Minecraft Bundles in 1.21 are Game Changing

Bundles offer a small, but important solution to inventory management in Minecraft. Whether you’re a nomadic explorer, an organized builder, or just trying to collect everything you can early game (hoarding problem?), bundles bring flexibility to your gameplay. However, they’re not without limitations. What are they good for? And not good for? Let's take a look.

What Are Bundles?

Bundles are inventory management tools introduced in Minecraft 1.21. They allow players to store a mix of items within a single inventory slot, up to a total of 64 items. Unlike Shulker Boxes, which are ideal for mass storage, bundles excel in managing small quantities of diverse items, especially in the early game.

How to Craft Bundles

Crafting a bundle requires just one String and one Leather!

This simplicity makes bundles incredibly easy to craft early in the game, providing a quick, early game, solution to inventory clutter. Bundles have become my top priority when starting a new world. Stay up one night and you should be able to get yourself at least one string. Or if you're lucky enough to discover some cobwebs, you can harvest them for string with a sword.

You can change the color of a bundle by crafting it together with a dye, like this:

This way, you can get bundles in any of the 16 colors in Minecraft!

How Do You Use a Bundle?

Using bundles is not very intuitive, which I think has led to some people not liking them, or giving them a chance. With some practice, bundles can become second nature. Yeah, I said practice. Sounds weird, but you definitely need to get used to them and how they operate in your inventory.

Adding items to bundles: To put items into a bundle, left click with the bundle on an item stack to add it to the bundle. Or, left click on a bundle with an item stack. Things get weird when you click on a bundle with a bundle, though you can put bundles inside of bundles! More on that below.

Removing items from bundles: To remove items from a bundle, right click on the bundle or right click with the bundle while holding it to remove the most recent stack. If you right click on an inventory slot or a chest slot, the stack will be placed there. If you right click in the air, you'll throw the stack! You cannot pick up items directly into a bundle.

Viewing Contents of a Bundle: You can hover over a bundle in your inventory to see its contents. On consoles or Bedrock Edition, there are nuances to accessing items, with some players reporting challenges in retrieving specific contents. I've only used Java, which from what I understand allows you to extract specific items using the following method:

Extracting specific Items (Java only): While hovering over a bundle, rotate the scroll wheel to select a specific item. Check out the bundle icon and you'll see that item shown in an open bag! Then right click to remove the highlighted item. This way, you can extract any visible item from a bundle.

If you have lots of different items in your bundle, only the first 10 unique items will be visible when you hover. The remaining items are represented by a "+x" where x is the number of additional unique items in your bundle. Keep this in mind if you're hoping for quick access to the contents.

Bundle Math

As a bundle fills up, you can see a capacity bar beneath it. This tells you how much space is left in your bundle

Bundles can hold up to 64 unique items in what's essentially the equivalent of a single stack. This means that any items that can stack up to 64 items can be combined into this buffer of 64 items.

• Ordinary stackable items each take one of these 64 slots
• Items that stack only up to 16 like ender pearls and eggs each take up 4 slots (64 / 16 = 4).
• Non stackable items, which take up an entire slot in regular inventories take up the full 64 slots. You can put a non-stackable item into a bundle, but it's the only thing.

Therefore, you can put up to 64 different individual items into a bundle! This is amazing for collecting things that you end up with just a few of while you're exploring, like seeds, flowers, ores, mob drops, etc., that quickly fill up your inventory.

You can put bundles in bundles!

Yes, you can put bundles inside of bundles! However, this does not increase the capacity of the container bundle. The content count of the held bundles contributes to the overall item limit of 64. Sorry, no unlimited bundles.

Put Bundles Inside of Shulker Boxes

For the ultimate in storage and organization, you can put bundles inside of Shulker Boxes! Imagine a full color coded bundle system inside your color coded Shulker boxes. I'm not that organized, but we can dream.

Sadly, you cannot put Shulker boxes inside of bundles.

Name your Bundles in an Anvil

For the ultimate in organization, in addition to color coding your bundles, you can name them in an anvil! This will allow you to remember exactly what you're storing in your bundles. For some ideas for bundle uses and themes, read below.

Best Uses for Bundles

Early Game Exploration

Bundles shine during the early game, where inventory space is limited. Store small quantities of:

• Saplings and seeds
• Flowers and dyes
• Miscellaneous mob drops
• Rare ores and blocks

They’re perfect for gathering essentials without cluttering your inventory.

Nomadic Playstyles

For players who prefer a nomadic lifestyle, bundles are invaluable. Create kits for specific tasks:

• Survival Kit: Crafting table, furnace, coal, logs, and food.
• Gardening Kit: Saplings, seeds, bonemeal, and dirt. You can't put a hoe in though.

