Here is a fact that I’d wager money on: You have too many storage containers. You have round ones, square ones, plastic ones, glass ones, tiny ones, take-out ones, reused cold cut ones. Maybe some of you are even saving you old butter tubs and yogurt cups. It’s ok, I understand. It’s important to reuse & recycle, but not if you are struggling to store them and their cursed mismatched lids. Trust me, you have too many.
Some things to consider:
Round containers take up much more space in your cupboard, drawer or refrigerator.
Plastic is questionable for use in the microwave, all those weird chemicals heating up and mixing with your food and such….
If it doesn’t have a lid it isn’t that useful, and requires you to use plastic wrap which isn’t environmentally friendly, and heck, you can’t stack on it.
More containers are always on their way to your life.
So make some tough decisions. Consider getting some high-quality rectangular and square glass ones and make those your primary use ones. They will last for years and you can store in them, reheat in them, and eat the leftovers right out of them. They stack nicely in the fridge.
So let's sort out your plastic containers. Put the quality ones that you actually purchased at some point in one pile and the freebies you acquired (takeout, butter & cold cuts) in another. Match them up with their lids. If they don’t have lids, consider putting those in the recycling bin – especially the freebies.
Decide how much space you can dedicate to storage containers. Put your glass ones, and higher quality plastic ones in this space with their lids on. See if you can stack what you need instead of nesting them. Nesting conserves space, but also breeds more containers than necessary and often separates them from their lids, often forever. Stacking them eliminates the need for a lid-organizing solution. Put whatever doesn’t fit in a box and tuck that away for a little while. Go for a week or two with just what you’ve put away. If you find you haven’t needed to go into that box, you may be ready to purge them. It’s okay to keep some for ‘just in case’ uses – i.e. some cups to hold paint for art projects or take-out containers to hold Legos. But they don’t need to take up valuable space in your kitchen at all times.
Share how it works out for you!
