I had no idea people could be so passionate about storage containers! I never thought about it, probably because I don’t see the point in moving things from one type of storage to another. Pasta, rice, flour, sugar, salt, cereal etc. comes in a box or a bag. It stays in said box or bag. Various sauces or olives or whatever come in a jar. They stay in jars. The exception is spices. Most of them originally came in a glass jar. Refill bags are less pricey than new jars, so tend to refill spice jars.
I prefer plastic for storing items in the freezer, because it stacks well, and after something has frozen, it’s easy to pop out of the container and into a reusable freezer bag. That frees up space.
Nah. Sugar from the bag invariably gets everywhere: the flex of the paper bag launches the granules. Put it in a container (plastic or glass both fine ) to avoid mess.
And resealing plastic bags of food is too much hassle and harder to stack than when in containers.
The original thread was about how to get rid of pantry moths and how to stop them coming back. Plastic and paper bags will not stop them as they will chew into the bags.
That was why decanting was needed.
Tough plastic/acrylic or glass jars will do the trick.
The only argument someone came up with that glass jars was a better solution than plastic/acrylic was that they had the glass jars already so didn’t feel the expense was justified in replacing them.
But, the thread wasn’t about them - the OP was asking for a solution so I think we can assume that they didn’t have the right sort of jars and so would need to purchase them and to that end, plastic/acrylic is vastly superior to glass from a safety point of view for many reasons.
Ours is in a plastic container (actually there are about four for different types of sugar).
A small amount is in a smaller plastic container for everyday use.
My youngest knocked this one out of the cupboard the other day when he was alone in the house. Sugar every where.
No drama, no broken glass, no cut fingers or feet as he tried to clear up the glass.
However, in his ultimate wisdom, rather then sweep up the sugar from the counter top and floor, he decided to use water - lots of it.
Later than day we had to chip away at the layer of rock-hard sugar after the sugar had dissolved in the water and then the water had evaporated
Yes, she mentioned that once already. Apparently I shouldn’t have responded.
If I was a moderator, I’d tell her that the correct response if she wants a private exchange with another forum user is to use the Private Message system.
What’s your view in the great plastic versus glass debate? Do you suffer from excessive sweat too?
The only occasions when I broke something it happened because I just dropped things. I am a bit clumsy. One of my kids too. But…my biggest fear are oil bottles (olive oil). One of my kids dropped the olive oil a few weeks ago and I tell you it wasn’t pretty. I wasn’t around and when I arrived at the crime scene it was spread all over, as she picked up the broken glass and then decided to mop the floor… (had to throw away the mop btw)
A few years ago, I stupidly used a glass olive oil bottle to store used cooking oil before taking it to the oil recycling along with everything else.
The bottle slipped out of my hand in the street and there were shards of glass and oil everywhere.
My fingers were pretty cut up after cleaning that up as I couldn’t just leave it.
No, please take a side! I acknowledge round jars are not optimal in a square fridge or freezer. However, since I’m team glass I put roundish objects in square containers
In a box that came with us 8 years ago in the move, I unearthed vintage Silex Block bailed jars from Italy. They all have extra gaskets, and they are built like tanks. Apparently they are now collectible, too. I also save the little French bailed jars that contained foie gras, and I have a collection of old Weck containers of various sizes. I love glass because it doesn’t harbour old smells. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-canister-jars-hermetic-3822941355
What a rubbish non expat thread! Everyone knows that expats use only gold and silver for storage! Only the help staff is allowed to use glass or plastic.
On a serious note, is it really really a binary choice? I store my sourdough starter in a glass jar, I store my bread in a wooden box and i store cookies in a plastic box.
Of course it’s not binary. Glass is still the best vessel for pickles, preserved lemons as, @bossybaby pointed out, glass doesn’t pick up the smells or retain them.
She’s probably given the only valid reason for glass over plastic.
This wouldn’t apply to most dried goods though like sugar, flour and oats, for example.
Even so, I don’t think one of my kids is going to open one of my jars of preserved lemons and pop one in their mouth any day ever.
Perhaps even more importantly is what happens the other way: the food we eat picking up chemicals and contaminants from the container.
Maybe food for thought for those who like to microwave food in containers - especially containers that were designed for some other purpose and are re-purposed for food storage.
That’s sad - didn’t know they were struggling. I have my rentals all equipped with duralex as it’s MUCH less hassle.
Means that you don’t have to deal with reviews about “chipped plates”, and random stories about how “the plate was broken when we got there, so we threw it out for you”
) to avoid mess.
(had to throw away the mop btw)