Specialized Storage

Organize low-count or unique items:

• Redstone Components: Stackable redstone dust, repeaters, comparators, and rails.
• Building Kits: Different wood or stone types, doors, trapdoors, and fences.
• Map Art: Store filled maps and cartography supplies.

Unique Uses

Here are some unique ways to use bundles. Name your bundles in an anvil, and color code them!

• Bundle of Bundles: Keep several bundles inside a bundle for easy access. Store string, leather and a crafting table to make more!
• Tool Crafting Kit: Include a crafting table, sticks, cobble, iron, and diamonds to craft tools on the fly.
• Villager Trading Kits: Emeralds, books, and items for specific trades. Include your favorite workstations so you can convert a villager to the occupation you need!
• Redstone Bundles: Tools for Sorters, Etho clocks, flying machines, and chunk loaders.
• Dye Bundle: Store all of the different dyes in a single container.
• Gardening Bundle: Include sticks, iron, seeds, saplings, and a crafting table to make hoes or shears on demand.
• Fishing Kit: Carry string, sticks, buckets, and a crafting table to craft fishing rods and then store your catch.
• Exploration Kit: Pack ender pearls, logs, sticks, and a crafting table for on-the-go resource crafting.
• Mining Bundle: Store coal, logs, iron, and a crafting table for crafting tools and torches.
• Building Kit: Include small stacks of wood, stone, stairs, slabs, and trapdoors for flexible building.
• Crop Starter Bundle: Carry seeds, bonemeal, dirt, slabs, and buckets for setting up farms.
• Decoration Organizer: Pack flowers, dyes, banners, and other aesthetic items.
• Survival Essentials: Carry logs, coal, sticks, food, and a crafting table for emergencies.
• Map Maker's Kit: Store empty maps, paper, redstone, and iron for compasses.
• Villager Trading Pack: Include emeralds, paper, and books for trading sessions.
• Potion Brewing Kit: Carry blaze powder, glass water bottles, nether wart, specific ingredients, a brewing stand, a crafting table, and even hoppers for automation
• Nomad's Pack: Include wool, wood, and sticks to craft beds and tools as needed.
• Adventure Bundle: Got a friend who frequently says, "Let's go exploring! NOW!" Pre-pack food, torches, and crafting resources for long journeys, so you can leave at the drop of a hat.
• Combat Prep Kit: Store arrows, feathers, flint, and string to craft bows or replenish supplies.
• Biome Collector's Pack: Include small samples of blocks from various biomes for reference.
• Armor Crafting Kit: Include iron, leather, or diamond along with a crafting table.
• Builder's Palette: Pack a mix of wood types, stone, and decorative blocks.
• Spawner Setup Kit: Include torches, name tags, and buckets for controlling spawners.
• Cooking Kit: Carry coal, raw food items, and a crafting table for preparing meals.
• Underwater Kit: Pack water-breathing potions, logs, coal, and magma blocks for crafting and safety.
• Nether Survival Pack: Store gold, fire resistance ingredients, and crafting materials.
• End Adventure Kit: Carry ender pearls, food, and logs for crafting.
• Map Art Supplies: Pack filled maps, paper, dyes, and empty maps.
• Event Bundle: Include fireworks, cakes, and dyes for celebratory events.
• Piglin Trading Kit: Carry gold ingots and crafting resources for bartering.
• Compact Storage: Organize rarely used blocks like glass panes or quartz.
• Treasure Storage: Keep rare stackable items like enchanted books or ancient debris.

Challenges and Limitations

Despite their utility, bundles do have their drawbacks:

• Limited Capacity: The 64-item limit feels restrictive for late-game players managing large quantities.
• Accessing Items: Retrieving specific items can be tedious, especially on console editions where contents must be emptied in the order they were added.
• Unstackable Items: Bundles cannot store unstackable items like tools, potions, or armor effectively.
• Late-Game Redundancy: Shulker boxes outclass bundles in terms of capacity and convenience once players access the End.

Are Bundles Worth It?

Bundles fill a specific niche in Minecraft’s inventory system, especially for early-game players or those who enjoy compact organization. While not a replacement for shulker boxes, they complement existing storage solutions and encourage creative gameplay. If you’re looking for a lightweight way to manage diverse items on the go, bundles are a game-changer.

However, for late-game players or those managing large-scale farms, bundles may feel underwhelming. Mojang’s decision to limit their capacity keeps them balanced, but it’s clear that bundles are more of an inventory enhancement than a comprehensive solution.

So, what’s your take on bundles? Are they a useful addition or a missed opportunity? Share your thoughts on our Discord and join the conversation!