Fifteen dollars for a bowl with a lid strikes me as expensive. I’m a frugal (cheap!) girl, and I had a hard enough time going from the “4 containers for $2 minus a $1 off coupon” Gladware to the “4 containers for $6-8 and no coupons” Pyrex glass dishes.
I have to say I was intrigued and skeptical when I got to test out Life Without Plastic’s stainless steel containers. I didn’t think there would be any validating points to spend so much.
I’ve since been convinced.
(See my 2022 Life Without Plastic review, too!)
Why Stainless Steel Beats Glass
- It can go right on the stovetop. Since I more or less gave up the microwave about a year ago, I use my toaster oven and my stovetop more than most folks. Guess which one is faster? The stovetop kicks the toaster oven’s behind, but I hate dirtying the extra pot sometimes. You do know how I feel about dishes, right? I LOVE that these stainless steel dishes can be plopped right onto the stove and voila! Lunch is served.
- The kiddo factor: non-breakable. I know Maria Montessori would have me give my toddler glass dishes all the time and just teach her to use them properly. We Kimballs are clumsy people, unfortunately.
- Kiddo factor no. 2: easy to open lids. My son has trouble with the plastic lids on glass containers, and he’s almost five years old. He thinks the latches on the stainless bowls are as good as a toy.
- Lightweight. Especially when you’re packing something you’ll have to carry, stainless steel over glass is a wondrous thing.
- No plastic at all. I’m not terribly worried about the plastic lids on Pyrex glass containers, but I’ve heard from many other bloggers and commenters who are. Here’s the solution – there’s zero plastic in the stainless steel containers, so no chemical leaching concerns.
Why Stainless Steel and Glass BOTH Trump Plastic
- Please read Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish’s fabulous guest post about the dangers of plastic food storage containers. Glass and stainless have no health concerns.
- My favorite part, they’re not only dishwasher safe, but they dry all the way and don’t drip all over your other clean dishes because of their little nooks and crannies, like plastic containers do. Because you KNOW how I feel about dishes!
- Both can go in the toaster or conventional oven, right from the fridge. Nice – another dishes saver.
A Few Drawbacks
I’m not getting a reputation for balanced reviews for nothing. Here are the reasons I still love my glass storage containers, too:
- Stainless is pricey. However, I’m comforted by the fact that it will last forever and never break (see clumsy Kimball comment above).
- You can’t see through them. Once you get enough leftovers going in the fridge, this could be an issue. But hey – Tupperware was all opaque back in the day, too, and everyone still bought them!
- They can’t go in the microwave. For me, this is not a problem, but I understand that many people rely on the microwave for leftovers both at home and at work. You’ll want a balance of glass and stainless steel for various purposes.
Other Fun Products
The most important products that Life Without Plastic carries, in my opinion, is the glass baby bottles (no longer available) and child sippys. We need to protect our littlest ones from any potential plastic leaching as much as possible, and if you can’t breastfeed (or if you pump), please seek out a plastic-free bottle option. My friend with twins didn’t get to test it, because her girls were already too big for the nipple size (I forgot to specify; make sure you remember!). It will be put to good use by someone soon though!
I didn’t get one of these for review, but I have to give a shoutout to a product we use almost every day: our diaper bag staple is a 12-oz. Klean Kanteen with sippy spout. If you are prone to leave liquid in a bag for more than a few hours (ahem, maybe like a few days like me), you really need to avoid those plastics, which leach chemicals over time and with heat.
I also got to test out the stainless steel hot meal container, which is an awesome product for anyone trying to avoid the microwave AND avoid plastic, because you can heat up your food properly on the stovetop in the morning and have a hot meal at lunchtime. This is the modern-day version of the classic soup thermos that construction workers are often portrayed with. It’s shorter and wider, more like a traditional bowl.
After my daughter broke two glass dishes off her highchair tray in one week, I changed my mind about switching her to glass drinking glasses. I *cringe* actually use little bitty plastic ones. I was just saying before I revisited the Life Without Plastic site that I wished someone made lightweight, stainless steel cups for little ones. Well, duh, Katie – they do.
