Frugal use for old food container
@beautyqueen26 (16030)
United States
August 5, 2007 6:00pm CST
We love buying Lloyd's BBQ pork (orange bucket, near the milk and cheese section). Not only does it make great sandwiches, but comes along with the sturdiest container that is just too handy to throw away. I've been collecting the mini-buckets for awhile and mostly use them to organize my cabinets or refrigerator. And, I always keep one on my counter for my husband's keys and change and anything else he would otherwise dump onto the counter. It's a great little organizer. And, recently, I saw a similar item online for $7.00! Turns out my thrifty ways have actually saved us some money.
I guess it's a habit that I picked up from my mom when I was a kid. She was famous for buying the medium sized margerine containers and then recycling them into kid cereal bowls. Not a bad idea, really, considering that kids are prone to messing up the fancy stuff!
So, how do you reuse your containers once they are empty? Do you find that your reusable containers last about as long as the ones you paid for?
3 people like this
13 responses
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
6 Aug 07
There were always margarine containers and cool whip ones and all that sort of thing being reused at my great-grandmother's house, to keep herbs in usually. Cheaper than buying containers for that purpose and easy enough to stick labels on.
I haven't done too much of this myself, because being a small family we don't use that much it seems, but we have reused those Arizona tea jugs instead of pitchers, and sometimes find uses for old food containers in various jury-rigs to keep things working.
2 people like this
@beautyqueen26 (16030)
• United States
6 Aug 07
I have one of those empty Arizona tea jugs in my refrigerator at this moment! I have to keep some extras around just in case I get a minute or two to make tea. Nothing like homemade tea, especially in the South.
2 people like this
@peavey (16936)
• United States
6 Aug 07
I use them in all the ways the others have mentioned, but I also use them to freeze things in, mostly leftovers, but sometimes garden produce, etc. If you cover vegetables with water in them, they keep very well. I use a marker and freezer tape to mark what's in them and the date when it was frozen.
@beautyqueen26 (16030)
• United States
6 Aug 07
I have not tried them in the freezer! Hmmm! Well, looks like I learned something useful today. Thanks!
1 person likes this
@jiffys_frog_woman (4050)
• United States
6 Aug 07
i use them for cereal or to put left over food in or anything i found laying around they do save $$$
1 person likes this
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
6 Aug 07
That is a great idea- I do use those bowls and containers- I often use them to send home leftovers for guest that come for dinner or cookouts- That way if I dont get them back I'm out nothing- I don't expect them back but I have lost alot of tupperware containers this way- I got smart. My sig. other also uses peanut butter jars for screws, nuts, and bolts things like that in the garage.
@beautyqueen26 (16030)
• United States
6 Aug 07
That is a very clever idea! Yes, I suppose guests would want to keep those Tupperware containers after all! That's a very nice, (if unintentional) parting gift.
1 person likes this
@carlaabt (3504)
• United States
6 Aug 07
I try to reuse my old containers like that, but they usually don't last too long. My husband is terrible about remembering to bring stuff home from work, so I have started telling him that if he doesn't bring the containers back home, he doesn't get to take anything to work unless it fits in a ziploc bag. I get so sick of having to replace tupperware containers all the time.
He's been doing better about it lately, but I can still only count on being able to reuse containers one or two times before he leaves them somewhere.
2 people like this
@lingli_78 (12821)
• Australia
6 Aug 07
i always recycle the old food container whenever i can... i use them to freeze my meat, to bring my lunch to work, to keep my fruit and so on... i save heaps of money by not having to buy a food container... when they become old or broken, then i will throw them away... but i will throw them happily because i didn't spend any money to buy them... :-)
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
6 Aug 07
I use the margarine containers, and any macaroni salad type containers. They are nice to transport things back and forth to the campground and to take places that I don't want to have to remember to bring a container back home.
@margieanneart (26423)
• United States
6 Aug 07
Wow, that is a great idea. Thank you for sharing it. I save some of the bowls from take out fast foods. I will store food in them, or odds and ends.
@venshida (4836)
• United States
6 Aug 07
I use them to store my leftovers in the refrigerator, and I also put screws into the containers in my garage.
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
6 Aug 07
My husband is notorious for saving empty margarine, yogurt, and spice containers! He uses them in the garage to organize various sizes of nails,screws, bolts etc. He also keeps some to use for pouring small amounts of paint into when he is painting. He takes the small container up on the ladder to trim around the ceiling and other small jobs. He also uses them to mix plant food in and other jobs. I keep a few on hand in the kitchen for taking portions of food to my older parents who live next door. That way when they empty them, they can just be tossed. Of course I also use them to take portions of leftovers to work for lunch as well!
@brothertuck (1257)
• United States
6 Aug 07
The ones I keep usually are the chinese soup and sauce container. They can be 8oz, 16oz, or 32 oz, and the biggest thing is that the lids are the same so that they fit on all 3 sizes. My younger brother says that is the biggest problem of plastic containers, finding the lid that fits.
I remember my mom keeping the cups that margarine came in. The ones were sized like a soup or cereal bowl, and there was also some that came in a small mug, would use them for hot chocolate, and milk for breakfast.
@SigPi85 (2)
• United States
6 Aug 07
I remember being a child, my mother always saved these containers as well. In fact, It happened to be one of my chores to empty the dishwasher and I remember sorting through the mess of empty cool whip, and margarine containers. They tend to come to be very purposeful used as take-home dish containers, bowls, etc. We also used them as cereal bowls. Although my mother used them mostly to send guests home with leftovers.
