Using Glass Instead Of Plastic

by FrugalBabe on August 9, 2008

I’ve been environmentally conscious for years.  But ever since my husband and I started talking about having a baby (and especially since I got pregnant last year), I’ve been more and more concerned with avoiding toxins and chemical crud.  If money were no object, I’d love to build a super-green house with no chemicals in it at all, but alas – money is an object.  For me and everyone I know.  So I’m doing whatever I can to minimize our exposure to chemicals… but my kitchen floor is still made of vinyl, and that’s just the way it has to be.  My goal is to be frugal and green, so I take whatever steps I can that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

I’ve been concerned lately about storing food in plastic containers.  I’d much rather use glass, since I don’t want my storage containers to leach into our food.  I have lots of glass mixing bowls of various sizes, but none of them have lids.  I can use plastic wrap on them, but I hate generating waste every time I store food.  I see glass bowls at thrift stores all the time, but they never have lids.  I saw a set of four pyrex bowls with lids in a catalog, but they were $50.  Ouch.  Then I remembered a commercial I had seen on tv ages ago for Smart Lidz (I didn’t remember the name, and had to look it up – they are lids that fit on any container).  Yesterday I bought a set of four lids for $10.  They fit on my existing mixing bowls, and although they are made of plastic, they don’t touch the food, so I figure it’s ok.

So now I have glass food storage containers!  All of my pyrex bowls came from thrift stores to begin with, and I use them for mixing and serving – now I can use them to store leftovers too.  It’s one more step towards the green lifestyle that I want, without spending a fortune to get there.

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  • harper

    You can also use those shower caps you get for free from hotels. They’re not as reusable as lids but you can get a few uses out of them. Also, my local Dollar Tree sells glass lids for pots in a few different sizes. For slightly more, you can find glass lids for Pyrex containers on Ebay.

  • FrugalBabe

    Harper – I love that you mentioned shower caps. I was talking with my mom about this tonight, and she said that 50 years ago, her grandmother stored leftovers in glass bowls with shower cap lids. I guess this is getting back to basics!
    My largest pyrex bowls won’t work with my new lids – the bowls are too big. So I was thinking about looking on ebay for lids… thanks for the tip!

  • http://acoupleofcooks.wordpress.com April

    Great idea! I’m trying to move away from plastic, too.

  • http://adventuresinmoneyland.blogspot.com/ Sarah F.

    That’s a good idea! Awhile back, my husband and I were on the hunt for glass bowls and lids for storage, but didn’t find any, and kind of gave up. We’ll have to give this a try.

  • Susan in CO

    Or you can just put various sized plates on top of bowls, etc. It doesn’t have to be airtight for just a day or two. I also use my canning jars as food storage (with used canning lids or those plastic lids.

  • Chloe
  • Sandra

    I got a set of Pyrex bowls with lids for a wedding gift 10 years ago and rarely used them, b/c they are a dark rosey colored glass and I can’t stand the color. LOL But .. I pulled them out a few months ago and have so enjoyed using them! :-)

    What do/will you put your kids sandwiches in for school? I do have the plastic sandwich containers so I’m not creating more trash, but am using plastic. Just not ready to have the kids using glass. WDYD?

  • FrugalBabe

    Sandra,
    I have some of that dark rosey colored glass – I think it’s Corning Ware – that my mom found in a thrift store. I love it!
    As far as containers for school, our son is only 4 months old, so we haven’t thought that far ahead yet :) I’m hoping that there will be stainless steel containers available by then, sort of like the stainless steel water bottles that we use now. It’s light weight and durable – that would be my choice. I have no idea if such a thing exists yet, but if it doesn’t, I imagine it will soon.

  • dlm

    Consumer Reports has information on Pyrex glass blowing up in the cupboard, in the oven, etc etc with extensive reports from injured users!!!!
    I’m somewhat apprehensive.

  • FrugalBabe

    dlm – I’ve been using pyrex for years, mostly without problems. I did have one explode one time, but that was due to user error. It was in my younger years, when I didn’t realize that pyrex can’t go on stove burners. I had some cooked-on food in a pyrex casserole, so I put water and baking soda in it, and put it on a stove burner. Don’t try that at home! It exploded all over my kitchen. But in all the years I’ve been using pyrex, I’ve never had a problem with it in the fridge, freezer, or oven.

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