Food storage containers are excellent for helping to reduce food waste. You can store leftover dinner in them for your lunch the next day, or use them to meal prep your breakfasts for the week ahead. They can also be used to store fruit and vegetables in the fridge in airtight boxes, allowing them to last longer, as well as for handy freezer storage.
These containers come in various shapes and sizes and can be made from a range of materials. However, the most common type found in most households is made of plastic, either with a standard lid or one that features clips to help it snap into place.
But if you’ve ever put your food storage containers in the microwave to warm up your leftovers, or thrown them in the dishwasher for easy cleaning, you’ll know that there’s one huge drawback to plastic boxes – the lids often warp in the heat.
After a few cycles through a dishwasher or microwave, you can find that the lids to your storage boxes have become bent out of shape and no longer fit snugly on the container, rendering them useless.
If this has happened to your containers, then one woman on Instagram has got the perfect hack for you that will get your lids fitting tightly again in no time.
The woman, named Jenn, urged people not to throw away their food storage containers if the lids are warped, as you can fix them in just a few minutes with nothing but water.
Jenn began by boiling her kettle and placing the lid of the container in her sink. She then poured the boiling water from her kettle over the plastic lid. She said to use the “entire kettle” and to flip the lid halfway through so that the plastic “gets soft”.
Once the water has been poured over, the plastic lid should be soft enough for you to mould it back into shape and attach it to the container again. However, you will need to ensure it stays in place while it cools, or else it will pop back out and regain its warped shape.
In her video, Jenn holds the lid in place while she runs the container under cold water from the tap, allowing the plastic to rapidly cool into the desired shape. However, you can also place the container lid-side down and put something heavy, such as a saucepan, on top, and leave it to cool completely.
Jenn explained in the caption: “Warped a plastic lid in the dishwasher? Don’t toss it just yet! In this video, I’m showing how you can fix melted or warped plastic with a super easy trick: just run it under hot water and gently mould it back into shape.
“It’s quick, easy, and saves you from throwing away a perfectly good container lid.”
Commenters on the post thanked Jenn for her advice. Many said they usually just throw away plastic boxes with lids that no longer fit, but they’ll now try to save them with this trick.
One person said: “Thank you for this, I’ll try it tonight!” And another added: “I wish I saw this before I threw mine out.”