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By Elaheh Nozari and Tiffany Hopkins
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Just like there’s the perfect cup for every saucer and an ideal knife for every chef, there’s the best food storage container for every leftover, prepped lunch, and bulk item—because you can’t store a chicken carcass in a mason jar, and while you could keep soup in a single-use zippered sandwich bag, don’t. To find out the ideal vessels for storing every imaginable type of food, we sought out the wise advice of our test kitchen editors and contributors, a group of people who know their way around leftover sauces, stews, and grains. Below are their top picks for repackaging food to keep it fresher, longer.
Typical weeknight dinner situation: You made too much pasta with red sauce (on purpose) and you’re meting out the leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. Skip the plastic containers and go with glass ones. You need a nonporous material that won’t turn a faint shade of red post-tomato sauce and an airtight seal so nothing leaks. BA contributor Anna Stockwell recommends the Oxo Good Grips Smart Seal glass food storage set because of its tight locking lids and silicone gaskets: “They seal really well, are freezer-safe, and they’re easy to clean. Plus, they’re made of oven-safe borosilicate glass,” which makes reheating leftover lasagna that much easier.
OXO Good Grips Smart Seal Glass Food Storage Container Set
Food director Chris Morocco is also team glass “for frankly any food.” His pick for the best glass food storage containers? These GlassLock containers, which come in a range of sizes and have strong snap-on latches.
Glasslock Oven Safe Container Set
These eco-friendly Zip Top bags helped BA contributor Sarah Jampel kick her longtime habit of cleaning, drying, and reusing plastic zipper storage bags. Made with a thick-but-flexible silicone and equipped with flat bottoms, Zip Top bags are durable, leakproof, and can stand upright without flopping over. Use them for anything you’d typically use a plastic bag for: freezing fruits and veggies, decanting almost-empty pasta boxes, or even holding liquids.
Reusable Zip Top Storage Bags (Set of 3)
Contributor Mehreen Karim is a fan of these reusable Stasher bags, which have a super tight seal. She uses them for everything from packing sandwiches to saving cookie dough. Both Zip Top and Stasher bags come in a variety of sizes and are dishwasher-safe, microwave-safe, freezer-safe—but most importantly, they make great sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic bags.
An extreme baking hobby becomes a lot more convenient when you’ve got an 8-quart Cambro container full of flour on deck. Contributor Alex Beggs keeps one on her countertop for her 10-pound bag of King Arthur’s all-purpose flour—and since they come in a number of different sizes, she stacks a 6-quart Cambro filled with granulated sugar right on top.
8-Quart Cambro Square Food Storage Container With Lid
These containers also work wonders for storing bulk portions of other dry goods like lentils, beans, and grains. If you’re one to buy 20–25-pound bags of rice, Beggs recommends this 13.21-quart Tellfresh airtight container, which has a hefty handle.
13.21-Quart Tellfresh Large Airtight Superstorer
One of the most important factors in keeping your strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries fresh is making sure to not overcrowd them. You don’t want to use airtight food storage containers here; instead you’ll want to loosely pack them so they can “breathe.” For the easiest, most efficient storage, we recommend using a produce-specific storage container that promotes airflow. Our favorite is the Oxo Good Grips GreenSaver Produce Keeper, which has an elevated, removable basket that lifts produce away from the container walls and helps to maintain optimum moisture levels. It also has a carbon filter that absorbs ethylene gas (a plant hormone that speeds up the ripening and rotting process). For fresh dill, basil, and cilantro, BA contributor Hilary Cadigan loves Oxo’s GreenSaver Herb Keeper, which keeps herbs fresh for up to a month.
Oxo Good Grips GreenSaver Herb Keeper
In our humble opinion, some of the best food storage containers with lids—or at least the best plastic ones—are practically free. “I use deli containers recycled from Indian food delivery, pickles from Russ & Daughters, and leftovers from the test kitchen,” says BA contributor Carla Lalli Music. They’re cheap, reliable, and standard in many restaurant kitchens for good reason. They're stackable and, best of all, the same plastic lid fits quart, pint, and half-pint containers alike. If you don’t order enough takeout to accumulate a proper stash, a set of 44 containers will run you $23.
DuraHome Food Storage Containers with Lids
Whether plastic containers are microwave- and dishwasher-safe is a matter of debate (we recommend hand-washing, but if you’re going to toss them into the dishwasher, at least use the top rack), but we love them for freezing; the quart size is perfect for storing big batches of stock in portions that are convenient for most recipes. We like to label ours with the contents and date using masking tape and a Sharpie.
Our test kitchen staff may be hopelessly devoted to standard deli containers for their convenience, price, and stacking capabilities, but there’s one thing we can’t ignore: Their cylindrical shape wastes a lot of space on refrigerator shelves. Unlike the round containers, square plastic food storage containers can be packed into fridges, freezers, and pantries in a more snug fashion. It’s simple geometry! Jampel loves these space-saving, BPA-free plastic square containers with leakproof lids. “They have all the benefits of cylindrical deli containers—lightweight, affordable but not disposable—and they also nestle into my shelves like puzzle pieces,” she says. They come in sets of 20, which makes them amazing meal prep containers.
16-oz. Square Clear Deli Containers with Lids (Set of 20)
If you really want to up your food storage game, consider vacuum sealing, which will keep your food fresh for five times longer than their non-vacuum sealed counterparts. Our favorite vacuum sealer, the Zwilling Fresh & Save, works for everything from left over casseroles to avocado halves to spelt flour. Alex Beggs says there’s no better way to keep food fresh, and she can confirm that it extends the shelf life of her food by days to weeks to even months. This high-tech food storage system consists of a rechargeable handheld vacuum pump and its own high-quality containers—you can choose between sturdy plastic, borosilicate glass, or reusable plastic bags. We recommend the starter set, which is available with either hard plastic or glass and includes a medium container, a large container, two small vacuum sealer bags, and two medium vacuum sealer bags. You can also purchase different containers—like this bento-style lunchbox—à la carte if you want. A few of Beggs’s fave things to vacuum seal: frozen berries, rice salad, ham hocks, and entire loaf cakes.
A food storage container set that doubles as a set of drinking glasses? Count us in. “I have a jar hoarding problem and save most coconut oil/ghee/peanut butter/jam jars for storing salad dressings and uncooked rice,” says Carla Lalli Music. Wide-mouth canisters are great for grains while smaller half-cup containers will do just fine for sauces and dressings.
Ball Wide Mouth Mason Jars, 16 oz
Ball Regular Mouth Mason Jars, 4 oz
Anna Stockwell replaces the two-part canning lid on Mason jars with these plastic tops, which are easier to clean and make it less likely that you’ll have vinaigrette leakage all over your lunch box.
Ball Leakproof Mason Jar Lids
Stocking up on a giant tin of Frantoia olive oil is a great investment, but it’s almost impossible to pour a tablespoon straight from its container. You could transfer the oil to a fancy cruet, but a humble squeeze bottle is your best bet for everyday cooking. The flexible plastic is clear, which could potentially make the olive oil go rancid more quickly, but if you’re cooking with olive oil a couple times a day you’ll go through the bottle faster than you think.
This story was originally published in 2017 and was updated by Tiffany Hopkins in 2023.
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