Operation ditch the plastic: Duralex glassware giveaway from MightyNest

I’ve joined forces with MightyNest and a group of blogging friends to spread the glass love in our kitchens. Check out other giveaway posts and enter to win glass goodies from Marisa at food in jars, Kaela at Local Kitchen, Autumn at Autumn Makes and Does, and Beth at tasty-yummies.

In our house, we have been making the plastic-to-glass changeover for the past few years now. Slowly but surely replacing everyday use items with glass or other high-quality, non-leaching materials. I think MightyNest (and my book, of course!) is a great place to start when starting to make these changes in your household. It’s essential to go at your own pace, little-by-little switching out certain ingredients, cleaning supplies and food storage/prep materials as you learn more and can afford upgrades. 

The good news about switching to higher-quality items as possible is that these are likely things you will have your whole kitchen career (exempting the sacrificial accidentally-broken pieces). MightyNest shared an interesting tidbit about Duralex brand glassware (the items in all of our giveaway posts): these items are tempered, which means they’re stronger than typical glass. If you do happen to drop it, it’s possible that it won’t break, but if it does break, it shatters like safety glass with little crumbles to sweep up rather than jagged shards and fine splinters that can get into tender feet.

Need another reason to ditch the plastic on an as possible basis? You’ll cut out exposure to lead, BPA, PVC, phthalates or formaldehyde, all things that can leach into foods and beverages from plastics and other materials.

There are two places I feel particularly strongly about the plastic-to-glass change over:

Cups & Glasses

We have small dinner parties, other gatherings and I teach classes out of my home often. Whether it’s a round of cocktails I’m serving up or a pitcher of iced tea set out for class attendees, I pull out the mismatched collection of glass cups because it’s important to me to not use plastic cups whenever possible. 

I’m rather picky about the glasses we have on rotation around here. I’m of  the opinion that if it’s something you touch daily, you’d better love it. It was a great surprise to open up the box from Duralex and discover that the shape and feel of their 7.5-oz tumbler set jives with my aesthetic and tactile preferences. These glasses finally ousted my flower-pot-shaped, just-meh IKEA nesting set I had on hand for entertaining, and thankfully so! We are now using these in the mix with our daily cups since they’re perfect for a glass of wine or kombucha and also for dipping cookies in milk.

Food Bowls & Storage/Travel Containers

Our lunches are packed every day in some assortment of these bowls or other glass storage containers.

I like these Duralex containers in particular because they’re pretty enough to just pop the lid off and serve things in them directly without it appearing like you’re just serving things in ‘tupperware’. They are completely safe, no BPA, lead or anything else you don’t want lurking in your food.

I think it’s hard to find glass, travel-friendly bowls big enough to bring large things like salads in. The 109-oz container (sold separately from the 5-pack) is roughly equivalent to a 3.5-quart bowl. It felt smaller than what I was expecting (and seemingly a stretch to fit 3.5 quarts in it), alas the square shape packs away extra space and nestles the 5-pack right inside it.

They stack neatly, though that’s not how we store our food storage containers. Finding and fitting lids is not my thing, so storing completely dried containers with lids on has saved my sanity. Yes, it takes up more room, but we spend a lot less (read: none at all) time crouched down and cursing at the container cupboard.

We also use our glass storage bins to oust another long-standing plastic item from the crisper drawer: produce bags. We put down a paper towel and store our stash of washed lettuce or greens in the large bowl for convenient pre-washed greens, minus the plastic tub.

Check out the rest of the great glass MightyNest has to offer for your plastic-to-glass transition.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosures: Mighty Nest provided me with a complimentary set of Duralex tumblers, a 5-pack of Lys square bowls with lids and a 109-oz Lys storage container. They will be shipping the winner’s set of glassware directly. Opinions and support for these products are my own.