should do something with them after the Clementines are gone instead of just throwing them out but never took the time to come up with a new use for them. Today I googled "Clementine crates" & "Clementine boxes" for some images of recycled crates and sure enough, some have been put to very creative uses!

Check these out ~~~~~> https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&saf ... tine+crate and also https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&saf ... 00&bih=708

I feel inspired now as well as well nourished! :yh_wink

I've used the crates in the past Tabby for Christmas gifts or birthday gifts.

I fill them with Jams or bath toilet Items.

That's a great idea ... did you paint or varnish them or leave them as they are? I like the idea shown in one of the links of using them for planters in the spring & summer. There is also one of a crate being used as a tray. Now I wish I had saved them over the last few years!

The way my luck goes, now that I've found some uses for them, the producers will switch entirely over to mesh bags.

tabby;1410935 wrote: That's a great idea ... did you paint or varnish them or leave them as they are? I like the idea shown in one of the links of using them for planters in the spring & summer. There is also one of a crate being used as a tray. Now I wish I had saved them over the last few years!

The way my luck goes, now that I've found some uses for them, the producers will switch entirely over to mesh bags.


What I've done for elderly neighbours Tabby Is leave them natural and put a layer of straw In the bottom and then fill them with jars of preserves, jams and pickles.... like a little country hamper.

For my girlfriends, I've put In a layers of pink tissue paper scrunched up and filled them with toiletries.

They are great, my husband loves them.

I think they're the same as Cuties, right? The ones offered here come in orange mesh bags. Love 'em.

tabby;1410935 wrote: That's a great idea ... did you paint or varnish them or leave them as they are? I like the idea shown in one of the links of using them for planters in the spring & summer. There is also one of a crate being used as a tray. Now I wish I had saved them over the last few years!

The way my luck goes, now that I've found some uses for them, the producers will switch entirely over to mesh bags.


I have about a dozen of those cute crates....should I send you some?

Somebody should put those little crates on Acc's collectibles thread, 'cause you

can't get anything around here any more but the orange mesh bags!

Maybe it's an east coast thing, Val.

SnoozeAgain;1410939 wrote: I think they're the same as Cuties, right? The ones offered here come in orange mesh bags. Love 'em.


Yes, I think Cuties are clementines that are grown in California. We get them here occasionally but most of ours seem to come in the crates with labels from Spain.

Lady J;1410942 wrote: I have about a dozen of those cute crates....should I send you some?


I may take you up on that sometime, Lady J! :yh_wink

Most of our big stores have them but local farm markets always have them here.

They are also great for keeping mushrooms and odd bits of veg dry In the fridge,

Line with a liner, they make great trays for growing seedlings and some plants.

Add a cushion and you have a cat bed.

oscar;1410978 wrote: Most of our big stores have them but local farm markets always have them here.

They are also great for keeping mushrooms and odd bits of veg dry In the fridge,

Line with a liner, they make great trays for growing seedlings and some plants.

Add a cushion and you have a cat bed.


After I read this, I got up to look at the crate again and my first thought was that it might be too small for the cat but then I quickly remembered how they do love to nap in some oddly small places!

Because of this thread, I bought a bag of Clementines from the grocery store yesterday. They are delicious and easy to peel. Thanks!

I'm filling one of the boxes with straw and then filling It with various chesse's for my neighbour.

Lucky neighbor! I decided to save my crates for spring/summer to use for plants on the porch.

Home this evening with the first crate of the season ... and so we start again! These are really tinier than usual maybe because it's early days.

tabby;1439936 wrote: Home this evening with the first crate of the season ... and so we start again! These are really tinier than usual maybe because it's early days.


I'm gonna hafta look for them this weekend. Yummmmm.

I've got some in my fridge right now... in a mesh bag. I'm jealous of your crates.

We just bought a christmas pudding with a clementine in the middle of it. I'll tell you after Chrissy how it went down