In news:rec.food.cooking, FERRANTE > posted on
Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:48:20 -0500 the following:

> Does anyone know of an easy way to remove stains (usually red pasta
> sauce stains) from Tupperware or similar plastic bowls? No matter what
> I do, I cannot get them completely gone. I've asked my friends and
> they, too, seem to have the same problem.

I solved that problem by getting glass storage bowls with plastic lids. I
always hated the tendency of plastic to stain. Plus I felt like plastic
storage containers would affect the taste of leftovers, especially if
dumped into the plastic while still hot. Wal-Mart sells glass Pyrex bowls
with red plastic lids, good thick lids, too. I would rather have glass
lids, but I wanted glass lids that don't have knobs on top so I can stack
them. Sometimes I'll use the glass lids in some of our glassware and I'll
simply turn the lid over, but the knob on top goes down inside the food.
Not a big deal, of course, except when you want to dip out leftovers, you
just have to contend with a glass knob coated with food.

I hate a messy fridge. I much prefer having all the leftovers in the same
type of container, not fifteen different sizes scattered all over the
place. This is what my stuff looks like, though I didn't get a set. I
bought individual pieces:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Pyrex-14-P...s-Set/10402109

I have two of the large rectangular pieces, about five of the small
rectangular pieces (good for storing an opened package of franks), about
five of the bowls the size of the one sitting to the side with no lid on
it, and five of the bowls sitting under the smallest bowl on top, which
are good for storing, say, the remaining food out of a partially-used 14oz
canned good.

The large rectangular glassware will perfectly hold two pounds of shredded
mozzarella that I shred from the two pound blocks of it sold in the
cooler.

The only thing I don't like about the plastic lids is that one time,
somehow a bowl of ground beef that had spoiled got pushed way back under
the microwave (it sits in a cabinet over the counter, leaving about an 8"
space under it where we store a few things), and I found it so long after
it was lost, that I didn't even remember taking it out of the fridge. I
popped the lid off and the smell was atrocious. I was never able to get
the smell out of the lid, even after boiling it in vinegar water,
scrubbing it with baking soda, and soaking it overnight in a sink full of
soapy water, and running it through the dishwasher twice. I just finally
threw both the lid and the bowl away, since I didn't want to have a bowl
without a lid to go with it.

That's why I want glass lids. At least if it ends up molded, it'll all
come off and look as good as new. I'm skeptical of plastic lids, because
as I see it, if the lid still smells like the mold that used to grow on
it, then there's still mold infused into the plastic. It makes me think
that using that lid might cause the food it covers to spoil more rapidly
than it would with a lid that had not been so abused.

Damaeus