The Finest Reusable Meals Storage Luggage of 2022

For folk trying to cut back their waste within the kitchen (and past!) switching to reusable meals storage luggage is a handy and eco-friendly answer. They may help minimize down on discarded single-use plastic luggage for storing leftovers, packing lunches, prepping produce and extra. And so they’re not only for storage: you should utilize them for packing toiletries—and even microwaving popcorn and cooking sous vide. 

We got down to discover a bag that was fuss-free to fill, retailer, and clear—and resisted leaks, stains, and lingering smells. To do that, we rigorously examined a slate of fashions with totally different dimension ranges (from eight ounces and as much as 1-gallon), supplies, and designs.

The Winner, at a Look

The Finest Reusable Meals Storage Luggage: Durbl Reusable Silicone Meals Storage Luggage

All three sizes of this silicone mannequin have been simple to fill and clear (they’re dishwasher-safe!), match completely right into a recreation of fridge Tetris, by no means leaked, and didn’t dangle on to odors. 

The Checks

• Leakage check: To see how leakproof every bag was, we stuffed every dimension (small, medium, and huge) from each model with 1/2-cup, 3/4-cup, 1 1/2 cups of blue-dyed water. We then held every over a tray lined with paper towels, inverting the bag for 30 seconds, shaking it vigorously for 10 seconds after which knocking every bag onto the paper towels 5 instances, documenting any leaks. 
• Filling exams: We stuffed every small bag with six ounces of blueberries, every medium bag with 8.5 ounces of strawberries, and every massive bag with 2.8 ounces of stripped kale leaves minimize into one-inch items. Then, we examined how properly every medium bag match a peanut butter and jelly sandwich—or used the particularly designated sandwich bag if the set featured one. 
• Storage exams: All the luggage have been positioned within the fridge to see how properly they match on the cabinets or within the produce drawers, and whether or not their design (flat, stand-up, inflexible, versatile) helped or harm how effectively they used up the area. 
• Smells and marking check: We smeared a combination of 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric and 1 teaspoon of impartial oil contained in the medium bag from every set. After ready eight hours, then hand-washing the bag, we smelled the within and famous how stained the luggage have been, and the way a lot they held onto the spice’s scent. 
• Usability exams: All through testing, we evaluated how simple the luggage have been to fill and open and shut.
• Cleanup exams: Over the course of testing, we evaluated how simple every bag was to hand-wash with heat soapy water and a sponge, noting particularly whether or not their crevices trapped particles and the way properly they stood up straight on a drying rack. 

What We Discovered

Which Design Was Higher: Stand-up or Lay-flat? 

The baggage from Xomoo, ZipTop, and WinRock have an modern, stand-up design. They have been by far the best fashions to fill, with a flat base and vast opening. Plus, they will air dry anyplace you’ve gotten area (no drying rack wanted), as they received’t flop over because of their inflexible building and vast form. Sadly, all three of those fashions additionally failed the leakage check, with Xomoo and ZipTop doing actually terribly. Even when held upside-down with no shaking, they trickled out water, with Xomoo breaking fully open when evenly knocked over. We additionally discovered that their vast bases took up a number of floor space for not a number of inside space for storing. 

The opposite three fashions that stood up straight, however have been in a different way designed, have been the Durbl, House Lux, and ReZip. The medium and huge dimension of Durbl each keep up on their very own, however you continue to have to carry the zipper open together with your hand in an effort to fill them. House Lux and ReZip, alternatively, solely keep upright if they’re partially stuffed, which pushes out their backside and provides them a base.

Our winner, Durbl, was an excellent compromise between the stand-up and lay-flat designs: slim sufficient to take up minimal floor area within the fridge, but in addition tall for max storage. They will lay flat, however have a inflexible base and stand upright on their very own when empty.

Which Materials Was Higher: Versatile or Inflexible? 

If a bag is simply too inflexible (just like the fashions from Xomoo and ZipTop) you possibly can’t shove them right into a crowded vegetable drawer—they’re simply not versatile sufficient. Then again, super-flexible luggage like SPLF, W&P Porter, and HomeLux have been onerous to air dry as a result of they might stoop or flop over, trapping leftover water inside. Our winner, Durbl, was versatile sufficient to squeeze into tight areas, but in addition structured sufficient to face up straight within the fridge or on the drying rack. 

