How to Choose Safe Plastic Food Storage Containers

Choose BPA free plastics for food!

We all want safe food for our family that is fresh and uncontaminated by weird potentially carcinogenic plastic. To keep you and your family safe, you need to follow these steps to find the best plastic food storage containers.

It's important to know how to tell which containers have BPA plastic, which is not safe, so you can rid your house of it.

Thankfully, there are a lot of new types of containers for keeping food fresh. These have new technologies incorporated in them, and are BPA free.

Instructions

1. Find Old BPA Plastic

   Go through the cupboards of your house, searching for plastic containers. Check water bottles and baby cups and bottles too. Look on the bottom. Look for the little recycling triangle symbol. In the center of it, there will be a number. Numbers 1-5 are fine. These are BPA free plastics.

   Put any containers with a 6 or 7 in the triangle aside. Throw these away. They have BPA in them.

2. Shop BPA Free

   Look on the internet or go to a kitchenware store to find high quality plastic food storage. Look on the bottom of the plastic ware to make sure the triangle has a 1-5 in it. Read labels, so you're aware of care instructions. Make sure that it is microwave, freezer, and dishwasher safe.

3. Freshness Seals

   There are some really nice containers that have silicone around the lid, so the seal is really air tight. Look for this in order to have your food last longer in the refrigerator or freezer.

4. Shape Matters

   Buy only rectangular containers. This shape will sit right up next to another one without wasting any space. Round containers packed next to each other create all kinds of wasted space.

   Also, buy ones that can be stored with the lid on, and that nest inside each other when not in use. Buying one or two big sets all at once is a smart way to go. This will give you a ton of cupboard space, and it makes lids and bottoms a breeze to find.

5. Nano Silver

   In order to keep your foods as fresh as possible for as long as possible, look for plastics with new nano silver technology. These plastics have tiny silver particles in them, and are supposed to help retard food spoilage.

Tips & Warnings

• Wash your plastic food storage containers by hand or on the top rack of the dishwasher.

• While you're going through all of your plastic ware, you might as well match up lids and bottoms, so you can chuck any singles or damaged ones.

• Read the directions for the care of your containers carefully. You want to keep them in good shape so the lids and bottoms will fit together well.

Resources

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