Disclosure: Life Without Plastics supplied three products for my review and two for you, but in no way did they influence my opinion or require a positive review. This post also contains affiliate links to Life Without Plastic. See my full disclosure statement here.
I’m well known for honest, thorough product reviews…
…and you can always tell a real family has run these products through the gauntlet.
When I review a type of item, I try to review a LOT of different brands! From over a dozen reusable sandwich bags to over 120 natural mineral sunscreens, I’m your girl for straight-up info about natural, real foodie items you’re considering buying.
Click here to see more product reviews and you’ll also love my resources page, with REAL products that have passed my rigorous testing enough to be “regulars” in the Kimball household, plus some other comprehensive reviews. Updated at least once a year to boot the losers and add new gems!
Avoiding Plastic Tip: Practice what you preach with others, especially children. Whenever birthdays or other celebrations come, I know it can be easy to give in a buy that last minute gift that all the children are talking about. Think about what you support (and don’t) and use your gift giving as an opportunity to model and teach. I do not buy any children in my life gifts that are made from plastic. It breaks my heart when I drive down the street and see so much of it sitting on my neighbors curbs destined for the land fill. As children get older and choosier, explain to them your parameters for what you will use your money to “vote” for and encourage them to offer gift ideas that fit the parameters. I have found that the gift becomes a treasure hunt and ends up much more appreciated.
Most Interests Me: The non-plastic toys. It’s so hard to find these days and I refuse to buy anything plastic for all my nieces and nephews.
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Success Story: We finally ditched plastic water bottles last week. Hooray!
1. As mentioned we’ve cut down by using bulk bins. We also registered for pyrex when we got married…I wish we’d have asked for more! I’ve started canning a lot, which uses glass jars and I use those jars for storing lots of things including my pregnancy iced tea, our bulk items and now I need to get my husband’s juice switched over!
The big 1/2 gallon jars aren’t really safe for me to can in (my pot isn’t big enough) but they are great for replacing plastic juice/tea pitchers!
Thanks for a great round up and prizes too 🙂
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Babies on a Budget–Feeding Edition =-.
I love the idea of reheating them on the stove top! I hadn’t thought of that, great idea!
.-= kara´s last blog ..Deviled Eggs with Bacon =-.
11. Bulk bins is the way to go! I avoid all the little plastic spice containers, all the plastics in the cardboard pasta boxes, the plastic rice and bean bags, the plastic wrapped around the boxes of tea and much more. Bulk bins are a great way to reduce plastics!
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Babies on a Budget–Feeding Edition =-.
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.-= Heather´s last blog ..Babies on a Budget–Feeding Edition =-.
I also subscribe.
Thanks for the great post. I actually have several metal sippy cups for my daughter, but we still use the plastic ones because she has a hard time with the metal ones. This will give me a kick in the pants to use to try and phase out the plastic.
I’d love to try metal storage.
My best avoiding plastic tip is to bring your own reusable shopping bags to not only the grocery store, but any other store. Or, refuse the bag. It’s easy to tell the cashier, “I don’t need a bag for that” before they even start ringing you up.
.-= Amy´s last blog ..Fess Up Friday: Kitchen Disaster =-.
I would suggest Life Without Plastic make casserole-sized (specifically flatter) containers meant for storing make-ahead freezer meals.
.-= Amy´s last blog ..Fess Up Friday: Kitchen Disaster =-.
Life Without Plastic has some wonderful non-plastic storage alternatives! I’m particularly interested in some of their larger airtight/watertight storage containers that I could use for freezing dinner meals.
.-= Amy´s last blog ..Fess Up Friday: Kitchen Disaster =-.
I already subscribe to Kitchen Stewardship via my Google Reader.
.-= Amy´s last blog ..Fess Up Friday: Kitchen Disaster =-.
How do I tell my family and in-laws not to send us plastic items? My husband and I are trying pretty hard (at least I think so) to reduce the amount of plastic that we bring into our homes, but how do we get everyone else on board? I don’t want to come across as rude, ungrateful, or haughty, but I don’t want that plastic in my home!
.-= Amy´s last blog ..Fess Up Friday: Kitchen Disaster =-.
