Like all good, neurotic mothers, I worry about my children's exposure to plastic. Years of worry, actually, but a good alternative to plastic food storage containers never presented itself to me. I have antique refrigerator containers from my grandmothers, but they're the ranch-house of the fridge - sprawl, sprawl and more sprawl.
Then, this fall, as I was making pickles, it dawned on me... Mason jars! They're the high-density, high-rise answer to the problem of sprawl! (at least in the fridge... I'll keep my opinons on urban infill to myself) And they hold anything. Crudite, left-over meat, grains, lentils, nuts, flour, rice, cut-up fruit, and my favorite, make-ahead pancake batter.
I have two sizes and I recommend wide-mouth for easy packing and removal.
They're $9.99 a dozen at my local Ace Hardware store, thereby making them cheaper than similarly sized-plastic containers. Yes, I know they could break, and yes, I have small children in my house, but the risk seems minimal compared to buying, using and then discarding more and more plastic.
If I can't convince you, read-up on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
3 comments:
This is inspiring! But, but - where do you keep them when they are empty? They don't stack - this has been the thing keeping me away from transferring to glass. I'm talking about the small kind you would use for leftovers.
PS: loving the photos!! :D
They're in the cupboard below the counter... you know how my doors latch. You'd definitely want them out of the reach of kids.
I did a huge kitchen clean-up where we packed away all dishes that we weren't using regularily. Never missed them and can't even remember what we boxed up.
Honestly, there are rarely jars in storage. They get used all the time.
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