Food Storage Containers: Stop Buying Sets Review
The multi-piece sets everyone owns are why nobody can find a matching lid. Buy one size in quantity instead — the boring answer that actually solves the cupboard.
- Category
- Food storage containers
- Our rule
- One size, many units, one lid type
Reasons to buy
- Single-size buying means every lid fits every container
- Stacking works when everything is the same footprint
- Glass versions go oven-to-fridge and don't stain
Reasons to avoid
- Less flexible than a graduated set on paper
- Glass is heavy and breakable
- Good containers cost more than the bargain sets
Every kitchen has the drawer: eleven containers, six lids, no two of which pair. This isn't a discipline failure — it's the predictable outcome of buying graduated sets where each size has a unique lid, then losing them at different rates.
The fix is unglamorous. Pick one or two sizes you actually use, buy six or eight of each, and ensure the lids are interchangeable across everything you own. Suddenly every lid fits every container, they stack because the footprints match, and the drawer stops being a puzzle. Favour rectangular footprints while you're at it — round containers waste the corners of every shelf they sit on.
Glass versus plastic comes down to use. Glass goes from fridge to oven, doesn't stain from tomato sauce, and doesn't retain odours — at the cost of weight and breakability. Plastic is lighter and survives being dropped, and will eventually look like whatever you last stored in it.
Getting there doesn't require a purge weekend. Standardise gradually: when a container warps, stains past redemption or loses its lid to the void, replace it with your chosen standard rather than with whatever's on offer, and the drawer converges on its own. The only discipline required is refusing the seductive boxed set at the checkout — which is how the drawer got this way in the first place.
The one place sets make sense is a first kitchen where you genuinely don't know what sizes you'll use. After six months you will — and then buy quantity in those, and quietly retire the rest.
How we tested
The Food Storage Containers: Stop Buying Sets was scored against the same written rubric we apply to every Kitchen Storage product — real-world performance, build quality, ease of use, upkeep and value. Full protocol on our How We Test page.