This Food Storage Container Rule Reduces Clutter And Helps Everything Stay Organized

"You can never have enough food storage containers, right?" You say as you add yet another one to your cart. These are a must-have kitchen essential, of course — how else would you store last night's takeout, your leftover lettuce, or that slab of banana pudding that you swore you were going to eat at a later time? While having a good variety of these containers is a great idea, when you buy too many of them, you can run into a clutter issue. 

Audrey Barton, otherwise known as @organizedchaos4_audrey, tackled this issue in a video on Instagram. In it, she explained that she manages these containers by keeping two large, three medium, and three small containers with matching lids in her pantry. Any extras should be stored away somewhere else, and if you don't use the extras within a month, she suggested donating them. 

As long as you're doing your dishes regularly, you should be set with those eight containers. Though having a few extras — the keyword being "few" — will do you well if you're meal-prepping or storing food after an event. 

Besides regularly auditing and rethinking your food storage techniques, there are other important things that you should keep in mind to cut down on container clutter. For one, you should throw away containers without lids, as they are of no use. You may also want to opt for glass food storage containers instead of plastic, as plastic is porous and won't hold up as well as glass (meaning you won't need to replace them as often). You can also keep food safer by using shallow storage containers, which will more quickly cool down your food than tall and large containers. Plus, their size makes them easily stackable — both in your pantry and in your fridge.

Another food storage container tip that will save you plenty of space? Avoid buying sets of food storage containers and stick to only buying single ones. While you may not have a matchy-matchy set of them, it will help cut back on the number of unnecessary containers that you have, as you're only getting the ones you actually need.