Are your food storage containers actually airtight? We put products to the test to find the best containers for decanting.
The problem.
There are so many organizing products out there and it can easily feel overwhelming to select one. How do you know which to pick? What if it doesn't work? Are the more expensive products worth the extra cost?
Our solution.
Our mission at Settled In Soundly is to make our clients' lives easier by designing and organizing their spaces. That includes selecting quality organizing products that we know will function well for a long time. Our Test Lab exists to save clients time by doing the research and testing to find the best products in the market.
Our process.
When reviewing products, we always look for quality first. We want products to last a long time. We also focus on the functionality - is it easy to use? To store? Too heavy or too light? Awkwardly designed? Price, ease of maintenance, and availability round out our criteria.
This week we tested five different food storage containers for decanted goods.
Our recommendations.
Rubbermaid Brilliance Containers (Available at: Target Amazon Walmart)
Pros: Excellent seal. During our water tightness test (a proxy for airtightness), no water entered the container.
Cons: Lids can be challenging to open with one hand. Expensive.
OXO SoftWorks POP Containers (Available at: Target Amazon Container Store)
Pros: Good seal. Minimal water entered around the top of the container. Easy and fun to open/close the containers. Great customer service.
Cons: Water can get stuck in the lids due to the design. Pop mechanism in the lids sometimes stops working.
Prepworks ProKeeper Containers (Available at: Target)
Pros: Good seal. Minimal water entered around the top of the container. Interior magnet allows for storage of a measuring spoon inside the container.
Cons: Can be challenging to open with one hand.
Better Homes & Gardens Flip-Tite Containers (Available at: Walmart)
Pros: Low price. Easy to open with one hand.
Cons: Some watered entered the container. Similar to the OXO containers, water can get stuck in these lids due to the design.
Target Brightroom Containers (Available at: Target)
Pros: Low price.
Cons: A fair bit of water entered the container. Requires both hands to open.
Our conclusion.
If you’re ready to make an investment in your food storage containers, we’d recommend choosing ones from the Rubbermaid Brilliance product line. We found them to be high quality and durable products. If you’re looking for a lower price point, we’d suggest Better Homes & Gardens Flip-Tite Containers. We liked that these were easy to open with one hand and there’s no need to worry about the lid mechanism breaking. POP containers are fun to use, and their customer service is fantastic if the pop mechanism stops working, but it’s still a hassle to get a replacement.
Our methods.
Check out our Instagram to see video clips from testing. Is this the perfect way to test airtightness? No, but it was reasonable, fun, and much safer than a smoke test!
To test the tightness of the seal we placed a piece of dry tissue paper inside each empty container, and then placed the lid on top to seal it. We submerged the sealed container in a tub of water for 20 seconds. We looked for any air bubbles escaping from the container while it was in the water. We removed the sealed container from the tub and dried the exterior. We checked for any water stuck in the gaskets or inside the container itself. We took off the lid and removed the tissue paper. We checked to see if it was wet in any areas, indicating that water had gotten inside the container.
Have other products you’d like to see us test? Leave a comment below!