OT: "Tupperware" et ilk

[Don Y]

The "old" Tupperware products seemed to be made of a "softer" (more flexible) plastic (Ed P??). The newer (competitor) offerings all seem to be much harder/stiffer.

I.e., prying the lid off a Rubbermaid container is considerably more difficult than a similarly sized/shaped Tupperware container. The Rubbermaid adheres until it *pops* off; the Tupperware sort of *peels* off!

SWMBO is in a losing battle with the newer (non-Tupperware) products. There are many, now, that try to enlarge the "tab" that you need to pry loose to remove the cover. But, all seem to use that "stiff" plastic.

Or, employ "plastic hinges" -- that you KNOW are going to fail, over time!

Apparently, Tupperware still sells product (!). Anyone with experience as to how the old stuff compares to the new in this regard?

Or, suggestions for alternative "RE-sealable products"? In the past, I've had pieces that were shaped like loaves of bread (narrow, long, deep); large enough to serve cakes (I have one that is actually designed for that purpose); large and square (as if to store *two* loaves, side by side), etc.

Plus, the usual assortment of round cup/pint/quart/half sizes...

[Micky]

i know how you feel but some plastics do seem indestructable.

20 years ago I went to Cocoa Beach and we went to the spacecraft center and Sea World and Disney World and the cattle auction and one more thing in the tourist guide, the Food Preservation Museum. That sounded so good. I thought I'd learn the history and mechanics of canning and freezing. Instead there was one big room with glass cases and clay pots with lids from thousands of years ago, stuff like I'd already seen and not really different from modern clay pots.

That was where we waited until the tour started, and the tour was entirely of Tupperware. I was so ticked off. When we got back to the aparment I called them and complained, and I wrote them later to complain. It should be called the Tupperware museum; then I'd know not to go. The other people seemed to know what they were going to see, but maybe they were just polite like I was in front of them.

And they sold the stuff there too. One big commercial. And very little if anything even about the history and development of Tupperware.

There are quite a few competitors to Tupperware. Glad makes some sizes, and ther are no-names, which I had assumed didnt' work as well, buit if Tw doesn't work well now either..... What a shame.

Personally, if there's a left-over, I eat it. It's a problem.

[Ed Pawlowski]

A few years back new people in the new house across the street invited most of the neighbors for a housewarming. We went thinking it would be nice to meet both old and new neighbors. Turned out to be a housewares selling party of some sort. We bought nothing, just thought it was a tacky idea.

[flakey714]

Good way to quickly make new enemies of most everyone in your 'hood!

[Micky]

They seem to have changed their name to the Tupperware Brands Confidence Center. That's a lot better than the Food Storage Museum. When I"m not asking for something for myself, I tend to write really abrasive complaint letters**, because I doubt polite ones have much affect. So maybe I played a part in their changing their name.

**About 20 years ago, Disney was advertising one of their movies on CD or tape and it said to buy now because it would never be sold again. Now plainly they were lying, and so I wrote to them that they would be known as "the company that lies to childen" and that the children who begged their parents to buy the movie because it would never be sold again would remember when they were adults that Disney was a liar, and would never buy anything from them. Within two weeks the commercials changed to saying "won't be sold again for a very long time.".

That is tacky. All of those schemes where people impose on their friends to buy things are tacky. Especially if they could afford to buy the house. If they couldn't afford it, they shoudl have bought a cheaper one. Did you end up being friends with them anyhow?

[Dean Hoffman]

I was curious since I'll probably have the same problem eventually. I found these

that have a push button. They're canisters that open with a pushbutton. Walmart sells some rectangular containers with locks on the ends. They look like this: I use the rectangular containers in my pickup to store the little odd nuts, bolts, etc. They do fail but I'm beating them around when I drive on county roads and in fields. My other thought was to use something like the old CeeTee farmer's pliers to open lids.

[CRNG]

On Sat, 19 Dec 2015 10:42:06 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote in

Indeed. But look at the good-side: you quickly know how to classify the new neighbors.

[Stormin Mormon]

With tackies like that, don't need em as associates.

[Tony Hwang]

Maybe they bought the house from the money they made that way. Not a good way of making good neighbors.

[Don Y]

But, not suited to freezing *or* microwave.

I'm looking for larger containers to store stuff (e.g., individually wrap steaks and then set several of these in a container to "keep them organized" in the freezer) and smaller containers to store "raw materials" (for want of a better word). E.g., I make spaghetti sauce in 16 qt batches and freeze into 2-3C containers. Each eventually comes out of the freezer and heads into the microwave to be thawed and reheated prior to serving.

Hmmm.. that might be a winner! It *looks* like it has a mechanical hinge on each of the "clips"? There are many products that seem to rely on (flexible) plastic hinges which you know will fail from repeated freezing/thaws/flexing.

[Dean Hoffman]

Yes, the clips are hinged. There isn't a solid connection between the box and clip. I guess the term for them is modular latch box. Staples sells IRIS brand.

It wouldn't bother a bachelor one little bit to use these for food. I observe the fifteen second or so rule for food and floor.

[rbowman]

My wife got dragged into a couple of those Tupperware or Avon things. She had missed Housewife 101 on the way to her graduate degree and had no more idea of how to handle it than I.

Then there was the evening we had partaken of a certain illicit substance and a flock of neighborhood wives showed up to welcome us. I cut and ran leaving her to deal with it. I did some completely inexcusable things to that woman...

[rbowman]

Clear plastic containers are preferred for geocaching these days. More than one ammo can has been blown to hell by the bomb squad when someone reported a suspicious item but at least with a plastic box they can usually see it's harmless.

Given that usage, the ones with the self-hinged locks on four sides do tend to lose the locks. The older Tupperware types or the similar knockoffs hold up amazingly well.

[Unquestionably Confused]

+1

Bet they'd have crapped a brick if you, having heard about 'Tupperware', showed up with a Glock ;)

[Ed Pawlowski]

Never tried them for the freezer, but we use the Sterilite containers for dry goods. The oldest are about 5 or 6 years and holding up well. Never had a lid pop off.

We also got rid of the assorted plasticware of many types and replaced it Rubbermaid containers that stack well and the lids lock on the bottom so you can find them.

[Muggles]

Oh, I want to hear the rest of this story!

[Don Y]

Excellent! We'll put them on the "let's have a look-see" list for next shopping day! Thx!

The (top) handle is kind of a downside. Might make stacking difficult. E.g., we currently use ziploc's to "organize" things: this one contains hot dogs wrapped in pairs, this one has individually wrapped steaks, this one has individually wrapped chunks of chicken breasts, this one has 2C bags of walnuts, this one has cleaned pork tenderloins, this one...

The bags are then crammed in the "baskets" in the freezer; this basket has baking goods, this one has red meats, this one has fresh-frozen fruit, etc.

The same sort of thing happens in the bottom of the freezer with containers stacked atop each other. I.e., the containers I use for sauce can be stacked two-high and still not interfere with the movement of the baskets above.

Ideally, I'd like to find a nice USEFUL container size that can fit these sorts of needs in both places.

For liquid products (e.g., spaghetti sauce) the Tupperware sort of seal helps keep moisture out, protect against casual spillage, etc.

There's no number of "seconds" I'd tolerate sauce ON the floor! :> (nor am I keen on cleaning it up, afterwards!)

[I once got overzealous carrying containers of freshly made sauce out to the freezer. Had six or eight in my arms at the same time. When reaching for the door to the garage, some shifted and fell. What a frigging mess!! I have thus learned that an extra trip or two is well worth the reduced risk of dropping the things!]

[Don Y]

We have some (really big!) sterlite containers that we use in the garage to store the king size bed sheets that we use to cover the citrus trees. I.e., several cubic feet internal volume. They have a sort of sliding latch built into opposing ends of the lid: place lid on container, slide latches inward to engage. This works reasonably well -- *if* you are vigilant and keep the latches in place as you are moving the large containers around. But, the latches move too easily so often come undone as you heft the container into its place on the top shelf, etc.

Most of the containers that we use for "raw" storage (spaghetti sauce, grated cheeses, etc.) are Rubbermaid. They suffer from the "stiff lid" syndrome I mentioned in my post.

Unfortunately, most of the ones that we find most useful do *not* stack well; no draft angle on the container so they don't nestle inside each other conveniently. Those that *do* tend not to see much use because they have that odd taper. A notable exception are some of the ~8x8x2 square containers that stack reasonably well inside each other and very well on top of each other when full. Rectangular always preferable to round when you are concerned with maximizing use of available volume!

E.g., store bought OJ containers pack really nicely into the bottom of the freezer. When we use our (reusable) cylindrical containers, we have to take pains to densely pack them to avoid those big voids between containers!

[We try to pack the freezer as if it was a solid block of goods, not as a loose collection!]

[rbowman]

The part where I caught hell after coming home and apologizing for leaving her with the harridans? We were friendly with the couple next door who were stoners but the rest of the neighborhood looked like the Stepford Wives.

In truth neither of us were cut out for suburbia, 2.1 kids, and a station wagon in the garage.

[Don Y]

We tend to have pretty stiff ideas as to what's "proper" and what constitutes a RUDE "imposition".

One neighbor, with whom we rarely interact, out-of-the-blue invited SWMBO to a baby shower for their niece (! not one of their *kids*!). Granted, the niece had an incredibly dysfunctional family so our neighbor had somewhat recently assumed the role of "mom and dad". But, *we* had no relationship with niece and very casual relaationship with the neighbors.

So, it came across as "please give a baby gift to our niece -- and we'll give you a piece of cake, in return!" Tough call. In the end, we had more sympathy for the niece than animosity towards the neighbors for this imposition.

The daughter of another neighbor -- with whom we are pretty close -- got married 14 months ago. (but, who's counting?). Small wedding/reception just for their (the kids') friends and immediate family. So, we didn't feel slighted for NOT being invited! (Whew! Can you imagine spending an afternoon with a bunch of "youngsters"?)

But, as we are relatively close with the neighbor (parents), we took it upon ourselves to hand-deliver a card with some cash for The Newlyweds-to-Be.

Fourteen months later and the daughter (nor her now husband of 14 months) have yet to acknowledge the "unsolicited" gift. SWMBO is bullsh*t at this "breach of etiquette". Me, I just -- but, make a mental note (i.e., don't expect us at your baby shower! :> )

Shortly after moving in, here, the local LDS "missionaries" came-a-knocking. All smiley face and interested in my "religious perversions". I'm sure I couldn't hide my disgust with "strangers" coming, unannounced, and asking such a "personal" question!

I wonder if I was wearing pants at the time...

And, presumably, some excusable things, as well?! :>