diff --git a/playbooks/roles/base-server/tasks/main.yaml b/playbooks/roles/base-server/tasks/main.yaml
index fd14067d1e..167805bfc0 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/base-server/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/base-server/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 - name: Install base packages
   package:
     state: present
-    name: '{{ item }}'
-  loop: '{{ base_packages }}'
+    name: "{{ base_packages }}"
 
 - name: Include OS-specific variables
   include_vars: "{{ lookup('first_found', params) }}"
@@ -15,8 +14,7 @@
 - name: Install distro specific packages
   package:
     state: present
-    name: '{{ item }}'
-  loop: '{{ distro_packages }}'
+    name: "{{ distro_packages }}"
 
 - name: Increase syslog message size in order to capture python tracebacks
   copy:
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/pip3/tasks/main.yaml b/playbooks/roles/pip3/tasks/main.yaml
index 524fc139a5..ccc4b09b11 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/pip3/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/pip3/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 - name: Install pip and virtualenv
   package:
-    name: "{{ item }}"
-  loop:
-    - python3-pip
-    - python3-virtualenv
+    name:
+      - python3-pip
+      - python3-virtualenv
diff --git a/roles/puppet-install/tasks/puppet-install/trusty.yaml b/roles/puppet-install/tasks/puppet-install/trusty.yaml
index d1c73feeb5..c61b3c4c55 100644
--- a/roles/puppet-install/tasks/puppet-install/trusty.yaml
+++ b/roles/puppet-install/tasks/puppet-install/trusty.yaml
@@ -16,10 +16,9 @@
     - name: Install puppet packages
       package:
         state: present
-        name: '{{ item }}'
-      loop:
-        - puppet
-        - ruby
+        name:
+          - puppet
+          - ruby
     # wipe out templatedir so we don't get warnings
     - name: Remove templatedir
       lineinfile:
@@ -54,4 +53,4 @@
     name: puppet
     state: stopped
     enabled: no
-  become: yes
\ No newline at end of file
+  become: yes
diff --git a/roles/puppet-install/tasks/puppet-install/xenial.yaml b/roles/puppet-install/tasks/puppet-install/xenial.yaml
index c8914e32d2..516e73094b 100644
--- a/roles/puppet-install/tasks/puppet-install/xenial.yaml
+++ b/roles/puppet-install/tasks/puppet-install/xenial.yaml
@@ -11,10 +11,9 @@
     - name: Install puppet packages
       package:
         state: present
-        name: '{{ item }}'
-      loop:
-        - puppet
-        - ruby
+        name:
+          - puppet
+          - ruby
 
     # wipe out templatedir so we don't get warnings
     - name: Remove templatedir