Ziploc Twist 'n Loc > Glad Ware
Ah, giant pots of soup. What a fantastic way to spend a winter weekend afternoon. There's something lovely about letting a huge pot of soup bubble away merrily, teasing your senses with the smell of the hearty, warm goodness that will eventually make its way to your table. It's not terribly difficult, but the rewards are infinitely greater than those you reap from merely popping open a can. Don't get me wrong; cans have their place, too, but it just isn't the same.
Of course, with giant pots of soup comes the question of how to store it all. Inevitably, you're going to have lovely, lovely leftovers. While snacking on a bowl of hot, delicious soup all week can be fine, chances are good you might like a little variety in your diet. This, of course, is one of the many reasons why freezers were invented. When you're planning to freeze, of course, you need containers in which you can keep your delicious dividends for later use. You may choose to go the sainted granny route and ladle your liquid loveliness into recycled giant yoghurt, sour cream, + margarine tubs. You may also choose to stick large, strong zip-top plastic freezer bags inside a bowl, ladle in the soup, and let the bag freeze inside the bowl in order to keep a nice shape. Still another route is the disposable food storage container, which is the avenue I'm going to explore today.
In my kitchen, there are quite a few containers we use for leftovers. There are various Tupperware and Rubbermaid and Anchor-Hocking products, as well as some which are allegedly "disposable." Some of the latter make the quotation marks necessary because I've had them for YEARS and they're still around and in good shape. Some of these were no-name "disposable" containers, and they're among some of the sturdiest plastic I've encountered.
What happens if you're giving some of your sensational soupy goodness away, though? You probably don't want to use one of your "permanent rotation" leftover containers, do you? This is where Ziploc + Glad + similar products come into play. They're hoping you'll think they're a good idea. And they are...when they work.
The problem is, because they're such well-known name brands, they also expect you'll pay more for that name recognition. They're right, too; a lot of people will. As I mentioned above, a long time ago I had the great luck to find a no-name brand at a local supermarket that's lasted longer than any Ziploc or Glad product I've ever bought...but unfortunately, I can't seem to find them any longer. Therefore, I grudgingly bought one of each brand to put today's batch of beef barley soup in: GladWare Soup + Salad 24oz containers (in a 5-pack, with their new fancy interlocking lids) and Ziploc Twist 'n Loc 32oz containers (in a 2-pack, with leak-resistant lids). I found these at two different stores, and if the first store had the Ziploc ones, I wouldn't have bought the Glad ones in the first place.
However, the Glad ones bear a striking resemblance (minus the interlocking lids) to the sturdy old no-name ones I've got, so I thought they might work as well. The Ziploc ones scream sturdiness and reliability; although there are only two to the package, they seem well worth it and very handy to have around for sharing your leftovers. In fact, they do this before you even open the package.
I took all these containers out of their packaging and washed them before using them to store my soup. The GladWare ones seemed a bit flimsier than expected, but I thought they'd be okay as long as I was careful. I was wrong.
Two of the five containers (a whopping 40% of my purchase) were cracked before their first use. Two. Straight out of the package. They hadn't been cracked when I picked them off the shelf; at least, that I could see. That's completely unacceptable. Planned obsolescence is one thing, and I'm sure a certain degree of that is to be expected with these products; the goal of these companies is, after all, to have you continue to need to purchase their products. Therefore, building something that's going to last forever is hardly on the top of their lists of priorities. Ziploc, however, seems to at least credit their customers with some degree of intelligence. Their plastic does not shatter if you look at it strangely. Perhaps if "the Glad family of products" put some of that $100,000 per year they've been giving away to the winner of certain cooking reality shows on cable into a little R & D, they'd have figured this out.
Ziploc wins this round. GladWare is crap. You'd be better off pouring your soup through a sieve all over your countertop.
Of course, with giant pots of soup comes the question of how to store it all. Inevitably, you're going to have lovely, lovely leftovers. While snacking on a bowl of hot, delicious soup all week can be fine, chances are good you might like a little variety in your diet. This, of course, is one of the many reasons why freezers were invented. When you're planning to freeze, of course, you need containers in which you can keep your delicious dividends for later use. You may choose to go the sainted granny route and ladle your liquid loveliness into recycled giant yoghurt, sour cream, + margarine tubs. You may also choose to stick large, strong zip-top plastic freezer bags inside a bowl, ladle in the soup, and let the bag freeze inside the bowl in order to keep a nice shape. Still another route is the disposable food storage container, which is the avenue I'm going to explore today.
In my kitchen, there are quite a few containers we use for leftovers. There are various Tupperware and Rubbermaid and Anchor-Hocking products, as well as some which are allegedly "disposable." Some of the latter make the quotation marks necessary because I've had them for YEARS and they're still around and in good shape. Some of these were no-name "disposable" containers, and they're among some of the sturdiest plastic I've encountered.
What happens if you're giving some of your sensational soupy goodness away, though? You probably don't want to use one of your "permanent rotation" leftover containers, do you? This is where Ziploc + Glad + similar products come into play. They're hoping you'll think they're a good idea. And they are...when they work.
The problem is, because they're such well-known name brands, they also expect you'll pay more for that name recognition. They're right, too; a lot of people will. As I mentioned above, a long time ago I had the great luck to find a no-name brand at a local supermarket that's lasted longer than any Ziploc or Glad product I've ever bought...but unfortunately, I can't seem to find them any longer. Therefore, I grudgingly bought one of each brand to put today's batch of beef barley soup in: GladWare Soup + Salad 24oz containers (in a 5-pack, with their new fancy interlocking lids) and Ziploc Twist 'n Loc 32oz containers (in a 2-pack, with leak-resistant lids). I found these at two different stores, and if the first store had the Ziploc ones, I wouldn't have bought the Glad ones in the first place.
However, the Glad ones bear a striking resemblance (minus the interlocking lids) to the sturdy old no-name ones I've got, so I thought they might work as well. The Ziploc ones scream sturdiness and reliability; although there are only two to the package, they seem well worth it and very handy to have around for sharing your leftovers. In fact, they do this before you even open the package.
I took all these containers out of their packaging and washed them before using them to store my soup. The GladWare ones seemed a bit flimsier than expected, but I thought they'd be okay as long as I was careful. I was wrong.
Two of the five containers (a whopping 40% of my purchase) were cracked before their first use. Two. Straight out of the package. They hadn't been cracked when I picked them off the shelf; at least, that I could see. That's completely unacceptable. Planned obsolescence is one thing, and I'm sure a certain degree of that is to be expected with these products; the goal of these companies is, after all, to have you continue to need to purchase their products. Therefore, building something that's going to last forever is hardly on the top of their lists of priorities. Ziploc, however, seems to at least credit their customers with some degree of intelligence. Their plastic does not shatter if you look at it strangely. Perhaps if "the Glad family of products" put some of that $100,000 per year they've been giving away to the winner of certain cooking reality shows on cable into a little R & D, they'd have figured this out.
Ziploc wins this round. GladWare is crap. You'd be better off pouring your soup through a sieve all over your countertop.