Glass food containers vs plastic – worth the switch?

[BusyWeekPlanner]

I’d love some honest opinions please.
We batch cook and store a lot of leftovers, and I’m getting increasingly fed up with plastic containers warping, staining or holding smells after a while.
I’m thinking about switching to glass but would really like to hear from people who’ve done it long-term.
What’s been good? What’s been annoying? Anything you wish you’d known before switching?

I use t/a plastic boxes.
They last a very long time, cost nothing, & get thrown away if stained.

I've never had a smelly one, DW sees to that.
It wouldn't occur to me to re-heat food in them.

Plastic is cheaper, easier and lighter but if you've decided that microplastics are dangerous for health (which I have) I think it's worth the minor inconvenience switching to glass. I like Ikea with bamboo lids.

be mindfull that bamboo products sonetimes contain melamine as binding agent.

We have made the switch. We still use plastic for storing some cold food in the fridge but all batch cooking goes in glass containers and nothing gets heated up in plastic.

I was unaware of this so have just checked and thankfully the IKEA lids are okay.

"IKEA 365+ bamboo lids are not a bamboo-composite material; they are a solid bamboo product finished with a non-toxic acrylic lacquer."

I’m gradually replacing my plastic for glass. The glass ones wash better and don’t stain.

But we aren’t using them for packed lunches.

Stainless steel is good for packed lunches, though I have used glass too when I'm taking leftovers to work. We started buying paper sandwich bags which are often fine, depending on what I'm having, what bag I'm taking etc.

We switched to glass and then when I occasionally use a plastic one I feel like it makes my food taste plastic-y? Probably my imagination 😂

We like glass. I just picked up two more in Aldi last week.

Stainless steel is lighter and the lids seem to fit better.

I second this. Pyrex ones are brilliant. I’ve had no issues whatsoever. Would never go back to plastic

I've been thinking about this too. I think any container has drawbacks. Glass is heavy, expensive and lids can still be a problem. Plastic retains oudors, contains chemicals, increases microplastic.
I am back now to using tie handle plastic bags. I freeze things flat in a shallow container- even things like soup- once frozen storage is easy.
I take out of bags before reheating, to minimise chemical transfer to food.

We found our plastic containers were all staining and holding on to dishwasher tastes. We’ve switched to glass and it’s been fine. They have plastic lids, so we hand wash those but the containers themselves go in the dishwasher with no issues. They’re not heavy enough to cause any problems and still go in the freezer just fine. The only negative has been the cost of replacing them, but hopefully that’s a one off rather than replacing plastic ones more than once in future.

Glass as much as possible now. I use the IKEA ones and they're great. I've had a set for three years and nothing has broken, they go in the oven and dishwasher fine, the plastic lids don't touch the food. Everything goes in glass boxes except avocado halves which are the sole reason I still have cling film in my kitchen.

The exception is that my DH uses plastic for packed lunches because glass is heavy. And we use bags for the freezer because we have such a small freezer and I need to save space.

I made the switch a little while ago and prefer glass for all the reasons others have already said. The only thing I don’t like about the Ikea ones is that they are tricky to store when empty - if you stack them you risk them sticking together. I had one stuck inside another once, and when I pulled them apart one of them exploded into thousands of sharp tiny pieces that I was finding for months after.

I made the switch because of the health amd fertility implications others have mentioned.

We use glass boxes with snap lids. All been in use for years now and none have broken. They clean well, don't take on smells, and it's really helpful that they can go in the oven too.

The only con I've found is that they're too heavy for taking out and about. I still have one small plastic tupperware box for that and also a stainless steel lunchbox.

https://black-blum.com/products/stainless-steel-box?variant=7034006372380

Lighters than glass

That's very nice. I have a 20-odd year old stainless box which works really well but is not fully leakproof. Their other products are smart too.

I buy the foil takeaway containers in Costco, removing the food (easily) before heating. I also let the food cool before putting it in containers as aluminum can leech into food like plastic if hot. Obviously they are single use so not great eco wise although I do wash and put in recycling bin. I started with glass but its the storage and weight. If doing a batch cooking day I need about 20-30 containers and I do not have the cupboard space for that! I use the glass for leftovers as generally only need 1 or 2.

About 5 years ago - realising how many glass jars I was accumulating from products and how shit plastic containers are, I started re-using old glass jars for freezing.

Never looked back. And they're free.

Reuse instead of recycling. You know it makes sense.

Only yesterday I batched up 4 jars of cottage pie mix. 400g in each jar. Perfect.

I've been switching from plastic to glass containers in the last couple of years;

I don't like plastic, never have. Plastic absorbs food particles, impossible to get rid of with time. It's the opposite of glass.

The problem until not long ago was how expensive were glass containers.

But they've become cheaper and easy to replace.

IKEA all the way for glass (+plastic) all stackable and if you break one they're easy to replace - you don't need to buy a whole set!

@StellaMary There is a sale on the Pyrex Zero Plastic range on their website, with a discount code of welcome10. I've just ordered some for my collection!

We use glass containers for storing leftovers in the fridge and I ocassionaly use them for taking a packed lunch in to work. They seem more hygienic and easier to wash. I would never use plastic for sauces. They would just stain immediately.

I'm trying to move away from plastic now. Just replaced the kids plastic cups, as they are old enough now for glass. Plates are next.