Once I discovered snapware, I never looked back. They’re made to stack.
For those with interest, “Company Man” just did a story about Tupperware’s decline on his YouTube channel.
It’s more a high-level overview than a deep dive, but not a waste of time (~11:37):
They lasted long enough to become sticky. Which is gross. Extremely gross.
I’m a container snob; I use Pyrex with plastic lids, and consider somebody trying to re-use a takeout container or an e.g. Cool-Whip or Country Crock container to be grounds for immediately moving out, if not fully-justified murder. That garbage is one-time use only.
I will buy the Glad or store brand “disposable / reusable” containers to use exactly once in packaging a big batch of whatever to be given away. My portions go in Pyrex; their portions go in the (shudder) disposables.
Good riddance to Tupperware and their 1950s sensibilities.
I have mostly Rubbermaid plastic containers, and they eventually get gummy as well. They also get more brittle eventually, so if you drop one, it cracks. I have a stack of deli containers from takeout orders that I use frequently, along with the tubs that 32 ounces of yogurt comes in.
ive found that our fav Chinese place’s hot soup quart containers work wonders for hot and cold leftovers…we only have a dozen or two lol
Those deli containers get reused for leftovers in our house. Many days my lunch is leftover dinner from the night before. I like the fact that they are potentially disposable if they become too soiled or I become too lazy.
The 1960s-70s linguistics textbooks I read gave 3 words as markers for American English:
Silverware for all cutlery
Raisins for all dried grapes
Butter for all margarine
I noticed because those were the three words I was criticized for when I changed countries.
Those are the ones i use. We have lots of sizes, from one cup to a quart, and every single one uses the same lids. And they clean remarkably well. And yes, if something goes fuzzy in the fridge, i toss it, container and all.
I understand the difference between silverware and other flatware. And between butter and margarine. But what are other words for dried grapes?
Sultanas and Currants
I recall my mother attending a Tupperware party in the late 60s. Evidently, there was a certain sense of social obligation to buy at least ONE item, even if you didn’t particularly want or need that thing.
Currants are the little dry ones, and it’s extremely confusing that they are called currants when they are dried grapes and not dried currants (which is another fruit, ya know?). They aren’t very easy to find in the US, except in commercial baked goods. I guess i ignore that they exist, and whine about the name when they come up. But not using a word to distinguish a good that basically doesn’t exist seems normal.
I have always read “sultanas” as “British for raisins”, like calling a sweater a jumper. Do they also recognize a dried grape called a raisin? How does it differ from a sultana?
You really got criticized for calling distinguishing between butter and margarine? I’ve never heard of anyone calling “margarine” “butter” except when the type of spread doesn’t matter - “pass the butter” when it’s margarine on the table doesn’t matter, and that’s really the only circumstance where I’ve ever heard it. I suppose a household that only buys margarine might call it butter - but I’ve never heard that.
But what I’ve definitely never heard of is someone criticized for using “silverware” rather than flatware. You might get criticized for using “currant” as that’s a completely different fruit altogether and people might not understand “sultana” because if we want to distinguish them, we call them “golden raisins”. However, I can’t really think of a time I would need to make that distinction other than the times I would specify “Honey crisp” or “Fuji” rather than apple. Which is really only when I’m sending someone to buy them.
I think that sultanas are the plump, golden raisins.
Butter and margarine are completely different things and I’ve never heard margarine called butter. I’ll never eat margarine if I can help it and there’s no way it would be in my home.
Oh, “Golden raisins”. Thanks.
Yep, this. I’ve heard people use the term “butter” for margarine, but IMO/IME that’s more midwestern and low SES; the folks who grew up with margarine as the only stuff Mom bought.
With the small exception of eating out and saying “pass the butter” meaning whatever butter-like spread is on the table. Once I have it to hand If I can tell what it is, and it’s not 100% real butter, it 99% probably won’t be used by me. Once in awhile I goof or say “What the heck; this bread needs something, even if it’s gross ersatz garbage.”
In Wisconsin it can be a crime to serve margarine instead of butter.
A section of Wisconsin law under the heading “oleomargarine regulations” states:
“The serving of colored oleomargarine or margarine at a public eating place as a substitute for table butter is prohibited unless it is ordered by the customer.”
The law also generally prohibits serving oleomargarine or margarine to students, patients or inmates of any state institution as a substitute for butter. Violators can be fined between $100 and $500, imprisoned up to three months, or both.
I’ve often thought that one reason why adults find it more difficult to learn a second language is that, after 10 or 12, people stop correcting your language mistakes. When was the last time you laughed at or corrected the word mis-use of an adult with poor English Language skills?
Sunbeam Sultanas 375G | Woolworths
Sunbeam Australian Lexia Raisins 375G | Woolworths
In Aus, the raisins are red grapes: (Muscat, or Lexia). They are larger, softer, darker and sweeter than sultanas. The dried sultanas are “sultana” grapes. (i understand that n the US, sultanas are typically “Thompson Seedless”).
By the way: when I was young it was against the rules to serve margarine in Vic.Aus at all, even at customer request. The farm lobby eventually lost that battle.
Probably within the last week or two - but I only correct actual mistakes , not the sort of differences you describe. Which really aren’t even markers for American English except “raisin” for all dried grapes. Particular Americans may use silverware for all flatware or butter for any sort of spread but it’s not a marker in the way that “flat” vs “apartment” is.