Works For Me Wednesday – Backwards Edition
2008 March 5
So funny this week is a Backwards edition, because boy do I need some help. Can you help me? I need some tips on how to organize my tupperware. Seriously it’s all out of control. 
Here’s a picture to back up my frustration, and yes this is the only place I have available to store said items. Please help me!!! This picture doesn’t even show all the tupperware we own, pieces missing are the largest ones.
Check out more Works for Me Wednesday questions at Rocks In My Dryer.
Wow, that’s crazy. Here’s what I do: I nest them. If there are three square containers of different sizes, I put the largest lid on the bottom. Then I put the largest container on top of it. Put the middle lid and container inside the largest one. Put the smallest lid in the middle container, and the matching container on top of it. It works really, really well. If you have a second middle container, I put the lids together, stack the containers, put the small lid/container inside the top one, and I’m good.
I’m thinking that maybe you don’t have nice sets- various things of all different shapes and sizes. If it were me, I’d pitch/donate them all (I bet you don’t have lids for the containers and vice versa, anyway) and get a new set.
I might take out that shelf, or move it higher, too- if that’s what makes it work.
Yours actually looks so much better than mine! I’d never show my Tupperware cabinet… it would be so embarrassing!
Once you get them organized, use a spring tension curtain rod in the cabinet as a make shift solution to hold the covers.
I got rid of all my tupperware and opted for the glad bowls. they stack great, i don’t mind if they get stained or lent out and never returned and for those times when stuff gets left in the fridge too long, i just too out the whole thing. i know it’s not a very “green” thing to do, but that’s what works for me! as for the lids, i use gallon sized ziploc bags, they hold most sizes of lids.
I had the same problem! It was especially bad because whoever was looking for a plastic dish could never find the correct lid for it and would just tear through the cabinet while searching, leaving it in worse shape than ever! So, finally, I sat down and matched up every bowl with its lid and I looked them all over and decided which plastic dishes we actually seemed to USE and which ones were just taking up space and what the maximum number of plastic dishes is that I could imagine us using at one time. Then I threw out all the extras that weren’t getting used and the “unlidded” bowls and extra lids. I now store all the plasticware in one of my larger lower cabinets, each bowl stored WITH THE LID ON IT, and like sizes stacked one on top of each other. It’s been wonderful! No more hunting for a lid! And we now really USE everything in that cabinet! De-cluttering and storing the bowls with the lids on worked for me!
Plastic baskets.
Seriously – this is what I have. I actually have 4 – one is for lids only, one is for small containers and the other two catch everything else. Now everything doesn’t spill out each time I open the door
Oh and I bought mine at the dollar store – so no big expense either – just measure your cupboard first.
It looks like what you have is mismatched and semi-disposable anyway, so I advise chucking the lot and buying new stackable bowls. I’ve found sets of three varying sizes at Dollar Tree, or you can find a bigger set at Walmart for under $10. If you don’t want to toss what you’ve got, repurpose the containers–use them to store small items throughout your house and throw out the lids you aren’t using. I rarely use Tupperware anyway–I just top a bowl or cup with plastic wrap and keep leftovers on a dedicated shelf in my fridge so I don’t forget to use them up–so I’ve whittled my collection down to about 6 containers.
I have a few of the flat-out containers and when I bought them, they were selling organizers to go with them. I can’t find them now, but I do find a picture http://order.tupperware.com/pls/htprod_www/tup_show_item.show_item_detail
Could you make your own lid holders out of a cut-up cereal box?
These are some awesome ideas. I don’t know how I will choose one.
I buy all of the same kind (Ziploc) with the idea that they will stack well, but they don’t stack very well and they are up really high, and mostly I just get frustrated!!!
I agree with Susan. I pared down my collection to the sizes and numbers I needed and all are stored with the lids on. I love it – no more searching for matching sets and how many do we need really.
I know I’m probably weird, but I like to keep my lids on my containers. Somehow, they all fit under my cabinet. But you know how you keep finding lids without bottoms and bottoms without lids. So I found this solution that really helps:
a) get the kiddies to help you match lids and bottoms
b)mark all ‘orphan’ lids or bottoms with one dot, using a permanent marker.
c)put the orphans in a bag or a basket until you find mates for them.
d)next time you sort, put a second dot on any orphans.
e)by the time you see a third dot, trust me…you are never, ever, ever in all eternity going to find the orphan a mate. So put it out of its misery and throw it away!
Nesting is totally the way to go. Nest round ones, large to small, and square ones, large to small, and rectangle ones, large to small. It will take a few extra seconds to get things put away, but it will totally be worth it! I keep all the lids in a box, standing up, so I can see them. (Like you would file files, large in the back, small in the front.) (Keep in mind, this is how it WAS….before my baby woke up. I can dream, can’t I!) One of the best things I ever did, though, was to simply get rid of all the ones without lids. What good is Tupperware if you have to Saran Wrap it shut? You can’t stack it in the fridge, and you can’t pack it in a lunch…you don’t need it.
One option that I may try soon is to just scrap the whole Tupperware thing and get Gladware. Cheap, I won’t cry if it gets lost, and it all NESTS beautifully! I also heard once that you should only have two or three sizes of plastic containers. If you need to use two smaller containers to fit your leftover mac n’ cheese in, so be it. It will fit better in the fridge, and better on your shelf.