How Often Should You Replace Your Food Storage Containers?

Taylor Tobin is a freelance food and lifestyle journalist based in Austin, Texas. She has been covering home cooking and home bartending for over five years, with bylines in publications like Eater, HuffPost, Insider, Allrecipes, Wine Enthusiast, and The Spruce Eats. She's an avid home chef who's always eager to try new recipes, and she's constantly inspired by the culinary traditions of the exciting city of Austin, which she calls home.

The meal prep trend encourages home cooks to get smart about how they store their ingredients and leftovers, which requires a healthy supply of food storage containers. Many of us reuse the same plastic, glass, or stainless steel containers over and over again for months (or even years) at a stretch, but if the priority is fresh and flavorful food that’s also safe to eat, should we all be replacing our containers more regularly? According to food safety experts, food scientists, and home cleaning & organization pros, the answer is “yes”.

Glass, ceramic, or stainless steel food storage containers will give you the most longevity. If you’re in the market for reusable food storage containers that are strong enough to last a lifetime, then glass, ceramic, and stainless steel are the way to go. “Glass is the most durable and has the greatest longevity, and it’s 100% recyclable. Because of this, glass containers are the best selection for the environment, and they won’t end up in a landfill. Since glass is inert, it needs no chemical layer between it and your food when storing, so it doesn’t affect the taste of any food,” explains Nicole Gabai, a professional organizer and the author of The Art of Organizing, an Artful Guide to An Organized Life.

Gabai does warn that, although glass containers are sturdier and more reliable, they “tend to be bulkier, heavier, and more expensive than plastic. Due to its bulkiness and heaviness, it's not the best option for travel and portability.” Ceramic containers deliver many of the same benefits as glass, but they also come with a higher price tag and a heavier weight.

Javier and Rebeca Medina, owners of Tidy Home Cleaning Services in Houston, Texas, also point out that glass does come with a risk of scratching and cracking. “A good alternative to glass containers that are just as effective, but way stronger, are stainless steel containers,” they note.

Plastic storage containers can last at least a year with proper maintenance. For many of us, plastic containers with plastic lids make up the bulk of our food storage supplies. These vessels are easy to find at retailers, they’re affordable, and they’re stackable (which means that they occupy relatively-little cabinet real estate). That said, plastic doesn’t have the longevity offered by glass and stainless steel, so it’s important to know when to swap out your container collection.

“Plastic food storage containers should be replaced every six months to one year, depending on usage and wear and tear. Over time, plastic containers can become scratched, stained, or damaged, and that starts to pose a food safety risk, explains Dragomir Markovic, food scientist and founder of Wise Intake. The safety concerns of worn-out plastic involve the scratches and punctures that can show up on these surfaces over time. “These damages [can] become micro-environments that can not be cleaned and sanitized properly, which can harbor bacteria and other harmful microorganisms that can contaminate food,” says Markovic.

Damage to plastic containers can happen in a number of ways, but Javier and Rebeca Medina list “machine washing, using them in microwaves, scratches, and scrapes from forks and knives, and frequently using them to store oily or acidic food” as some of the most common. We found that last one especially interesting, so we asked the Medinas for more details, which they were happy to provide: “Acidic and oily food can cause plastic to degrade. Highly acidic foods donate hydrogen ions that react with and break down these long chain polymers called plastic. Fats from oil interact with plastic at the molecular level, which can cause the plastic to break down over time as well. These fats can cause discoloration and texture changes, which are reasons enough to replace the food containers, since we know that these are signs of degradation.”

As our experts mentioned, visual and scent-based clues can help you figure out when plastic containers have reached the end of their lifespan. “If you notice any discoloration, odor, or a change in taste when using the container, it should be replaced as soon as possible. You should also avoid using containers that have been previously used for other purposes, such as chemicals or solvents,” recommends Justin Carpenter, owner of Modern Maids in Houston, Texas.

Avoiding high heat and contact with abrasive materials and tools will keep your plastic containers viable, and if you don’t spot any signs of excess wear, food stains, or odors, you can hold off on replacing said containers for about a year.

While several different types of plastic can be fashioned into food storage containers, not all of these plastics are equally sturdy or equally safe for reuse. Above all else, Casey Bumpsteed, a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef who currently serves as the editor of Ceramic Cookware Review, urges you to avoid containers that include “Bisphenol A, or ‘BPA’. It's a chemical used to give plastics their durability and has been linked to a medley of health issues, from infertility and developmental problems to heart disease.”

Instead, focus on containers that are made with food-grade plastics that won’t leach harmful chemicals into food and that will, as Javier and Rebeca Medina put it, better “withstand acid, fats, and effects of extreme temperatures.”

If you’re wondering how you can tell which type of plastic is used to make your containers, check the bottoms of said vessels. You’ll see a triangular recycling symbol with a number at the center, and the specific number will indicate which containers are recommended for reuse. According to Michael Tunick, PhD, a research chemist in Drexel’s Food and Hospitality Management department, anything with the number 7 is made of polycarbonate (the category that includes BPA), so those shouldn’t be reused. Numbers 1, 3, and 6 also represent plastics that are single-use-only.

The numbers that you want to see are 2 (which represents high-density polyethylene, which Dr. Tunick describes as “hard to break down, considered safe”), 4 (which represents low-density polyethylene, a food-safe plastic), or 5 (which represents polypropylene or PP, also considered food-safe).”

To get the longest-possible life out of plastic storage containers, skip the dishwasher and microwave. Because extreme heat can wear plastic down very quickly, our experts generally agree that plastic containers should be kept out of the dishwasher and the microwave. “Hand-washing is the least damaging method of cleaning your storage containers because the water is hot enough to clean the receptacle but not so [hot] as to affect the plastic,” says Lisa Lotts, recipe developer, cookware expert, and creator of Garlic & Zest. She warns that “the high heat from the drying cycle of dishwashers will degrade the material much faster than simply patting it dry with a dish towel or letting the container air dry.”

Lotts tells us that microwaves also expose plastic to more heat than they can safely handle, “even if the packaging says ‘microwave-safe'". To be safe, remove any leftovers that you want to reheat in the microwave from plastic containers and put them in “microwave-safe ceramic ware or other heat-proof glass.”

A lighter-weight alternative that’s microwave-safe and dishwasher-safe comes in the form of silicone. “Silicone containers are generally durable and can withstand high temperatures. As long as they remain in good condition without any tears or deformation, they can last for several years,” insists Elizabeth Grace, the interior designer and home care expert behind Dream Home Making.

It can be easy to assume that the plastic containers used to hold takeout and delivery dishes from restaurants are safe to wash and reuse, but our sources point to these vessels’ lower quality of plastic as a compelling reason to toss them right away. “Reusing plastic takeout containers provided by restaurants for delivery and leftovers can be a convenient practice, but these containers are typically designed for single-use and may not be made from the highest quality plastic. They can become scratched or damaged during use, creating breeding grounds for bacteria and making them harder to clean effectively,” explains Anna Cassidy, food scientist, health expert, and founder of Imarku Knives.

Dragomir Markovic even warns that these containers “may contain harmful chemicals that can migrate into food with repeated use. Additionally, these containers may not be properly cleaned and sanitized, increasing the risk of bacterial contamination.” Instead, stick with containers that are designed for multiple uses.