Poll: How do you store Tupperware?

February 3, 2011

Yesterday, I got a burst of energy and decided to tackle a task I’ve been needing to address:

Organizing the Tupperware cabinet.

I have to clean it out every few months.  As hard as I try, it never stays organized, and I’ve given up on killing myself to keep it that way.  It only takes about twenty or thirty minutes to fix it up, so I just take that on whenever it gets out of hand.

Here’s what it looked like this time:

Yesterday, I started to question my container-organizing skills and started to wonder whether my system was really the best.

So, I’m asking you, dead readers (I LOVE calling y’all “dead readers”): how do you organize your Tupperware?

I’ve tried two different approaches, and I don’t know whether there are more, but now I don’t know which of the two is best.  I used to store the lids with each corresponding container, but that seemed to get disorganized faster.  So then, I bought myself some lid holder thingys at the Container Store, and now I store them all separate, lids together and containers together.

These are the lid holders, post-rearranging:

[polldaddy poll=4493926]

When I was all done, I ended up with a plethora of extra lids and some extra containers.  How does this happen???  How can I lose containers without lids, or vice versa?  I don’t get it.  Here’s all my randoms that I ended up recycling:

Also, what do you call these dealies?  I always call them Tupperware, kind of like how I call tissues Kleenex.  But what do you call them?  Plastic containers?

I am full of questions for y’all today.

Please enlighten.  And have a lovely day.  Martha post coming next!

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{ 13 comments }

• February 3, 2011, 9:11 am Amelia

  My 16 month old son is is the sole proprietor of our tupperware cabinet. In fact, my husband and I had a kind of sad/only-other-parents-get-this moment about a month ago when we realized that we probably hadn’t eaten our lunch out of a single tupperware container that hadn’t spent some amount of significant time on the floor in quite a while. And now I’m admitting that on the internet, ooops. Prior to having a kid though, we had the clickable/stackable kind that stayed stacked and clicked and un-floory with lids on one side and containers on the other. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

  Reply

  • February 3, 2011, 2:36 pm bethpc

    Oh, I remember those days! My 4 year old still takes stuff out of the cabinets to “make dinner,” but he’s moved on to pots, pans, and bowls. My husband always tries to wash them after they’ve been on the floor and used, but I just put them back.

    Reply

• February 3, 2011, 9:25 am Lydia

  I have been on a mission to rid my kitchen of Tupperware. I’m trying to replace it all with glass bowls and lids that nest together – like Corningware. I feel better about reheating foods in glass dishes and they are way more durable.

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  • February 3, 2011, 2:35 pm bethpc

    This is a great idea, too, Lydia. I have some Pyrex bowls that have lids, but not enough. Someone just mentioned today that the best solution is to throw everything out and buy all matching stuff. I can’t bring myself to do that yet, though.

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• February 3, 2011, 10:41 am Julie

  Something that helped me is to write a number on each container & also the lid, for example a sandwich box would be no 1 & also the lid no 1.

  I must admit tho that even with this system it still got a bit confusing!

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  • February 3, 2011, 2:35 pm bethpc

    Julie, this is a good system… and in fact, some of our containers come with matching numbers. The problem I always have is that I can’t find the matching number lid in the cabinet! I can’t figure out how to store them so they are easily pairable. It’s a conundrum, for sure!

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• February 3, 2011, 12:57 pm Amy in Australia

  I wouldn’t call our Tupperware “organized”. More like, ” throw stuff in and slam the door before it all slides out”. However, this seems to work for us.

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• February 3, 2011, 7:06 pm Kathy

  Wait – why am I dead? I know that sounds like I’m getting all existential up in here, but you started it!

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  • February 3, 2011, 8:58 pm bethpc

    LOL, Kathy. A few posts back, I had a typo, where I meant to write “dear readers” and I typed “dead” readers instead. I didn’t even notice it, until someone commented how much it made them laugh even though it was a typo, and she imagined all the vampires and zombies who read my blog, and whether they ironed their sheets (pretty sure it was the ironing post). And it cracked me up so much I decided that was my new moniker for y’all– dead readers. Do you like it?

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    • February 4, 2011, 2:49 pm Kathy

      [halting shuffle, arms straight out in front of me] BRAINS! Oh, I’m sorry, did you ask me something?

      Reply

• February 3, 2011, 7:50 pm Eva

  I think I screwed up the poll. Sorry. I used the “other” section to explain my latest attempt to organize my storage containers, but I think it just counted me twice and dumped my response.

  I’m currently trying a hybrid system: stacking like containers within each other, with corresponding lids stacked on top. So I have several piles of containers and lids that look like minimalist nesting dolls.

  I’m stacking to save space, but hoping that grouping the lids by container will save me time from having to dig through them all. Because, true confesh, I don’t throw out any containers, even the cheapie ones at the olive bar that warp as soon as you dishwash them.

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  • February 3, 2011, 8:59 pm bethpc

    That was my first “write-in” post attempt, so maybe it doesn’t work so well.

    I don’t usually throw out the cheapie ones, either, because, HEY! That’s a good container! So I’ve got all sorts of mixmatchy. My mom has about 40 Cool Whip containers that must be at least 15 years old that barely keep their lids on anymore.

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    • February 4, 2011, 2:50 pm Kathy

      Yay! I thought that was something only my mom and me does/do!

      Reply