…and my life has become so much better as a result!
Several months back I did a sort and purge of all the plastic containers in use in my kitchen. I was so tired of ancient margarine tubs with missing lids and Cool-Whip containers and plastic Ziploc and Glad and Hillshire Farm lunchmeat boxes that didn’t stack and never had matching lids nearby when I needed them. I had to keep some of them, because my elderly mom refuses to let go entirely, but I recycled anything without a lid, and packed a whole bunch off to the drawer at the church kitchen that is reserved for leftover boxes.
Then I bought a big batch of Glad plastic boxes. All the lids stack and snap together. All the boxes nest properly. There are even small condiment cups that snap onto the underside of the lids. And they are all in my favorite color of blue. I bought washable labels and a dedicated Sharpie pen, and now I know what is turning green and furry at the back of the fridge! On the rare occasion I buy lunchmeat in a plastic box, I use those containers to take things to work that I don’t care to have returned, or to ship to my kids, or recycle them without a qualm. Packing up my lunch is so much easier. Packing up leftovers after a meal is so much easier. I can’t believe how much time I wasted in the past just to try to be a good citizen of the earth and reuse things!
So what mundane decision have you made recently that really made your life easier?
Isn’t this a form of discrimination against the people working at other food storage box companies?
I was just thinking about the ad showing all those boxes and lids snapping and stacking together … whilst hunting for a random missing lid.
Here’s my tepid excuse for not clearing out the container mess: I still have various young adults stopping by to eat and take home leftovers. It’s good to have random containers to send out.
Ooops … didn’t answer question yet … will ponder while rummaging the plastic containers.
Absolutely without fail, no matter what container I pull out, I will be unable to find a matching lid. If I try to game the system by starting with a lid, I will rifle through container after container and never find a match. I can’t explain it. I know they all started as matching containers and lids. Somehow over time, it’s turned into a jigsaw puzzle of pure frustration where no piece fits any other piece.
And of course, the cherry on the humiliation sundae comes when my wife sees me floundering, says “here, let me,” reaches in and immediately pulls out a matching container and lid. And suddenly I’m the helpless idiot manchild husband from every commercial for every product on TV.
You’ve inspired me. I’m going to banish all the crap containers to the recycle bin and invest in a professional set. I don’t care if it costs $500, I will not be beaten.
I’m seriously considering switching to Pyrex for my fridge storage needs. I get tired of stains and discoloration in plastic, plus I can’t find any ROUND plastic containers in even-cup sizes (1 cup, 2 cup, etc.). They’re all square/rectangular, oddball sizes, or both. (grump)
Got to throw a shout out in here for Rubbermaid Easy Find lids and containers. The lids all snap together, they snap to the bottom of the corresdponding size container.
A few months ago, the husband got a wild hair up his ass and threw out all our old mismatched lids and containers after we purchased the 40 piece set of Rubbermaid from Meijer. He filled a garbage bag! He had me take pictures of the before, the empty, tnen the after with the new ones.
It’s been three months now, but getting rid of my daughter’s bottles was a huge relief. For fifteen months one had to be prepared, administered, and cleaned up every time we put her down to sleep (if not more often). Every night I would hand-wash all the bottles and nipples and rings and vents and bottle- bottoms, because our dishwasher just didn’t get them clean. Often my husband would forget a half-full bottle in her bedroom and I’d have to bite my tongue and not complain about it.
Magically, all that is gone. I’m even enjoying the free square foot of counterspace the bottles used to sit on. Yes, still, three months later.
Wish I could master multiple quotes! But…you can line up these comments with the appropriate posts for extra credit!
I do hang on to some old containers for giving things away in. No one gets to take anything home in a blue-lid Glad box!
The worst part of the whole old rummage/mess/frustration thing was when all the non-matching, non-stacking boxes and lids would shower down on me while I was searching and then I’d have to clean them up off the floor…my own clear plastic Fibber McGee’s closet!
When I did my purge, I also purged my mom’s collection of reused Ziploc bags…and I took pictures! I threw out so many! Mom was in a nursing home at the time…otherwise she would have had a stroke! She just could not part with a bag until it disintegrated! And there are still a few margarine tubs (rectangular, brittle white plastic) floating around in her basement stash that date back to the Dawn of Soft Margarine (ie. the 70’s).
I think I only spent something like $19.99 on a starter pack of the Glad boxes that I came across at a warehouse club (either Sam’s or BJ’s). In fact, that was what lit a fire under my butt! I saw that nice lovely multipack thing and something in my brain just snapped! I even kept it out in the garage for a few weeks because I was sure Mom would have a conniption fit because she thought we had too many containers, but refused to part with any! I was slowly taking them to work for my lunch and then not bringing them home. Then when she had to go into the nursing home for a few weeks, I immediately yanked all the containers and baggies out onto the floor of the kitchen and did the purge. Since then, I’ve had to buy a few more, and a different size (plus those cute little dressing cups!) because a few have cracked or gone missing. But if I’ve spent more than another $15 I’d be surprised. Okay, the labels cost a bit…got those at Kmart. But so worth it. And I have a strict rule that they cannot expand past the shelf they are currently on. The big Glad containers (Large rectangle) I use for cookies at Christmas and when I cater concert receptions live in another cupboard.
My daughter is going through the baby bottle thing right now…those things just don’t store well at all! A few more months and she can pack them away for a year or so!
I pay the 7 year old a dollar once or twice a month to go through, match, organize and put away the damn things. It’s so worth it.
Every year or so I do a Great Purge and get rid of all the oddballs, and life is good for a few weeks. But I simply cannot convince the helpless idiot manchild husband or elder child to recycle bin the containers lunchmeat, et al come in. I’ve now taken to paying slightly more at the deli for lunchmeat, simply so I don’t get another plastic container. :smack:
And I know they’re throwing out my matchy-matchy stuff when they “clean out the fridge” and the stuff inside is too hazardous to release to the open air. (Okay, I may have done this once or twice myself.)
We purged all of our mismatched plastic containers and replaced them with plastic deli containers in 3 sizes, 8oz, 16oz and 32oz. They all use the same lid. It is nirvana. Add a stack of the cheap, semi-disposable sandwich containers and it’s even better. We have lids that match, and if a container gets lost or ruined, no worries, we’re out about $.20. Bliss
They seem to work fine as long as you don’t super-overheat them. I freeze many things this way in portion-sized containers, then thaw and reheat them carefully in a microwave. Works very well.
I’m too cheap to buy the matching sets, so what I’ve switched to doing is storing everything already lidded-up. It does take a lot more space, but it’s completely worth it for the time and frustration saved. Need to store leftovers? Open cabinet, grab approriate container. Done.