Go for Silicone, Not Plastic

Even though the one two plastic fashions, SPLF and ReZip, prevented any leakage when a lot of the silicone fashions failed, we nonetheless say the higher materials for reusable meals storage luggage is silicone. Neither of the plastic fashions we examined have been microwave-safe, whereas the entire silicone fashions have been. The silicone luggage have been all heat-resistant, with some secure as much as 400°F and 425°F, that means you should utilize them to pop popcorn within the microwave, reheat leftovers, and even prepare dinner sous-vide. If that’s not sufficient, the plastic luggage additionally stained the worst (turning the bag fully yellow) and held onto odors the best when smeared with the turmeric-oil combination. 

Nonetheless, Staining Was Inevitable

Sadly, virtually all of those fashions failed our stain check. After we smeared the luggage’ interiors with a combination of turmeric and vegetable oil, then allow them to sit for eight hours earlier than completely washing, all however one have been left stained a vibrant, highlighter yellow. And as talked about beforehand, the plastic luggage SPLF and ReZip stained the worst, by far.

The Standards: What We Search for in a Good Reusable Meals Storage Bag

After testing, we discovered that the very best reusable meals storage luggage have just a few issues in widespread. First, and maybe most evident, they don’t leak. Luggage with no leakage benefitted from a zipper design that was extra superior than three interlocking strips of silicone (which was the case with a lot of the choices). Second, we discovered that luggage manufactured from plastic held onto smells and stains the worst, and aren’t dishwasher- or microwave-safe. That’s why we suggest silicone as the higher materials for these varieties of baggage. We beloved luggage that have been the very best of each worlds: inflexible sufficient to face upright whereas being stuffed or whereas within the fridge however not too inflexible that they have been onerous to open or pressure air out of. Plus, they needed to be versatile sufficient to suit into tight areas like kitchen or produce drawers, however not so versatile that they might simply flop over when partially full or inverted on a drying rack.

The Finest General Reusable Meals Storage Bag: Durbl Reusable Silicone Meals Storage Bag

What we preferred: In some ways, this bag is the very best of lay-flat, stand-up, inflexible, and versatile storage luggage. It’s slim sufficient to suit into tight areas within the fridge, however tall sufficient to nonetheless present a very good quantity of storage. And its squared-off form means you can additionally lay it flat, should you needed. It’s inflexible sufficient to face up straight whereas in storage, taking on a sliver of helpful floor space, however versatile sufficient to bend right into a produce drawer, as an example. 

Importantly, it aced the leakage check, remaining fully drip-free when turned the wrong way up, shaken, and knocked onto the counter. The one different silicone bag to attain this was the HomeLux, which had a separate slider rod that held collectively the closure. And, the entrance silicone panel is evident, so it’s simple to see what’s inside. 

In fact the truth that it’s temperature resilient as much as 400°F—and oven-, microwave-, and dishwasher-safe—is implausible. And it was the one bag that, after washing out the turmeric-oil combination and permitting it to dry, didn’t retain any odor. Cleansing can also be made a lot simpler by the truth that the within of those luggage doesn’t stick collectively just like the HomeLux, SPLF, or W&P Porter traces. The Durbl luggage stood straight up when on the drying rack, the place different fashions slumped down or flopped over, trapping water inside. 

The small bag was pretty simple to fill, and though it would not rise up or keep open by itself, you possibly can nonetheless maintain it open with one hand because of the sturdy zip. The medium “sandwich” bag stands up by itself, has a wider opening than the opposite comparable sizes, and completely match each the smaller and larger peanut butter and jelly sandwich with out smushing. 

What we did not like: The openings on the luggage might be greater. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich caught barely on the zipper, inflicting just a bit little bit of shredding. And with the blueberries, strawberries, and kale leaves, we needed to maintain the opening vast to suit a hand and substances inside. Sometimes, as a result of the zipper had extra crevices and folds (which supplied a safe seal) than comparable fashions like WinRock, Xomoo, and ZipTop it took barely longer to shut and guarantee it was absolutely pressed collectively. This extra superior seal additionally made cleansing the zipper a little bit of a activity. The corners close to the seal tended to collect particles. 

