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Home stuff šŸ” Leftover storage

Maister

Maister

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I got tired of having a mish mash assortment of old margarine, Cool Whip, and cottage cheese containers for storing our leftovers and decided to spring for a uniform set of three different sized plastic containers for leftovers.

Using old margarine tubs is satisfying to the inner cheapskate in that they're already paid for and who wants to waste plastic after just a single use? On the other hand, because the containers are typically opaque it's difficult to know at a glance whether you're looking at a container of ricotta cheese or leftover stir fry from Monday without opening the container. Using this method frequently results in leftovers getting lost and forgotten about only to be rediscovered a month later when a penicillin culture is growing inside.

It is for those reasons I prefer transparent containers. We got our current leftover storage container set maybe six or seven years ago but already a third of them have been lost or broken and it's time to replace them. Problem is, I can't find the replacements online and I get the impression they may not even make that particular set anymore. So any suggestions/recommendations for storage containers you use?

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I just get the glad things from the grocery store or walmart. They're relatively cheap and they seem to disappear all the time so I don't want to spend much. Do you have the extra lid or container with no matching lid problem too?
 
DVD said:
Do you have the extra lid or container with no matching lid problem too?
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Yeah, that's the other annoying thing.

Concerning the Glad containers, they're basically a one or two shot deal. They don't hold up to the dishwasher and they end up getting tossed or recycled almost immediately. Doesn't appeal to my inner environmentalist.
 
I prefer to store leftovers in glass containers, made from USA-made glass. I don't like the idea of reheating food in plastic containers.

I save the lidded plastic take out dishes to send food with people who never return my glass containers. As far as I'm concerned, those glass thieves can eat food that's reheated in plastic.
 
I do reuse my plastic containers and often things end up thrown out - I do also purchase containers - but to be a do-gooder, I do try to purchase them in glass and not plastic
 
DVD said:
I just get the glad things from the grocery store or walmart. They're relatively cheap and they seem to disappear all the time so I don't want to spend much. Do you have the extra lid or container with no matching lid problem too?
Click to expand...

We primarily use the Glad (or Kroger-brand equivalent) containers and we also have the same problem with extra or missing lids. Every few months, we I can no longer shut the drawer we keep them all in, I go through and toss containers/lids with no matches. Our kids like to take take them and use them for craft supplies or things that they are working on so a lot of the times, they end up destroying them as well.

Ours seem to hold up pretty well in the dishwasher as long as I don't put them on the bottom rack. When I do, the heat warps them down there.

Our grocery store sells their own homemade soup and it comes in really thick, heavy duty 1 quart or 1 pint plastic containers so we reuse those when we buy some soup. They last a long time but the downside is that the labels they stick on them are a pain to peel off (but I guess I could just not worry about the labels...).

We also have fancy bento box style Tupperware things that are really nice to use for lunches to take to work or school. If we have leftovers that I know I'll want the next day, I usually pack up a meal's worth right into one of those after dinner so it's ready for me as I leave the house in the morning.

I've thought about getting some of the more durable and longer-lasting glass containers with lids but I do like the lighter weight of the plastic ones and that they are a bit more stackable. One of these days though I might breakdown and buy some of the glass ones as I agree with @kms that the glass containers are nicer for reheating foods.
 
Maister said:
Concerning the Glad containers, they're basically a one or two shot deal. They don't hold up to the dishwasher and they end up getting tossed or recycled almost immediately. Doesn't appeal to my inner environmentalist.
Click to expand...
Um, ever try handwashing them? It ain't that difficult.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I've thought about getting some of the more durable and longer-lasting glass containers with lids but I do like the lighter weight of the plastic ones and that they are a bit more stackable. One of these days though I might breakdown and buy some of the glass ones as I agree with @kms that the glass containers are nicer for reheating foods.
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We have a few of the glass containers with plastic lids. The one disadvantage they have is they don't stack (unless nesting within different size containers) and take up a good deal more space than their plastic counterparts.

Concerning reheating food in plastic containers, who the heck would do that? Like, wouldn't the thin type 2 plastic practically melt in the microwave after a single use? Not to mention, all the off-gassing the polymers would expel when heated. We always transfer our leftovers stored in plastic containers to the appropriate corning ware or other type microwave safe dish to reheat anything. And handwashing really doesn't get surfaces as free of bacteria/sanitized nearly as well as the higher temps dishwashers provide. Plus, having to hand wash a separate batch of dishes requires a little more time. Maybe only an extra 10 minutes, but add that 10 minutes daily up over a year and it results in over 300 hours a year spent handwashing. I can think of a number of things I would rather do with that time.
 
We've been using tupperware style reusable plastic containers for a long time and they hold up pretty well to repeated heavy use.

They are the rigid plastic type that do eventually degrade over years of use, but it's way better than 'cheap' limited use ones WSU and Maister mention. We use them for leftovers, work week lunches and general foot stuffs storage in the fridge. If we do have the type 2 style, we typically just use them for storage and transport, but move the food to a mircowave safe container/dish for heating. I actually like getting the Hillshire Farm lunchmeat that comes in those types of containers because I then reuse the container for a while after the lunchmeat is gone.

As for leftovers as a category, we (mainly I) try to eat as much of the stored leftovers for weekday lunches in conscientious effort at thriftiness and cost savings as we're a predominantly single income household with, effectively, 5 adult size people in the house now.

My dad and sister are notorious for keeping restaurant leftovers in the to-go containers for way too long in their fridges and then not eating the food fast enough. But they are both single person households with good incomes, so it's not as important for their bottom lines.

Here's the type of long term use plastic containers we have/use:

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We use a mishmash of types at the moment, but the kind I recommend to avoid are the "snap lock" lid type, unless the silicone gasket inside the lid can be taken out for cleaning. Years back I bought a set of plastic containers with snap lock lids so I could take soup, etc. to work. They all ended up getting mildew-y around the gaskets, but the gaskets were stuck inside, so I had to just throw them away.
 
I hand wash dishes and find that it's hard to wash oil from the plastic containers. I have to put dish soap right into those containers and wash them. Simply washing them in the sink with everything else doesn't work.
 
We have both kinds in our kitchen, however I can never find a matching lid but I swear Mrs. P can reach in there blindfolded and pull out the perfect matching set each and every time.
 
I love the various sized Pyrex glass containers with the plastic lids. They can easily go from fridge to microwave to dishwasher/ sink and you can see exactly what's in them at a glance. They also come in a billion options for design and lid color and you can often find them cheaply at garage sales if you're that kind of shopper. A few years ago, we visited the Corning Museum of Glass and I picked up several for $1 each which is a steal! Since most of mine are all the same size, the lids are interchangeable so even when one breaks (and this has only happened to me once but it was recently), they're still useful because I have a half dozen other lids that fit. Plus I'm pretty sure you can buy replacement lids directly from Corning.

I love the fun patterns and colors (as pictured) but, of course, you can go with just plain too if you're not as much fun as I am. ;)
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