Okay, show of hands: How many of you invest money in plastic food storage containers and how many simply re-use everything from whipped topping containers to Chinese take-out plastics to store your leftovers?

Until recently, I had an assortment of plastic containers in a deep kitchen drawer, some of which were originally intended for take-out soup from our local Chinese restaurant and others that I’ve acquired here and there. Although I always kept them well contained and organized, the various sizes and shapes of the containers and lids did present some storage challenges. First, the multitude of sizes made it impossible to properly stack either the containers or the lids. My way around this was to store all the lids upright, wedged between a container and the side of the drawer. It was a manageable system, but even I have to admit, it wasn’t ideal.

A few weeks ago, my new friends over at Rubbermaid, Lauren and Jim, came to the rescue and sent me a huge, all-in-one set of their Easy Find Lids storage containers. The set includes red-lidded every day containers, innovative Produce Savers, stain resistant Premier containers, and the new extra-secure Lock-its.

Wow! What a difference! My uneven containers have all found their way to the recycle bin and I have been converted to the ways of the amazing Easy Find Lid!

For starters, all of the lids snap to the bases. (The Saver tray for the special produce saver container even snaps to the lid before it stores!)

The lids and containers for the various products are all interchangeable, too, so if you invest in the various styles, you don’t have to worry about which lid has to go with which base: the 3 cup lid fits the 3 cup container, the 5 cup container AND the 7 cup container, so you have less lids to try to put on before you find the right one.  Gotta’ love a product with built-in flexibility! 

One of the fundamental principles of sorting and storing objects is to keep “like with like.” Rubermaid has this problem covered, as all the lids easily snap to each other for efficient, compact and stable nesting of the products. That saves you tons of cabinet or drawer space.

Here is my “after” drawer (there are actually MORE containers in here than before!). Isn’t it just beautiful? And now I have some added “found” space in the drawer, too!

With summertime now upon us and fresh fruit and veggies so abundant, I have to add to this review my 2 cents about the Rubbermaid Produce Saver,  which not only prolongs the shelf life of your produce, but saves you money, too. I ran my own experiment, placing a few strawberries in a regular, sealed plastic container and the rest in a Produce Saver container.  The special venting and saver tray in the Produce Saver helped my berries last a full 2 WEEKS longer than the traditional container! I honestly thought it was just a gimmick, but let me tell you, that Produce Saver is GREAT!

If you want to give the Easy Find Lids a try for yourself.  Visit Rubbermaid.com beginning June 1 and enter the coupon code 0902 to save 10% on your online purchases. Let me know what you think. And if you come up with any creative uses for these handy containers, be sure to share your ideas here at VirtuallyOrganized.com!

Simply yours,

Debbie

Related posts:

1. Ask the Experts
2. Rubbermaid Giveaway: Conquering Your Junk Drawers
3. Snapware Giveaway and Review
4. Quick and Easy Tips to Organize Your Kitchen Pantry
5. The Organized Nursery: Creating a Bedroom That Grows With Baby