Welcome to WEEK FIVE of the Sustainable Swap Challenge: Reusable Food Containers!
While not always fully avoidable depending on accessibility, there are many ways we can reduce our use of single-use plastic, styrofoam (why is this awful material still a thing, by the way), or paper containers.
Here are a few situations we can replace single-use containers with reusable ones:
1) Replace your plastic containers with glass/Pyrex containers. One of the first things I did to create a healthier more sustainable kitchen was replacing all my tupperware and cheap plastic containers with a set of nice glass/Pyrex containers. I learned that toxins from plastic containers can leach into your food and for that reason you should never ever microwave leftovers in plastic or styrofoam containers.
If you do want to move away from plastic containers, consider cleaning them out to keep for non-food storage! Or simply recyle them. After all, plastic takes hundreds to thousands of years to decompose, so the longer we can keep it out of the landfill, the better.
2) When taking home or storing away leftover food. I still keep a few plastic reusable containers on hand in my kitchen that I can take with when I’m going to a party or holiday dinner like Thanksgiving where I know I'll be sent home with leftovers! Its also a great way to get rid of, or thin out your stash of plastic containers by sending leftovers with guests.
3) At restaurants. I never finish a meal at a restaurant and always end up asking for a to-go box, so this is something I’m really going to try to make a conscious effort to do. It's pretty easy to just pack it up yourself instead of asking for a take-home box. The hard part is remembering to bring a container so I’m going to train myself by sticking a container in my diaper bag, that way I’ll always have one on hand.
If you feel comfortable spending money investing in a new set, below are some suggested products (items marked with an asterisk* are concious life & style affiliate links).
Glass Storage from Pyrex ($6 to $50 depending on storage size and size of the set) | Pyrex
4-Cup Glass Food Storage ($22)* | EarthHero - Use code CONSCIOUSLIFE for 10% off
Stainless Steel Seal Cups ($10 - $25 depending on the size)* | EarthHero - Use code CONSCIOUSLIFE for 10% off! (In previous emails I mistakenly put that the code was consciousstyle so I apologize for any inconvenience if you tried using the code and it didn't work!!)
Stainless Steel Nesting Trio with Silicone Lids ($25 for 3)* | EarthHero - Use code CONSCIOUSLIFE for 10% off
Stainless Steel Airtight and Watertight Food Storage Container ($25)* | Life Without Plastic
*Just giving credit to Elizabeth over at conscious life & style, the sustainable swap challenge is her concept, along with most of the wordage in this blog entry, I’m just adding my two cents and trying to further this challenge. consciouslifeandstyle.com