Where to buy the best glass storage containers for your kitchen (on a budget!)

Switching from plastic? Here’s where to buy the best glass storage containers for your kitchen – with lids and budget friendly options too!

If you’re anything like me, you’ve heard lots of warnings about the toxic effects of plastic. We’ve worked at reducing the plastic in our home, and a BIG area that we’ve focused on is the kitchen.

Now let me be the first to say – we are not perfect at this! We still use plastic food storage bags (especially in the freezer) and we have plastic kids cups, etc. We’re not totally plastic free yet, and that’s OK. Don’t feel intimidated by the voices that say “you have to get rid of every ounce of plastic immediately”. As with all things – moderation is key. Do a little bit at a time, as you’re able to, and you will have a much more sustainable change in your life and home!

We’d been using all ceramic dishes for years, had switched to all glass containers for leftovers maybe 2 years ago, but there was one last bigger piece to our kitchen I wanted to switch over: our pantry storage containers!

Well, we finally did it and I wanted to share with you how we did it all affordably. There’s a lot of great sources for affordable glass storage containers out there, but you have to do some digging! I hope this post will do some of that work for you.

 

 

First, sell what you have:

Since I knew I wanted to have some new glass containers, but also had plastic food storage container in perfectly good condition, I decided to sell them.

I emptied my plastic containers, made sure none of them had cracks in them, and then cleaned really well. I listed them on Facebook marketplace and they were sold within the day! This was so nice to give me a little bit of spending money to put into my new containers.

 

Next, search for secondhand:

This one is hardest because so often it takes time and patience! I always check my local Facebook Marketplace first when sourcing things like this. Sadly, mine wasn’t very helpful with this search, even though I was looking for weeks! I was able to find containers without lids, but not ones with lids (which is what I needed). But maybe you’ll have better luck than I did!

And don’t forget about thrift stores! I’ve actually had really good luck at thrift stores with dish ware. We’ve been using some beautiful china teacups for our morning read aloud time, and they’re such a sweet treasure we found at the thrift store. I put my candles on little unique decorative china plates I’ve thrifted too. So, naturally, I would see what you could find for glass storage containers at your local thrift stores too.

 

Finally, search for glass storage containers at the larger stores:

And I truly mean, finally! After you’ve exhausted your secondhand options, you can shop from the big box stores. Most of mine ended up being from these stores, and I found some great deals.

   

 

These seem to be the best stores I’ve found to shop for glass food storage containers:

• Walmart
• Amazon
• Target
• IKEA
• Ross
• TJ Maxx/Marshalls
• Homegoods
• Big Lots

I’m sure there’s a lot more to add to the list but that’s a good place to start! Now as for the containers I specifically bought, here are the links to the containers I have and love. These are affiliate links, which means I make a small commission (at no extra cost to you of course) if you choose to make a purchase. 

Click here to watch the video I made on the points from above PLUS a better look at the containers I show in these pictures.

Just click on the picture to be brought to the product link: