I bought one like those to see if it would add life to strawberries. It definitely has.
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We have both the shallow square and rectangular ones and the deeper rectangular ones, all with bamboo lids. We chose mostly bamboo over the plastic snap lids for aesthetic reasons (although we do have some of those, which have been fine…we always hand-wash any plastic, so those lids have never failed). The containers are built like tanks and the bamboo lids (which should be washed by hand, which we always do) are easy to clean and seem to make a good seal. No complaints here!
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I can’t tell from the link if the bamboo lids have plastic-lined bottoms, or ate themselves exposed bamboo. In the event of a slop or tip, wouldn’t food soak into the wood? Also, I get how the silicone seal would seal against the glass, but couldn’r air leak around the edge where it mates with the wood lid?
No plastic as far as I can tell on the food-facing side of the lid. We’re pretty careful, so we haven’t had a major food sloshing onto the lid, so we don’t have food stains/residual food smells on the lid. The seal seems pretty standard to me. They can be removed to clean separately in the case of food slop. Here are 2 photos.
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They extend berry life? I’m definitely interested now!
Seems like they have. We used to keep them in a sealed glass jar in the fridge after the first two days or so. We’d get some mold starting often by day 3 or 4. With the vacuum container we haven’t seen any mold, though they do still start to get soft and ‘acidic’ after 5-6 days.
Also seafood, avocados, off the top of my head.
Thanks for the photos. I’d be a lot more interested if both the lid and body were smooth, impermeable and inert glass. The wood touching the seal looks rough enough, I would expect it to leak. Too bad.
How long have you had your unit, and how often do you use it?
I bought a second, updated one within the last six months because the first one made a rattling noise when shaken. It still works, but I didn’t want to be without it, and I wanted a new device that protected the device when suctioning bags with liquids (for marindes, not long term storage).
One of the things I like the most is that the bags are reusable.
Between the containers and the bags, I would say I use it weekly. When I have something especially perishable, probably quite a bit more.
I have had a problem with cracks in the lid, which may explain problems holding a seal, but it helps to pay attention to the position of the seal. They were happy to replace the container with the cracked lid, but I wish I could just replace the lid. IIRC, others have felt the same.
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Thanks for the intel about the IKEA 365+ containers, @digga. I’m checking those out on our next IKEA run.
P.S. Also this inquiry caused me to become aware of the existence of silicone lids, which I did not even know were a thing. I am going to look to see if I can find lids in sizes that will fit my (vintage) Pyrex and Corningware stuff.
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Food-storage adjacent question:
I now regularly buy both prunes and dates, but I struggle to store them effectively.
My health food store offers prunes in bulk. They are much cheaper than, and I like them much more than, any grocery-store prunes, but they dry out much faster. I’ve tried various things to store them effectively, but my choices seemed to be to either buy TINY bulk quantities (so that I would only need to store for a week before needing more) or to stick with supermarket. Making a weekly prune run is annoying! And the best supermarket prunes come in a plastic tub; they stay moist, but I hate hate hate the plastic.
Any tips for storing bulk prunes to keep them moist?
For dates, the problem is even worse because the supermarket dates I can buy (in a small thick plastic bag) were already unacceptably dry when I opened the bag for the first time. At least half of them are chucked immediately.
I don’t want to make a habit of mail-ordering fancy dried fruit because I eat these very, very regularly (prunes every day, a-hem.)
Any tips appreciated.
Do you have access to Costco?
I got this bag there, stays very moist, guess the bag is plastic. $10.
I don’t like to dirty my hand reaching in so use a long fork.
My post says I want to buy them in bulk and not use plastic.
What have you tried storing them in, and what happens? I use those kilner jars with the clip lids for raisins.
Like this.
Also been using glass jars. They still dry out. Oddly, the bulk raisins I buy don’t dry out! It’s just the more expensive dried fruit (which I buy in far smaller quantities.)
I don’t know if this will work, but could you try one of the airtight containers that are meant for brown sugar. One of the sets of containers I have has a brown sugar container that has grips that holds a piece of ceramic that you are supposed to soak in water overnight. This adds a moisture factor that will delay the drying out of whatever food is inside. You still need to go back and re-soak that piece every so often.
For the easiest solution, unfortunately I do think it’s plastic. What’s also worked for other foods sometimes it putting in a piece of fresh citrus rind. This will have a tendency to infuse some of that citrus flavor into the product, which could be good or bad. The rind will also need to be replaced once it dries out.
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Keeping prunes and dates moist isn’t a problem for me because what I buy come heavily sulfured.
One of my worst “health food” experiences was buying a bag of unsulfered “natural” dried apricots. They tasted dandy, but one fine day the bag was full of…maggots. As a result, I will not willingly buy dried fruit that doesn’t have some preservative.
Have you considered the reusable vacuum containers?
I have some brown sugar ceramic bears - I hadn’t thought to try them. Good idea. And I’ll try the citrus peel too. Thanks !
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I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, made in China is a no-no when it comes to food handling.
