A kitchen is a special place. It is where all the food is stored and prepared; therefore, it has to be clean and free of any clutter, despite being used for a few moments at a time. When it comes to storing food, there are many options available. It all depends on your needs and the type of food you wish to store. Do you want to store dry or wet food? Are you looking to store liquids or solid foods? Are you planning to refrigerate or leave it out in the open? These are the questions we are going to answer for you. The following are storage containers that every kitchen ought to have.
Pyrex Container Sets
Pyrex sets are the king of food containers. Their products are not only durable, but they look so good and are super easy to clean and maintain. You can practically store anything in them. They can be microwaved without any issue popping up, and at the same time, they can be placed in the freezer and still come out intact. These are the versatile containers that every serious kitchen must-have.
Glass Jars
Glass jars come in many brands and various sizes, each designed for a specific role. You can use the small ones to store spices, sugars, salts, and other small granules. The big ones are usually suited for dry grains. Most come with plastic lids that fit tightly, making them the best option for things that have a long shelf life. If you are into dry goods, then these are the containers your kitchen should be spotting.
Coffee Pod Holders
These are little drawers designed with such great ingenuity that will leave you staring at them every time you pull them open. Coffee pod holders are basically drawers that can be installed under your coffee maker where you can store all the coffee flavours you like. All you would need to do in the morning is pop it open, pick the flavour you want and close it back. Convenience.
Dressing Containers
Sometimes wolfing down all that salad may be too much for you to handle and since wasting food is out of the question, you will be served well to acquire some dressing containers for your kitchen. They usually come in small sizes, roughly the size of a bowl that can fit in the palm. This size makes them ideal for refrigeration as they occupy a very small space.
Stainless Steel Containers
When it comes to kitchen containers, not many people ever think of stainless steel jars and bottles as an option. Their minds usually hover between glass and plastic. Stainless steel containers are actually better than the other two since they cannot break and can withstand any amount of heat. They work decently with storing coffee, sugar, and salt. Some come with airtight seals that make them ideal for the storage of wet food like stews.
Lunch Containers
These square-shaped glass containers that come with tight-fitting plastic lids are the perfect go-to containers if you want to pack some lunch. You could be carrying the lunch with you to the office or setting it aside for your children. Or you could simply be the type that loves prepping food in advance, they make for the perfect storage units, and they are small enough to fit into the refrigerator.
Fresh Fruit Containers
These containers are usually made of plastic and come with breathable holes to ensure that the fresh produce that you choose to pack inside stays fresh and does not go rancid for lack of air. They can also double up as storage containers for freshly cut vegetables. The only things that cannot work with these types of food holders are liquids and pastes.
Food Refrigeration Tips
Since most of these containers usually end up in the fridge, here are some things you need to keep in mind when refrigerating food.
- Always keep your refrigerator below 40°F. That is the temperature where most bacteria responsible for making food go bad fail to survive. Temperatures lower than that are overkill and unnecessary.
- When using food containers, make sure they are appropriately covered before inserting them in the fridge. There is a lot of moisture inside the refrigerator that turns into ice; leaving containers open will allow that moisture into the food, which may alter the quality.
- Do not overload the fridge. If you are in the habit of buying a lot of food at once, then you will need a bigger fridge. Squeezing food into a small refrigerator may spoil the machine and squash food in the process.
- Do not refrigerate food that is already going bad; it may spoil the rest. Once you notice a strange odour or if you see mould and other undesirable things on the food, discard it immediately. Bad food will make the fridge stink, and this may affect any future storage.
Conclusion
Getting storage containers is not that hard. There are countless shops and online stores that stock them in all sizes and varieties. You can get quality bottles, bowls, tins, and colorful mason jar glasses for sale online and in physical shops around you at very cheap prices. When it comes to food storage though, do not compromise on the quality.