Finally, what I love about Life without Plastic is that it’s addressing real concerns that will inevitably have to (or at least should) be addressed by all of us. We’ve been such a disposable economy for so long and we’re running out of that capacity, and even with “reusable” plastic containers, they have to be thrown out regularly as they fall apart, break, lids get lost, etc.
While the bags are great, the ones that kill me are the produce/bulk item bags. Everything out there that is reusable is nylon, and I’d love to see a lightweight muslin one. It might not work for bulk flour, I get that, but beans and rice might be okay. I guess it just has to be light enough that I don’t spend it’s value in the weight of the bag everytime I use it.
I already subscribe on Reader, does that count?
So, love this idea of stainless containers, but is there anyway to actually accumulate enough? We try to cook everything at home, and with two big kids and one little, we have lots of leftovers or things like a double batch of rice for later in the week? Do they store and stack nicely?
I just signed up in google reader.
.-= Johnlyn´s last blog ..Lent Conclusion =-.
I honestly haven’t even considered plastic being harmful. I’ll have to read more!
I have no idea what I’d freeze my stuff in. I tried a glass canning jar and it burst in my freezer.
.-= Johnlyn´s last blog ..Lent Conclusion =-.
I’d love to try the stainless steel containers, please enter me in the giveaway. Thanks!
I like the 3-piece green frog dish set that is sold out! It’s cute!
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1. Food storage in my refrigerator is more likely to be in glassware instead of plastic. I haven’t given up using my Tupperware bowls though. Also, I still use the plastic Gladware for freezing cookies in convenient amounts.
Golly…what would I do without ziploc bags for the freezer? Hmm… more to think about.
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Tip: I recycle glass jars for my fridge food storage containers. Essentially free.
I’d love to try the stainless kids cup!
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My toddler has only broken 2 glasses so far. I get them cheep at Ikea, so I don’t mind a few broken ones. We lean towards the Montessori philosophy 🙂
For the occasions when a sippy cup is the best option, I use a stainless one by Safe Sippy. It is insulated and shaped well so it doesn’t dent when thrown across the room.
My avoiding plastic tip is to take your own containers to the bulk section of the health food store. Have them weighed before you fill them. Then you don’t have to use the plastic bags or containers they provide.
I cleaned out our plastic water bottles today, but I have some that I can’t tell if they’re stainless steel or aluminum. Do you know how to tell? They have no markings on them at all. I bought them recently at Kohl’s. The water does have an odd taste to it coming out of these bottles. Other than carrying around a mason jar, I’d like to know better solutions for water bottles.
Avoiding plastic: #1 use your own (non-plastic) grocery bags; #2 put produce in your own mesh bags or just leave “naked” in your basket/cart, #3 make/use cloth diapers (no plastic parts on your kid!)
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I would love a huge bowl (salad, bread dough) with a non-plastic lid – covering with a kitchen towel only goes so far.
I am a subscriber!
At Life without Plastic I love the stainless steel waterjug. Both my drink pitchers are still plastic (ugh).
I recently bought a bunch of glass leftover containers and also some stainless steel water bottles and thermoses for the kids to take to school.
.-= Kristen´s last blog ..TWD: Mocha Almond Marbled Bundt Cake =-.
… and I subscribe using googlereader.
I try to reduce plastic use around my house by packing lunches in cloth containers, using cloth diapers (and taking the messy ones home in a cloth bag with no plastic), and using those reusable grocery bags.
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You cook in these? Are you aware that stainless steel leaches toxic metals into food? There is an article explaining this on the Weston Price website: http://www.westonaprice.org/Mad-As-a-Hatter.html
I would love to see covered kid’s plates that I could just pop into the oven to heat for lunch.
I already get your RSS feed. Love it!
We actually asked for glass containers last Christmas for gifts, and it was a great way to bring up the subject with skeptical relatives. And we didn’t have to invest our own money! Now for the kid’s plates…
The “cleaner” I cook, the less plastic I end up bringing into my house and exposing our food to.
I’d like to see square/rectangular shaped food storage containers for efficient us of refrigerator and cupboard storage space.
I like that the stainless steel storage containers can go from the fridge to the stovetop!
I’m emailing 5 friends.
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