Well then...it's been a
looooong time since I did a Frugal Fun post. I have no excuse. I've been living frugally, but not updating you with the random way I've been doing it. I really don't think you all mind too much. This, though, was revolutionary for our family, and even though it seems super simple now, if this frugal tip eluded me for 7 years, maybe it eluded you, too.
Scot and I aren't overly worried about the whole plastic storage container thing. Yes, we like to reheat leftovers in glass dishes, but the container that just sits in the fridge? Doesn't have to be glass.
With Scot's old job, he ate his breakfast and most dinners at home, and if he wasn't taking a sandwich to work for lunch (half the time), he was taking leftovers. In plastic containers. That he would either eat cold, or he would heat it up --
gasp -- in the plastic container it was stored in. I know, I know. Not our preference, but we didn't feel a few reheats in plastic a week was really
that bad.
Now, though, on the weeks he works, I'm packing a whole day's worth of meals for him to eat. That's breakfast, lunch,
and dinner, people! That would be
a lot of reheating in plastic, and well, we realized we
weren't cool with that [totally a personal preference!]. So then began the research on the best glass storage containers out there. The ones that didn't leak (need that for all our soups!), that were the most cost effective, so on and so forth.
Can I tell you I was shocked at the price tag on those puppies?! 7 or 8 dollars for a single 2-cup glass storage container?! A single one!! That was just for the brands you could find at Target. Pampered Chef and those high-end places sell them, too, and not for 7 bucks. BUT, we really didn't want to be using plastic anymore. In order to stave off biting the bullet, I even sent him to work with a glass bowl for him to dump his food into to cook it. Let me just say this: that only happened once.
So off to Target I went. To spend $30 on 3 or 4 glass containers that may or may not leak.
As I approached the "food storage" aisle, though, there on the endcap were these adorable
Wide-Mouthed Ball Mason Jars. I stopped and looked. I picked up a pack of 4 (for only $5!) and started thinking. These were 16oz. They were glass. And since people use them for canning, something told me they wouldn't leak. And ummm...
hello....they were tons cheaper than what I had come in for!
I picked up 2 packs.
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| Leftovers pictures are linked! |
I love them and let me tell you why. They are easy to eat out of due to the wide mouth. They reheat meals well. It's astounding what you can get to fit in those 16oz -- a true man-sized portion! I've put
noodle dishes,
rice dinners,
soups, and even a huge slice of lasagna in them -- and in the last couple months, nothing has leaked. At all. Partly, I think, because I can put the food in when it's hot now, and I screw the lid on while it's still warm, and it seals up really well. They're also super easy to clean! My only issue is their lack of stackability. The glass doesn't quite like to sit on the metal lid very well. It likes to scoot and slip. Still thinking of a way to solve that problem, but I'm more excited that I was able to get 8
times the product for almost the same price. (Update: I found that putting old plastic yogurt or frosting lids on top help QUITE a bit! Little pieces of rubber would work, too, like the kind you get for inside cupboards to stop slipage.)
Seems pretty frugal to me!
Also, if you're wanting to save even more money, just save the short and squat 16oz salsa jars (or the like). These do leak a little, so if you have soup, don't put it in!
