Store All Your Leftovers in Soup Containers

Yes, they are plastic, but they are plastic that is developed to hold food– even extremely hot food– and theyre cheap enough that you can toss them into the recycling the moment you feel theyre wearing. Theyre pretty resilient and, unless youre putting them in the microwave every day, Ive found they last a long time (quite much forever if you only utilize them for cold and room temperature level storage).

Picture: Kawitsara

Ever considering that I purchased two sleeves of soup containers (in two different sizes) at the restaurant supply shop, I have actually used little else. I will periodically bust out a repurposed jam container (for salad dressings, percentages of sauce, and emergency situation mixed drinks), and Ive been understand to use a freezer bag here and there, but I would approximate 90% of my food– leftovers, homemade dressings, pickles, and dry products– gets saved in a plastic soup container. And Im not the only one. A.A. Newton (who turned me on to them in the very first place) has actually sung their applauds before:
Their versatile product makes them very easy to put from: simply squeeze the sides gently to make a spout. Theyre recyclable, but theyre so inexpensive ($ 5-10 for a sleeve of 50 depending on where you get them) that tossing a months-old container of rotted mystery fluid directly into the trash isnt the end of the world.

What are your favorite methods to save food? Our health and science editor, Beth Skwarecki, loves the square, black, tray-like takeout containers, especially for meal planning (which I do not actually engage in). Make a case for your container of choice in the remarks listed below.

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Food storage is therefore vital, and while I have attempted a large variety of food-storage systems, none come close to the ease and efficacy of using soup containers (not deli containers, which are similarly formed however flimsy– soup containers will look slightly more opaque).

I simply can not worry how much the stacking element matters to me. As I discussed earlier, my refrigerator (and entire kitchen, actually) are little, and containers that remain stably stacked on top of one another make my life much, a lot easier. Like A.A. Newton before me, I take benefit of their wide-mouth openings to make mayo and other emulsified dressings right in the container, and their ability to withstand a broad series of temperature levels means I can fill them with vegetables and pour boiling pickle brine right on top, then turn around and pop them in the fridge or freezer. All that, and theyre transparent, which suggests I can actually see the grocery store inside, making it exponentially most likely I will eat it before it spoils. (What do I do if I require to save something that is bigger than a soup container, like a roasted chicken? I simply leave it in its roasting pan and cover it with cling wrap– however any pan juices go into a soup container.).

Ever considering that I purchased 2 sleeves of soup containers (in 2 various sizes) at the restaurant supply store, I have actually used little else. I will sometimes bust out a repurposed jam jar (for salad dressings, little quantities of sauce, and emergency situation cocktails), and Ive been understand to utilize a freezer bag here and there, but I would approximate 90% of my food– leftovers, homemade condiments, pickles, and dry goods– gets saved in a plastic soup container. As I discussed earlier, my fridge (and whole cooking area, really) are little, and containers that stay stably stacked on top of one another make my life much, much simpler. Like A.A. Newton before me, I take benefit of their wide-mouth openings to make mayo and other emulsified dressings right in the container, and their ability to endure a broad range of temperatures implies I can fill them with vegetables and put boiling pickle brine right on top, then turn around and pop them in the fridge or freezer.

Lastly, they are light and practically unbreakable. I like the look of glass containers, the excellent ones are heavy and– no matter how thick and tempered the glass is– they can shatter if dropped. The weight of a Pyrex dish may not be that huge of an offer to some of you, but the heaviness of kitchen devices is something Ive been believing about a growing number of just recently, especially now that my mom is establishing arthritis in her wrists and hands from years of as a veterinarian (sterilizing countless animals actually wears on those joints, as it ends up).
Plus, if you have kids, light-weight containers are a little much easier for them to hold and get than heavy containers made from glass that they might drop, break, and potentially cut themselves with. I dont have any children, but I imagine they are constantly dropping things.

Although my apartment or condo rarely contains more than 2 individuals at a time, I cook as if Im feeding a family of 4. This is mainly due to my line of work, but its worsened by my propensity to overestimate just how much food I can consume at any provided meal. Food storage is therefore crucial, and while I have tried a variety of food-storage systems, none come close to the ease and efficacy of utilizing soup containers (not deli containers, which are likewise shaped however lightweight– soup containers will look a little more nontransparent).