The Condiment Packet Gallery

State of the Collection - 2025

Another year of consistent condiment packet cataloging. This Cinco de Mayo marks a steady and ritualistic method to obtaining, cleaning, photographing/uploading, and storing packets with very few breaks. To date the collection has 1852 packets. I upped how many packets I uploaded each week to try to work through some of the backlog quicker than last year (around 10 packets each week this year, doubling the upload rate from my original pace). We are well on our way to a milestone 2000 packets showcased here but it represents only a chunk of what I have prepared in storage. I still think a steady flow is how I'll proceed rather than dumping hundreds/thousands of packets in one fell swoop. This plan has helped me be more regimented in my weekly schedule, a skill I don't want to atrophe if I'd only airdrop packets here in bulk.

Packet Storage

I've got a good handle on storage now. Using the bins as the definitive "collection" has worked out well. They stack so they don't take up too much space, although they're not exactly beautiful to look at. But they must remain out as I add to them on pretty much a daily basis at this point. I also got some tall bins to accommodate taller packets (mayo, tartar sauce, etc). In the middle you can see that I still collect extras of each packet (if I can) for any collectors who'd like to packet swap. And finally down below I still maintain the binders as the exhibition rather than have to rifle through the bins. So really, I'm maintining 2 collections, but I still only count the bins as the "collection"

Additions

I've made a hell of a dent in the backlog. This may still look like chaos, but I had bags and boxes of packets that needed to be emptied. Sundays for the past year have been dedicated to emptying and cleaning as many as I could, so now I'm down to just a few grocery bags of packets that need preparation for the bins/binders/extras. It feels good to be in the home stretch.

It's been a good year for packets on eBay. Several listings for vintage packets have come up that I was happy to purchase. The condition of most is to be expected, I've salvaged them and added what was missing from the collection. Particularly of the Funspreds, it was really cool to be able to find a few designs that I didn't already have.

Denominator Tally

As I approach the end of the backlog, next steps will include thoroughly documenting and accounting for every packet (possibly a stretch goal of a Guinness World Record?!). Part of that includes having a tally of each type of packet that's not tied to the digital realm. As a collector, I also have many different types of mechanical counters, but I wanted something special for this endeavor. The Denominator Company out of Waterbury, Connecticut is one of the few manufacturers that is still in operation in the US and they happen to also have the most satisfying mechanism for a mechanical tally device. I reached out to them to build a custom tally device the includes a button for each sauce type as well as a totalizer tally on the very far right that will count all sauces together to give me the final number. And they delivered! This thing is beautiful and will be a mainstay in the collection workflow.

You can see here how the totalizer works. It's an engineering marvel that is extremely satisfying to operate and to see in action.

Looking Forward

Moving forward, a few tweaks I'd like to make to the site include a different display when you click a packet. Rather than just showing the image of the packet, some information on the side about the country of origin, date, brand/franchise, etc would be helpful. That information is available in the other views that you can change to, but it would be nice to be able to see it on the default view as well. Additionally, I'd like to start branching out to other social media outlets to get some more exposure for the catalog. We're rounding a pretty big milestone and I think it needs to be seen!

State of the Collection - 2024

This year was all about consistency. I launched the new and improved version of the condiment packet gallery on May 5 (Cinco de Mayo) as a tongue in cheek way to kick start the process. To date the collection has 1443 packets; I've added over 300 packets since launch. This feels insignificant, I have an estimated 2000 more unique packets that are ready for photographing and cataloging. But my main goal was to evenly and consistently provide updates. It's part of my weekly routine now so that goal was a resounding success. Adding some cool new features to the site like the Saucemerica map was a good way to keep things organized and keep things interesting.

Storage Solution

My secondary goal was to get a handle on the storage and inventorying of the collection. This was the most overwhelming part of the process, I just had way too many packets in varying states of documentation. My first thought was to use my card catalog to, well, catalog the packets, but the drawers weren't a good fit for the top loaders without some sort of bumper system. While this would have been a cool solution, it seemed like a 90% solution when I really needed a no-compromise, 100% solution.

Ultimately I arrived at this BCW card bin. Each holds about 800 top loaders, so this should at least keep me going through for a good while. I plan on using these are cold storage, the canonical "collection" that houses the specimens that represent what I consider to be the countable packets in the collection.

Documentation

For each unique packet, I empty and clean it, allow it to dry, and then photograph it. I've got a big backlog of packets ready for documentation on the website. Then it goes into a bin so it's ready to add to a penny sleeve then into a top loader, then ultimately into the cold storage card bin.

I still maintain the binders for ease of display and showcasing, and as a hot spare/secondary collection since I tend to get several spares of each respesentative packet. These are fun to look through and give a striking view into the changes over time to various brand's designs.

On spares, I have a lot. When I find a new packet, I try to grab 5 or 6. This allows me to grab the best condition one for the proper collection, but leaves me with a handful of extras. My thinking is that I need to have several on hand "just in case" but also if I happen to meet any other collectors, I'll have a good backlog of packets to donate. Some cardboard card boxes house the extras in their own sauce type specific boxes.

Looking Forward

As I move forward, I think this workflow works really well. It's been a lot of work to catch up but as I work off the backlog, it's becoming more manageable. Rather than throwing these all into a pile and doing a marathon of cleaning and prepping the packets, small chunks of preparation and documentation keeps the momentum and avoids a pile up that becomes overwhelming.

I still have so many piles of random packets that I'm chipping away at. It's the problem you find with an empty work surface: they tend to become victims of entropy. Everywhere I turn I have packets that need to be corralled. It's become habit to grab a handful of backlog packets when I clean and document a batch of new ones. It's getting there!

I'm toying with the idea of creating some collages and "art" with some packets. Since I have decades of history stored away, there's a lot of stories that can be told visually. Look forward to a new page here on the site at some point this year that will have such things. The main goal, as always, is to remain consistent. If you know anybody who also has a condiment packet collection, please get in touch with me! I'm always looking to aggregate collections into this database to make it as comprehensive as possible! A stretch goal would be to view packets from a chronology. This is possible as the database is set up now, but a dedicated mechanism to see packets over time would be a great addition.