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Comment by nerdjon | Hacker News Reader

I have long wanted to get rid of all my plastic containers (On a fairly regular pace I look for glass alternatives).

But for me it always comes down to 2 things:

1. Sizing options, I have yet to find a good 2 partition glass container. They are all either plastic or a glass container with a plastic insert, which defeats the purpose.

2. (And this is the biggest) is storage. Plastic containers just stack up better than glass ones do since they are thinner. In the same space I store plastic containers I may be able to store a third of the number of glass containers.

Edit: Oh also storing them frozen. I have broken too many containers because I made a mistake trying to put glass in my freezer.

I honestly don't know a solution to the second one but not sure if glass lined would fix it.

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> 1. Sizing options, I have yet to find a good 2 partition glass container. They are all either plastic or a glass container with a plastic insert, which defeats the purpose.

You're not going to find cheap/mass-produced multi-chambered glassware; that's just not how machine glass-blowing works. At scale, glassware is produced basically by just casting a blob of glass into a solid "uninflated" shape, and then inflating that shape in a blow-mold. No additive steps possible, since the rapid expansion of the glass in the blow-mold cools it too much to enable other glass to stick at that point.

(And before you suggest making a mold in a "w" shape: the arch in the middle would either have too much internal stress — like a Prince Rupert's drop — or do a nice gradual curve in a way that uses far too much material [= extra weight].)

What you might want to try to find is a bento box that's designed to be a collection of independent/modular thinner-walled glass internal compartments, that all slot into a plastic outer racking. This would provide somewhat of the advantages I was describing above, though would certainly be heavier. You could also take the glass containers out of the plastic to microwave them individually. Not sure if I've seen anything like this for sale, but it sounds "obvious", so I'm sure someone's done it.

> Edit: Oh also storing them frozen. I have broken too many containers because I made a mistake trying to put glass in my freezer.

I think buying borosilicate glass containers would solve this. Borosilicate glass is much more resistant to heat shock.

I suspect the broken glass in freezer is due to ice expansion not thermal shock, borosilicate will not save you here.

I routinely store my OXO brand glass containers in the freezer, no problem with solid foods. They're tapered, and claim to be freezer-safe for liquids as well, but I haven't risked it.

I make ceramics using slip casting and I just realized this might be a great idea to try! I'm currently working on a ceramic mason jar that will be compatible with mason jar lids, but I should play around with other food storage containers.

>storage.

My meal prep uses lots of stackable take out containers, in different sizes that nest into each other, with interchangable lids, that take up a fraction of the space. Really optimizes fridge space as well since frequently you can use the best size containers.

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