This year, we are having Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' home, and I'm so excited. Thanksgiving à la Mama Jen is no ordinary Thanksgiving. My mother prepares a traditional Thanksgiving feast coupled with an entire Chinese banquet. It is an insane amount of food. No matter how much we gorge ourselves, there are always leftovers. In fact, my favorite part of Thanksgiving is that I don't have to cook for another week afterwards.
The problem I face every year is how to store and reheat the usual turkey and fixings, as well as the New Year rice cake, noodles, and egg dumplings (if we're lucky!). I live in the takeout capital of the world, so I have an entire cabinet full of plastic takeout containers. I know that some plastics are okay, others are downright bad, some can be reused, some are recyclable, and some are not. For the life of me, I can't keep it straight.
There are so many different kinds of plastics that we use in every aspect of our lives, it's hard to find a simple rule of thumb. I try to avoid the issue completely by storing and reheating food in glass or ceramic dishes. I figure you can't go wrong this way, as long as your ceramic dishes are lead-free. Unfortunately, some antique and imported ceramics have glazes that contain lead, which can be absorbed by your food. If you're not sure where your ceramics come from, you can buy a simple lead-testing kit from most drug stores.
I also don't put any plastics in the microwave or the dishwasher. Some plastics are labeled "microwave safe," but heating any plastic container increases the likelihood of chemicals getting out of the plastic and into your food. The food industry tells us that these tiny amounts are perfectly safe. Perhaps they are, but just a few years ago they told us BPA (which is found in some #7 plastics) was perfectly safe.
Most plastic food storage bags (like Ziplocs) are made of safer plastics -- either high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or low-density density polyethyelene (LDPE). These are fine for saving and freezing food, although I wouldn't put things like leftover turkey, ham, or dressed salad in them. Fatty, salty, and acidic foods also seem to encourage chemicals to leach out of plastic. I have a friend who wraps food in wax paper (you can get soy-based wax paper that's made without petrochemicals) and then puts it in the freezer bag.
When I'm reheating food in the microwave, I usually lay a paper towel over it to prevent splattering. I do use plastic wrap if it's something extra messy, but then I make sure that the plastic wrap doesn't touch food in the microwave. Plastic wrap can also be made of LDPE, but sometimes it's made with icky PVC plastic, which releases cancer-causing dioxins in its manufacturing process, and might leach hormone-disrupting chemicals into your food. Big brands like Glad and Saran Wrap use LDPE, according to their websites, but I couldn't find this information on the boxes of any plastic wrap in my kitchen. A quick litmus test is that the LDPE wrap is not as sticky and clingy as PVC. (You can still get a PVC plastic wrap discontinued by Reynolds on Amazon, where people seem overjoyed to find it again -- obviously they have no idea why it was discontinued!) Instead of a paper towel, you could also use wax paper or a reusable microwave dish cover. I'm not sure what the dish covers are made of, but at least they don't touch the food.
As far as my plastic takeout containers, a quick spot-check of my kitchen revealed that they were the safer plastics. Phew. I still won't put them in the microwave or dishwasher, but they'll do in a pinch for some leftover rice cakes. They also make great containers for crayons and Legos!
If you've gotten to the end of this post, you're probably thinking -- wow, this sounds like a pain. I totally agree. I want to keep my family safe, I want to cut down on waste, and I want to be able to enjoy my Thanksgiving leftovers without having to stop and remember a bunch of chemical names. The truth is that plastics are everywhere, and as my kitchen cabinets attest, it's just not possible to avoid them.
But we can make plastics safer by demanding chemical reform in this country. We need strong regulations that will put the health of kids and families first, instead of trusting the industry to regulate itself.
This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that I live in a country where I can raise my voice and make change, and tell my senator to support the Safe Chemicals Act.
FYI, here is a list of food storage recommendations from the USDA that will help you avoid the more immediate harm of potential food poisoning! Enjoy your leftovers safely.
USDA Food Storage Recommendations
Poorly stored foods make food poisoning all too easy. Follow these recommendations to keep foods fresh.
- Separate leftovers into shallow containers and cool quickly in the refrigerator, rather than leaving them out on the counter.
- All prepared foods should be covered to prevent cross-contamination.
- Be careful not to overload the fridge, as there must be enough room for cold air to circulate.
- Do not store perishable foods on the door of the fridge where the temperatures fluctuate more often.
- Turkey should be carved off the bone and stored in smaller portions, separate from stuffing and gravy.
- Try to eat turkey leftovers within four days; eat stuffing and gravy within two.
- When reheating leftovers in the microwave, put them in ovenproof glass or ceramic containers--even "microwave-safe" plastic containers may leach chemicals into food when heated.
- Leftovers can also be covered efficiently with freezer-recommended materials and frozen at 0° F for two to six months.
- Avoid slowing the freezing process by stacking packages until they are frozen throughout.
- Only defrost food in the refrigerator, in cold water, or in the microwave; never on the kitchen counter. Any items thawed in the microwave should be cooked immediately.
Image: Katy Warner
