Best Choices for Food

When it comes to reducing the carbon footprint in the edibles department, I’m a big fan of reusable storage containers , I plan to wash, save and reuse the plastic container holding my yummy to-go order of chicken pad Thai. Of course, it’s an even better idea to bake a huge cooking pot lid of lasagna and portion out slices for weekly lunches and dinners. But do clear-cut advantages exist in the storage containers you buy to reuse? Below, my six top reusable storage containers, available at a good price, safe from harmful chemicals and sure you give a boost to the environment as well.
1)pyrex storage set: They're made of borosilicate glass, which used to be commonly manufactured under the trade name Pyrex (but now Pyrex is made differently most places), and are especially durable and stand up to intense heat. You can even get Lock.Lock sets that are lunchbox-size. The advantages of glass over plastic are obvious, though some environmentalists have cited borosilicate glass as harder to make than other common glass. Soda lime glass uses 15 to 20% less energy in furnaces, but soda lime glass can also explode and send shards flying when exposed to extreme temperatures. For this green guy, glass baking dish remains a safe and largely eco-friendly choice.
2) While its true that soda lime glass can't tolerate as temperature fluctuation as borosili cates, that’s not going to be a problem as long as you follow the safety instructions - that is, don’t take the dish from a hot oven to a cold pool of water. What’s more, the Statistical Assessment Service says that under the right manufacturing conditions, soda lime glass may be more shatter-resistant when dropped than borosilicate. Because it’s very eco-friendly to manufacture, soda lime glass - the compound now used in all Pyrex manufactured outside of Europe - ranks high as a green container for your pantry.
3) Safe containers you already have at home: To find out if what you have on hand will do, check the plastic recycling code on the container; that’s the number inside the triangular perimeter of arrows. Anything with BPA in it likely has a 7,as this handy chart from H2NO.org shows . If you’re in doubt as to the safety of your old containers, consider recycling and replacing them - especially if you have young kids in the house, as they’re the most susceptible to BPA hazards, studies show. If you can't recycle it, or it has a 7, dispose of it properly!
4) A regular drinking glass: The best reusable storage container of all is a simple glass. It strikes me as the Irony of Ironies that people who drink tons of bottled water to keep their bodies fit have no problem giving Mother Earth a kick in the pants. The stats on plastic water bottles aren’t encouraging Besides, tap water is often held to more stringent purity standards than the bottled, which is often just tap in disguise. Yet bottled water usually costs 10,000 times as much: How do the bottled water companies get away with it? If you're at home or at the office, just get a glass, like some hot-cold glasses, and some tap water. If you are afraid of spilling, just get a glass with a food steamer, sippy cup-style - they do make them for adults.