What’s For Dinner? Kitchen Superstar: Food Storage Containers!
Food Storage Containers – They help me save time, spend less or make my life easier. I will not just tell you about the item but how it helps make my life better. I hope you enjoy!
I am super excited to talk today about food storage containers. I know exciting right? Lol! But honestly I am just keeping it real, I love my food storage containers.
Disclosure: I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
How Food Storage Containers Make My Life Easier:
The reason I love food storage containers so much is they make my life 100 times easier.
- I save money by being able to easily store leftovers making less waste.
- I get a lunch and snacks for the work day. Food I can grab and go.
- From someone who has food sensitivities, it means I don’t need to stress about finding food I can eat when on the go. This is actually a huge relief.
- From a fitness point of view/healthy living, this means I don’t worry over having proper food to fuel my body.
I recently went on a day trip that required eating. Do you know how hard it is to find a food place that serves gluten-free, corn free, rice free, potato free, sugar-free food? It’s really really hard people!
As mentioned here, we do meal prep so food storage containers are a must!
How I Choose My Food Storage Containers:
There are a ton of different types of food storage containers. You can get any shape, size or price range. So how do you decide what to use?
Here is a quick list of what I look for when buying food storage containers:
The first thing I check is the user rating, what concerns did they have? This is another case of user reviews are super important.
I try to talk with friends, family, and others to see what they like and look for in a food storage container.
Next, I check to make sure they can be put in both the microwave, freezer, and dishwasher. When I cook in bulk I like to freeze the extras. I also microwave my lunches at work so they need to be able to be easily reheated. The last, dishwasher safe is pretty self-explanatory. Easy cleaning, is a must!
The last thing I check is the lid, does it screw on? These types are great for storing liquids. (think soup, yogurt, salad dressing etc. ) Does the lid snap on? These sometimes will leak but rarely. (think salads, mashed potatoes, casseroles etc. )
What I really love about food storage containers is the flexibility now available, you can get them in all shapes and sizes and price points. Whatever size you need, you can find it.
In the warm months, I always need huge family size containers to take Veggie Salads, Pasta Salads, and Fruit Salads. So this one works great!
In the colder months, I love taking Homemade chicken soup, Lasagna or casseroles to family and friends. This one is awesome!
My absolute favorite set my husband got me is this one by Rubbermaid.
As you can see from these photos, it comes with a sandwich-sized container, with two small snack size perfect for mixed nuts, salad dressing, hummus etc. The middle size is great for yogurt or veggie sticks. I love how the freezer pack goes right in the middle. Just click them together and go!
I made a mini video of me putting it together on Facebook. Click here to see it for yourself 🙂
I use plastic because they are lightweight, cheaper and easier to store. However many are worried about BPA’s in plastic but you can find plastic storage containers that are BPA free! So no worries.
Care & Keeping:
Care for most storage containers is a breeze as most are dishwasher safe.
1. scrape out remaining food
2. put in top drawer of the dishwasher
3. remove, dry completely before storing.
From experience: We no longer put our lids in the dishwasher as we are finding the heat is making them shrink. We now hand wash the lids and let them air dry while waiting on the bottoms to wash.
How I Use Food Storage Containers:
We do meal prep every single week, as both my husband and I work outside the home, taking our food with us means:
1. saving money -no takeout
2. eating healthy-food sensitivities in the home, make this a must!
3. Never going hungry-unless you don’t pack enough!
One day a week, we cook up the protein, such as chicken or beef, and veggies and carbohydrate such as potato, quinoa, or pasta, for the week. I have many food sensitivities. due to this, taking food with me is pretty much a must.
When we have them cooked and sorted into each container, we store them in the fridge and lunches for the next few days are ready to go. We just started doing this for the children as well as they would go to the cupboards or fridge and inform us there is “no food to eat!”
What do they get in their containers?
Their containers are the same as ours but portioned out as to what they will eat. My 14-year-old eats more than me, so he gets more. We also include yogurt and fruit they can grab and go. Chopped veggies and dip are also great. Crackers and hummus. What do your children like? My children love “snacky” type lunches.
One thing we all really love to take in our lunch is a salad. Have you seen those mason jar salads on Pinterest? Let me share with you my version for food storage containers!
Salad In A Container:
I am going to list what goes in my containers in order. This is the important part of avoiding soggy gross salads. You will need to adjust the amount depending on the size of your container. Also, take out anything you don’t like and substitute for something else on the list.
Chopped Salad is a salad without leafy greens. Usually containing veggies chopped in the same size. However, some feel a salad is not a salad without leafy greens so this list will show where in the order you would add them.
This is a great starter salad for your children to make! Make sure they are comfortable with a knife, and are taught knife safety before they began.
You will want to put these in the container in this order:
- Salad dressing of your choice
- Next add chopped veggies-celery, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and cucumbers.
- Next, add corn, kidney beans (drain and rinsed) and olives
- Next, add your cheese, either cubed or shredded (any type you like)
- Next, add your leafy greens of your choice: Romaine lettuce, Iceberg lettuces, spinach, and herbs.
- Seal with lid. When ready to eat, shake vigorously and eat! Do not shake until ready to eat! This is vital, it keeps the salad from going all soggy!
- Pro-Tip: Keep the dressing as far away from the leafy greens as possible to avoid soggy greens!
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Saving time and money doesn’t need to be super difficult or expensive, to begin with.
Food storage containers really do save me time and money. My only con is I can never find a storage system for my containers. Why is the lid always so hard to find?
My only con is I can never find a storage system for my containers. Why is the lid always so hard to find? If you have discovered a cure for the runaway lid, please save my sanity and let me know below!!
UPDATE: One of my wonderful readers left us a comment on how to fix the lid problem!
As for the lid problem, I would suggest buying containers that are the same width and length but a different depth, therefore they have the same lid size, so you can have a hope of finding a lid that fits. That is the only thing that I have found helpful with this conundrum…
x Alice-From Nipper and Tyke
Thank you Alice, I love this idea!
Check out the rest of this series below:
What’s for Dinner? Kitchen Superstar: Mini Blender
