Dumpster Diving

Sometimes I'm such an idiot.  One of those times was yesterday.  I am trying to phase out plastic food storage containers because they're a waste of money.  I can only use them until they start to get stained or smell funky, plus I'm not entirely sure that all my plastic is BPA free.  And I can't put them in the microwave.  You know, the list goes on for a while.  So I've been tossing them one by one.

Yesterday I went to Target in search of good glass storage containers with safe, tightly-fitting plastic lids.  I found some great Pyrex that can be frozen, microwaved, baked, etc.  And they have lids so I can carry leftovers to work without worrying about leakage in my lunch bag.  I got several containers all with matching lids and I was so excited.

I brought them home, unpackaged everything and set about either handwashing them or loading them in the dishwasher with the other dishes to be washed.  Then the cable guy got here to switch our cable service to another outlet, I did laundry and dusted and straightened up and took trash to the dumpster and I didn't think about my new storage containers any more.

This afternoon I went to pour leftover salsa into a new glass container because the plastic one was leaking. (Another reason!  Loosely fitting lids!  Argh!)  But I couldn't find the corresponding lid.  It wasn't with the handwashed things in the dish drainer, not in the dishwasher, not in the cabinet where I store plastic lids.  I couldn't find it any where.  Then I realized that I couldn't find the rectangular lids for the small baking/storing dishes, either.  And it hit me that the box that held this particular set had looked much bigger to me than necessary when I unpacked it.  But I got distracted with laundry and the cable guy and didn't open up the bottom of the box.  So I figured that the lids must have been at the bottom of that box.  And that box was taken to the dumpster yesterday.

So I went downstairs and dug through some of the nastiest trash I've ever seen and found my Pyrex box -- all the way at the very bottom of the dumpster.  It was so disgusting.  There were flies every where and it's about 89F today -- way too hot to be digging through smelly trash.  Ugh.  It was worth it, though.  The lids were indeed in the box under a cardboard divider and now I have a complete set of storage dishes with lids.

Lesson learned: always, always, always open up the entire box and take out all of the packing material before you throw it into the dumpster.