As a college student, I can barely find any time throughout the week to make myself a decent meal and somehow always end up eating a chocolate bar to last myself through the entire day. Now that I’m going into my third year of school, I have realized how important it is to meal prep and create a big batch of something decently healthy to last through the entire week.
Plastic of the Past
At first, I was stingy and opted for the cheapest plastic containers I could find at Walmart. The blue-lidded containers worked for sandwiches, but marinara sauce, curry, and kimchi was my worst enemy. Even after scrubbing at the plastic and washing it a bunch of times, I could still smell a pungent odor from the glorious stir-fry and pasta bake I had eaten three days ago.
With my hands on the kitchen counter and my mind at wit’s end, my frustration and disgust led me to change my ways. I decided to go out and buy better containers to store my food.
I found out through research (and common sense) that storing food in plastic comes with a lot of health risks. Microwaving food in plastic could cause chemicals to leak into your food, which is very unsafe. Even if you don’t need to heat up your food, your ham sandwich might stink up the entire class and forever your tupperware container.
Is the Glass Half Full?
Glass containers keep your food fresh with its tightly-sealed lid. They are super easy to wash, leak-proof, environmentally-friendly, heat-safe, dishwasher-safe, and economical. I’ve bought at least four sets of really cheap plastic containers, when I could have just gotten one decent set of glass ones (sorry, wallet).
These containers don’t harm the environment because when glass is properly recycled, it turns into some other glass item. When plastic is properly recycled, it has a very small chance of coming back to life as a hipster coffee sleeve (or some other semi-useless product).
A part of our initiation into adulthood requires us to learn how to not drop every important and expensive thing we come into contact with. I just think to myself how much greater my food is going to taste in glass than in that yucky plastic I’ve forced myself to use for years.
The only downside to preparing your meals in glass containers is that it’s heavier and if you’re clumsy, you could drop and shatter it. A ton of meal-prep connoisseurs carry their food in these plastic stackable containers for ease and portability. If you prefer the plastic ones, then that’s totally okay. But if you ever want to splurge on your meal prep (and help the environment), then give the glass a chance.
TL;DR
In short, cheap plastic containers make your food taste kind of like melted plastic and could potentially harm your health over a long period of time. Glass containers retain the freshness of the food and leave you feeling happier, more sanitary, and safer.
Learn from my mistakes, and next time you’re at Target or on Amazon shopping for meal prep gear, make sure to opt for quality over quantity—your hunger will thank you.