Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Organize in 15 Minutes: Plastic Food Containers

POSTED BY Amy at 10:11 AM

I am far from organized and am really needing a gentle nudge (or maybe a huge shove) to get me back on track. One of the things people seemed like they would really like to see more of on here were ideas for organizing and caring for their home.

It is hard to guide when I feel so disorganized myself, but maybe sharing my problem spots and solutions will help someone else? That is what I am hoping for!

This project that I did took all of fifteen minutes, but has definitely saved me fifteen minutes of hunting each evening for storage containers for our leftover food.

The first picture was of my avalanche of containers that I had in my pantry. Since space is limited in my kitchen, I keep my storage containers in two cardboard boxes in the bottom of my pantry. I am hoping to one day expand the pantry and buy beautiful wicker baskets, but this solution works well for now. They are just old Avon boxes that I had and the size fits perfectly for the narrow closet that we are using for a pantry.

I went through all of the containers and matched them to their lids. No surprise that I had five hundred lids and four actual containers so I kept the lids that had matching containers and pitched the rest.

We do save food containers an

d repurpose these for a couple of things in our house. The kids love to use these to pretend to help mommy cook so I am able to sacrifice some of these butter tubs for them to play with while I cook.

The main reason I keep these though is for our company. When my family comes to dinner, I love to send them home with a container of the leftovers. These are great to give to them and not to have to give away valuable containers that I might need during my week.

I also have a separate area where I keep the sectioned plastic containers that I use for my husband's lunch. I found that the best place to keep these was right under the kitchen counter since that is where I prepare all of the food. Those containers are right at my fingertips so that I can make lunches quickly and save us valuable money throughout our week.

Sound Off: How do you organize your plastic food containers?

Labels: Organizing

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8Comments:

"I keep all my containers in a deep drawer- without their lids, so the containers can nest and collectively take up less space. I keep the lids in a very shallow drawer below the containers, because there's not much else I could store in it.

Matching lids is sometimes a problem, and I've found the easiest lids to match to the container are the most frugal containers- the margarine, sour cream, or cottage cheese containers re-purposed as food storage! All the lids of those containers are colorful and easily identifiable, as opposed to the plastic container sets that all look the same."

"Well just from your pictures I can tell that you just may have too many containers, and some of them just can't be healthy. To make your organization process easier, how about dumping all of the containers that may no longer be microwave safe? All of the stained containers or the ones with rough patches on the inside may be leaching chemicals into your food, so it may be time to get rid of them. The ones without covers could be re-purposed to hold crayons, pens, or various other small objects.

You also may want to consider getting rid of all of them and purchasing a set of Pyrex dishes that can nest within each other for easier storage, or buying a set that comes with a storage or organization rack."

Amy

"I figured this issue might come up :) We do use plastic containers, but they are replaced regularly and always thrown out when they show those types of signs.

I use Pyrex mainly, but plastic containers are nice to have on the off chance that I don't have any available (we eat a lot of leftovers) :)"

"I have all mine in a drawer as well. I have to be ruthlessly disciplined with the containers - I have all the same brand (Rubbermaid takealongs). I nest all the round ones, and nest the square ones, and have a stack of saved applesauce containers behind for crafts, etc.
Because they are for the most part from the same company, they all stack together nicely (I have short and tall square ones, but the base is the same size.)

The extra jars/cool whip containers, etc. I don't use for leftovers (I only use clear. Must see inside. Too many fuzzy disasters otherwise)I store in that stupid above the fridge cabinet - I have to put them somewhere, I want to keep them, and I don't need them that often."

"We use two drawers--one for disposable types (yogurt tubs, etc.) and one for non-disposable. It works OK, but the lids often fall over and create a mess."

Wendy

"Hi, Amy!
After countless times of reorganizing my plastic containers, I have finally found an idea that works consistently for us. I have two baskets to store the lids, one for round and one for square/rectangular. Even the children can recognize this system and sort the lids properly when putting clean items away. With the lids separated this way, it is simpler to find the correct lid for a particular container. The containers can then nest in each other and be stored in less space.
Before, I would go through the cabinet, match up containers and lids, and stack them neatly. It was great until a day or two later when I would be putting things away and wouldn't take time to snap on lids or worry that the little crevices on the lids weren't completely dry, so I would put them away separately. Before I knew it, everything was jumbled again!"

A

"Love the topic! This is such a constant struggle for me. I keep these containers in a big cupboard. I have all of the round ones on one side and the square on the other. I have 2 loaf pans that I keep all of the lids in (one for round, one for square--Standing up on end). But I do have a "tupperware audit" about every 2-3 months where I go through and match them all up and dump all of the excess lids."

Anonymous

"The best thing I ever did for my containers were to match all the lids and then I labeled every lid on top and the container on the bottom as the same number with a very good permanent marker, it will last even with dishwasher use. You can do Tupper wear with T-1 and T-2, etc. Then name brand containers with the brand and the lid like Kroger cottage cheese as K-Cc-1 and K-Cc-2, etc. Then Kroger Yogurt as
K-Y-1 and K-Y-2, etc. This method is easy for MEN and children to use, also. All the same letter and number lids and containers go with each other."

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