The Journal · Guidance
The Subtle Art of Food Storage
The cellar beneath the farmhouse
Every autumn, my grandmother prepared for winter. In the basement of her old German farmhouse, she stored whatever the season had given: tomatoes, pears, apples, cucumbers, cabbage and onions. Each went into its own glass jar, stacked neatly along the shelves. It was dark down there, and cold. As a child it often scared me to be sent down the steps alone.
Now I think of that room almost with sadness. It held a kind of knowledge that so many of us have forgotten, or were never taught in the first place. She was not following a trend. She was making sure the house always had enough, and that what she had grown and gathered would keep its goodness until spring.
Glass, cold, darkness and time. Nothing in that cellar was there by accident.
How we store food now
Storing food today looks very different. It is rarely about the season ahead. It is about tomorrow: last night's dinner in a takeaway tub to reheat at lunch, week-old bread in a plastic bag, cheese left in the film it came in, tins lined up in the pantry.
These small, everyday spaces are where we invite new awareness. Not guilt, just attention.
Food is not inert. Different foods absorb what they are stored in differently. Fat, acid, salt and heat all draw more from a container into what we eat. And different materials behave differently: some stay stable for decades, others soften, scratch and break down a little more with every wash and every warm meal.
What touches our food, in time, becomes part of it.
Why plastic needs to leave the kitchen
Plastic is one of the biggest sources of everyday chemical exposure in our homes, and the kitchen is where it meets us most closely. It is made of long chains of polymers mixed with additives: softeners, stabilisers, colourants. Those additives are not bound tightly. Over time they migrate into what the plastic touches.
Three things speed this up:
- Heat. Hot food, microwaving, the dishwasher and the sun all loosen plastic's structure and release more chemicals and particles.
- Fat and acid. Oily sauces, cheese, meat, tomatoes, citrus and vinegar draw additives out far more readily than water does.
- Age and wear. Every scratch, cloudy patch and warped lid is plastic breaking down, shedding microplastics into the food it holds.
Of particular concern are bisphenols (such as BPA) and phthalates, which are known endocrine disruptors: they can mimic or interfere with our hormones. "BPA-free" offers less comfort than it seems, because it is often replaced with close chemical cousins such as BPS or BPF.
Reading the numbers
Most plastics carry a small recycling triangle with a number from 1 to 7. It tells you what you are holding.
| Code | Plastic | Where you find it | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PET | Water and juice bottles, supermarket trays | Made for single use. Avoid refilling, heating or leaving in warm places. |
| 2 | HDPE | Milk bottles, some tubs | One of the more stable plastics, but still plastic. |
| 3 | PVC | Some cling films, jar-lid seals | Can contain phthalates. Best avoided around food. |
| 4 | LDPE | Bags, freezer bags, most cling film | Soft and flexible; sheds more with heat and fat. |
| 5 | PP | Takeaway tubs, "microwave-safe" containers | Tolerates heat better, but still releases particles when heated. |
| 6 | PS | Polystyrene cups, foam boxes, disposable cutlery | Can release styrene, especially with hot or oily food. Avoid. |
| 7 | Other | Polycarbonate, mixed plastics | Often the source of BPA. Avoid for food. |
"Microwave-safe" only means the container will not melt or warp. It says nothing about what moves into your food.
It is also worth looking beyond the tubs: plastic chopping boards, spatulas, kettles, colanders, melamine and "bamboo" picnic ware (often bamboo fibre bound with melamine resin), and the plastic linings inside many tins. All of these meet heat, acid or a knife edge, day after day.
What to store food in instead
The materials our grandparents trusted are still the ones that serve us best. They are stable, they do not shed, and with care they last a lifetime.
- Glass. The most versatile choice. It is non-porous, holds no odour or stain, and releases nothing into food, hot or cold, oily or acidic. Borosilicate glass handles temperature changes best, from fridge to oven. Many glass containers come with plastic lids; choose bamboo, stainless steel or glass lids where you can, or simply leave a gap so food does not touch the lid.
- Ceramic and stoneware. Beautiful for leftovers, ferments, butter and grains. Choose pieces made with lead-free glazes, and be cautious with vintage or hand-painted ware unless you know its origin.
- Stainless steel. Light, unbreakable and ideal for lunches, dry goods and the freezer. Look for food-grade 18/8 (304). Very acidic or salty food is happier in glass for long storage.
- Enamelware. Steel coated in glass. Good for stews, soups and storage, as long as the enamel is not chipped.
- Wood. A wooden bread bin lets bread breathe and keeps it longer than plastic, which traps moisture and invites mould.
- Linen and cotton. Bags for bread, loose vegetables and greens. Dampen a cloth to keep herbs and leafy greens fresh in the fridge.
- Beeswax wraps and paper. A natural alternative to cling film for cheese, half a lemon or covering a bowl. Wax or parchment paper lets cheese breathe as it should.
- Glass jars you already have. Clean jam, passata and pickle jars are the simplest beginning, and the closest thing to my grandmother's shelves.
| Food | Instead of | Store it in |
|---|---|---|
| Leftovers, soups, stews | Plastic tubs | Glass or enamel containers |
| Sauces, oils, dressings | Plastic bottles | Dark glass bottles or jars |
| Tomatoes, citrus, ferments | Plastic or foil | Glass jars or ceramic crocks |
| Bread | Plastic bags | Linen bag or wooden bread bin |
| Cheese | Its plastic film | Wax or cheese paper, then a glass box |
| Grains, nuts, seeds, flour | Plastic packets | Glass jars or stainless steel tins |
| Herbs, salad leaves | Plastic clamshells | Damp cloth or a glass of water |
| Packed lunches | Plastic boxes and film | Stainless steel tins, beeswax wraps |
Where to begin
You do not need to replace everything at once. Start with what holds hot, oily or acidic food, because that is where plastic gives up the most.
- Stop heating food in plastic. Reheat in a pan, or transfer to a glass or ceramic dish before the microwave. Let hot food cool a little before it goes into any container.
- Move the high-risk foods first. Leftovers, sauces, soups, oils, tomato-based dishes, citrus and anything fermented go into glass.
- Retire cling film. Cover bowls with a plate, a beeswax wrap or a cloth.
- Unwrap bread and cheese. Give bread a linen bag or a wooden bin, and cheese a sheet of wax paper.
- Keep your jars. Wash and save glass jars from the things you already buy. They cost nothing and replace a surprising number of tubs.
- Let the rest go gradually. Anything scratched, cloudy, stained or warped goes first. Then chopping boards and utensils, replaced with wood or stainless steel as they wear out.
One glass container used every day does more than a cupboard of good intentions. Begin small, and let each swap become a habit before you make the next.
Back to the shelves
I no longer have my grandmother's cellar. But I think often of those rows of jars, each one holding a season. She understood something simple: how we keep our food is part of how we care for ourselves and the people we feed.
Matamala means to kill the bad, to remove what no longer serves us, without guilt, so that balance can return. Plastic in the kitchen is one of those things. Let it go slowly, one container at a time, and fill the space with glass, wood, cloth and clay. The things that have always held our food well.