Feng Shui practitioner extraordinaire Shannon Del Vecchio pointed me to a variety of collapsible kitchen products that can save you space: collapsible food containers, funnels and strainers, and measuring cups. Update on May 26, 2010: The site that had these items no longer shows them - but take a look at this more recent post for some collapsible kitchen products.
Along with the Rubbermaid collapsible food storage containers, some other interesting plastic food storage products are:
- The Trouvé products, which deal with the every-present lid issue
- The SmartSpin system (alert: video with annoying soundtrack starts up when you enter this web site)
However, as Shannon and I agree, there are some possible health issues related to plastic storage, as explained in a newsletter (PDF file) published by the University of Michigan's Housing Sustainability Program.
And Rolf Halden of Johns Hopkins says, "If you are cooking with plastics or using plastic utensils, the best thing to do is to follow the directions and only use plastics that are specifically meant for cooking. Inert containers are best, for example heat-resistant glass, ceramics and good old stainless steel."
So if you want to investigate storage options other than plastics, consider:
- Glass from Pyrex, Anchor Hocking, or Frigoverre, among others
- Stainless steel
- Ceramics/stoneware
[Modified on July 25, 2007 and May 20, 2009 to list different sample products as new ones became available and others disappeared.]
I agree, but I also wanted to add that microwaving food in plastic containers that weren't designed to be microwaved is a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteKristin, some would say you shouldn't microwave in plastic at all. See my May 2009 post on this subject.
ReplyDelete