De-Cluttering Leftovers
Posted By Jacque on July 8, 2009
I have one question today:
How many (unusable) lids does a person need?
I mean, c’mon.
I was more than happy to put away the food left out on the counters the other day, since I always have one of our children do it. Thought I’d give them a break… however, after looking for a LID through the dozens they saved, I gave up and had to dump the fifty or so useless lids onto the floor to even see what we had to work with! You can imagine my excitement.
After spending time looking for a container and lid, I went to the refrigerator. Certainly that year as a Tupperware consultant and all the products I got at a great price meant something. The result of looking in the fridge? I emptied my refrigerator and had my children go through all the leftovers that they had thrown, I mean put, into it.
They have gotten into a bad habit of using empty cottage cheese and yogurt containers to store food in. Now, you can’t actually SEE the food that is stored in it to know if you have some leftover peas to use the next night or if you are getting out the pinto beans or salsa or actually yogurt! It has become quite the hassle here. That was noted by the bowl of 4 cut-up lemons and limes I found BEFORE I found the actual Tupperware keeper that I bought for limes (which had two more in it). Or, we could wait a week or two and note it by all the variations of spores in each container… No thanks! Needless to say, using these containers often ends up in wasted food. Big no-no.
I banned further use of these plastic, worthless containers for food storage.
Eric, who puts leftovers away after dinner, was not happy. “Now, what are we going to use?” He always has a problem finding containers. I do have a lot of nice Tupperware containers they could use, but when you are talking about preparing and storing food and snacks for ten people for at least a week and sometimes longer, I just don’t think we have enough.
So, no more cottage cheese, sour cream or yogurt containers. And, no, I was not going to go and buy more plastic. It isn’t even the best medium to store food in.
Glass canning jars! When we moved in here ten years ago, we found over a hundred old canning jars in the basement. We didn’t want to use them all, because some are old, so we have bought others, but many are usable. Glass is better to store in anyway, and I like the way you can SEE through them!
You can’t store everything in them, but you can store much of what we put into Tupperware so that will be freed up for things that won’t fit into the jars.
I love finding out a new and easy way to do things… especially if we are utilizing items we already have!
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13 Responses to “De-Cluttering Leftovers”
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OH MAN JACQUE!!! RIGHT ON GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!
you Perfectly described my mom’s kitchen throughout ALL of my growing up years . . . and still, you can’t find a THING cause of all of the cottage cheese, sour creme, yogurt containers that have an (unplanned) science project growing in them!!!!! i absolutely FORBID the use of them in my home . . . 
hugs!
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Hi Jacque,
Yes, Indeed! How many? Well, enough, but no more. I use certain recycled containers to store leftovers; each one gets a masking tape label stating contents and date before it is put away. That way I don’t have to open the lid to find out what is inside, and I know exactly how long it has been stored. Anything over a week old gets dumped, and I frequently sort through the contents of the fridge and use what’s there as part of the next meal. Of course, what works for my family may not be practical for yours….!
Blessings!
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July 8th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I suppose if I took a photo of every container in the fridge, it would show why no, that just doesn’t work for us. I used to do that, when we had 5 children, and a lot less containers and food in the fridge, but, marking every container still wouldn’t help, because each shelf is so full that you still have to dig through things to see labels.
But, glad it works for you!
Sorting through leftovers is something I am trying to teach my girls, though, because, yes, that is one thing that is necessary. We do, however, use leftovers in the next day’s lunches, which is a big help in this case and with our grocery bill!
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I love using canning jars. I’ve even invested in one piece lids (instead of the ring and the round top) for wide mouth and regular jars. I make it a point to store the yogurt and sour cream for giveaway containers in a different area, no mix up this way.
Natalie´s last blog ..Do you know how to relax without feeling lazy?!
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July 8th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
That is an excellent suggestion, Natalie!
I didn’t throw out any of the plastic containers – though, if I did, they would be refurbished rather quickly anyway! They will serve well for containers to use in the barn or outside to play with, rather than my good bowls! We also use throw away cups and bowls to serve outside food in, too, so that good dishes aren’t taken out.
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Using glass containers is MUCH healthier too. BPAs in plastics may leach into some foods. We almost exclusively use 1 Qt. WIDE mouthed (easier to wash out than the regular mouthed) jars.
We always have a shelf half full of kefir in mason jars and then lots of other misc. Only problem is that as I consider our next camping trip I really DON’T want to take glass jars! Hmmmm?
Christina´s last blog ..Win A LapTop!!!!
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Go Mrs Dixon!!!
My Grandma uses glass jars to store things in, but mostly for pantry-like items.
Happy decluttering!
Love Jess
Jess´s last blog ..Multitasking
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Love it! I use jars mostly for sauces, broths, and such and they’re wonderful! I did buy a new set of containers awhile back at Costco that we just love. They stack very well in the frig and you can see the contents. That also meant that all the old stuff went away! What a great feeling! I didn’t feel too bad about dumping our old plastic because we bought one set about 20 years ago and the newer set 17 years back. LOL!!
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What a cool idea! How do you find lids for them?
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July 9th, 2009 at 11:15 am
We have gotten our canning jar lids at WalMart or any store that carries canning jars.
My friend, Ruth, recently suggested looking for canning jars at garage sales now, during this season, and I am thinking you may be able to find lids too.
Even auctions may be a good place, if they are popular in your area.
I had a friend give me some ‘old’ canning supplies they had not used, which included unused canning jar lids.
I have not looked for the one-piece lids that Natalie suggested.
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We need to come up with uses for the Rubbermaid lids the way they came up with uses for AOL CDs. I think Martha Stewart titled a floor with them.
I did Tupperware too about 25 years ago.
Great post.
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July 17th, 2009 at 12:13 am
I think that’s funny about Martha Stewart! I think CDs would be much flashier than these cheapo plastic lids… we do re-use the containers for gardening and store odd things in them. They come in handy when I want them to take down leftovers to the barn, and I DON’T want my good Tupperware taken down there and dropped on the ground to “get the last little bit out” or just left down there period.
I can’t afford Tware, unless I sell it… and I don’t have time for parties anymore. I know most of them are great products, but I like glass better now anyway, and we don’t even own a microwave anymore!
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haha… yeah… they are replaced rather QUICKLY! I think we grow cottage cheese and yogurt containers…
the refrigerator looks nicer with the glass jars. lol!
Amanda´s last blog ..Don’t Tear Me Down!
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