Within the stain and odor check, it stained just about the identical as the opposite clear or white silicone luggage, which was disappointing however not sufficient to not suggest it.

Key Specs:

• Supplies: Silicone
• Closure fashion: Interlocking silicone strips
• Design: Small bag: flat-lay; medium and huge: stand-up 
• Microwave- and heat-safe: Sure
• Package deal contains: 1 half-gallon, 2 sandwich, and a pair of snack luggage
• Care directions: Dishwasher-safe or wash with heat, soapy water; don’t flip inside out

The Competitors

Silicone fashions

• Homelux Principle Reusable Silicone Meals Storage Luggage: This mannequin is actually the runner-up to Durbl, because of its efficiency within the leakage check (no drips in any respect). We additionally preferred its closure. As a substitute of a zipper, it had a slider bar that created an hermetic seal. These luggage rise up and keep open on their very own if they’ve been stuffed a few quarter to a 3rd of the best way full. That is so their backside base can come out (they in any other case keep flat, which is nice for when in storage!). The silicone bag is microwave- and dishwasher-safe, and whereas the slider bar isn’t microwave-safe, it may well deal with dishwasher temperatures beneath 176°F. Their main disadvantage is their versatile silicone construction, which flops over when sealed and never completely full, or when turned the wrong way up on a drying rack. This does make them simpler to suit into jam-packed produce drawers, although. 
• Stasher Silicone Reusable 4-Pack Bundle: This mannequin carried out okay within the leakage check, dribbling solely barely when shaken the wrong way up. It fell behind from having a too-small opening—shredding sandwiches and making cleanup a ache. It didn’t rise up or keep open by itself, however we might nonetheless suggest this one earlier than the ZipTop, Winrock, Xomoo, and W&P Porter fashions.
• WinRock Reusable Silicone Meals Storage Bag: With an identical design to each Xomoo and ZipTop, this mannequin outperformed each within the leakage check, however nonetheless did leak when inverted and shaken. WinRock was very simple to fill and likewise higher at staying closed when stuffed all the best way to the highest—the place the opposite two popped open.
• ZipTop Reusable Silicone Meals Storage Luggage: By standing up and staying vast open all by itself, this mannequin was a delight to fill (additionally to scrub and air dry!). They’re clearly constructed to be saved upright, however that doesn’t excuse its leakage when inverted, shaken, and knocked over.
• Xomoo Reusable Meals Container Silicone Luggage: Additionally sharing its design with ZipTop and WinRock, these luggage have been simple to fill, however they leaked. This mannequin comes with a specified sandwich bag, nevertheless the zipper caught on the sandwich and shredded it. 
• W&P Porter Luggage Bundle: These lay-flat luggage additionally featured a transparent entrance like our winner, which was good. They did, nevertheless, leak when shaken the wrong way up—after which fully broke open and flooded the counter with blue water. Whereas these luggage have been simple to carry open and fill, and have been good and slim, they have been too versatile and didn’t rise up straight, which made them robust to dry. 

Plastic fashions

FAQs

What’s one of the best ways to get cussed stains off reusable meals storage luggage?

For shiny meals like tomato sauce, scrape the bag out as a lot as doable and rinse with sizzling water till there’s only a layer of grease left behind. Take a paper towel or two, place them within the bag with a drop or two of dish cleaning soap. Fill the bag with sizzling water, seal it, then shake it vigorously. If the stain remains to be there after washing, a lot of the firms behind the silicone fashions suggest setting the luggage out in direct daylight, which can “solar bleach” them. 

How can I do away with my reusable bag’s odor? 

Irrespective of what number of instances you wash it, generally a reusable bag will at all times odor just like the popcorn you made three weeks in the past. For instances like this, Durbl recommends soaking the bag in a combination of 1 half water and one half vinegar. Then, rinsing with heat, soapy water and permitting to air-dry.