While recycling is good, you need to be wary of when it borders on hoarding. Some bachelors get into a mentality where they start recycling everything, and this usually ends in sadness. The kitchen starts over-flowing with a lot of stuff that should have gone into the recycling bin. While I applaud any effort to recycle there are some limits that should apply to any kitchen in order to keep the mess down a little.
Most of the issues involve plastic from packaging and leftovers. Leftovers are one issue that everyone needs to deal with, and some people actually like to deal with leftovers; a great bachelor trick, after all, is to cook enough for two meals (a good-sized portion for dinner and a smaller portion for lunch the next day). However, some people forget about their leftovers and so they have a lot of science experiments in short order. A variation on this when they cook too much of something that they don't like but don't throw it away. This creates a problem of not wanting to deal with them even as they take up more and more space in the refrigerator. Suffice to say that a good weekly cleaning will take care of that problem, as well as learning to throw things away that you don't like no matter how much there is.
Some people save the containers from microwaveable containers, especially bowls and strainers. While a few of these are no doubt good to have around, the rest should be either thrown in the recyclables container or garbage. While it can be argued that there is always room for more bowls, there is a storage limit; if you kept every bowl that you got from a microwaveable meal you would have a problem storing them. The same applies to the containers you may receive in other food containers as well.
You also need to decide on disposable containers. They are cheaper than other containers,sure, but they were designed for short term use, usually no more than a few days, and then to be disposed of. This means that they will keep any smells from contained foods, have higher levels of softeners present, and are generally thinner than more resilient containers. As such it may be useful to have a number of disposable containers for use where you just don't need the containers to return, such as for sending food out or for lunches. Frugality is fine, but there need to other considerations for containers, and disposable containers usually do not make the grade; this applies to disposable containers as well as plastic bags. Use no more than a few times and then toss them in the right bin.
A last major sin is containers from detergents and other chemicals. While it's not a bad idea to keep some of them, you should nonetheless throw away most of them. Too many and you are just wasting space, so keep a few and toss the rest. Keep in mind that you should somehow note what is inside the container if you store something different in it than the original contents so as to avoid confusion and to find them a lot easier.
Again, frugality is always a good thing, but it can drown you if you think in terms of what you may need versus what you do need. Keep a few, but don't keep too many or you will bury yourself under stuff you just don't need.
Most of the issues involve plastic from packaging and leftovers. Leftovers are one issue that everyone needs to deal with, and some people actually like to deal with leftovers; a great bachelor trick, after all, is to cook enough for two meals (a good-sized portion for dinner and a smaller portion for lunch the next day). However, some people forget about their leftovers and so they have a lot of science experiments in short order. A variation on this when they cook too much of something that they don't like but don't throw it away. This creates a problem of not wanting to deal with them even as they take up more and more space in the refrigerator. Suffice to say that a good weekly cleaning will take care of that problem, as well as learning to throw things away that you don't like no matter how much there is.
Some people save the containers from microwaveable containers, especially bowls and strainers. While a few of these are no doubt good to have around, the rest should be either thrown in the recyclables container or garbage. While it can be argued that there is always room for more bowls, there is a storage limit; if you kept every bowl that you got from a microwaveable meal you would have a problem storing them. The same applies to the containers you may receive in other food containers as well.
You also need to decide on disposable containers. They are cheaper than other containers,sure, but they were designed for short term use, usually no more than a few days, and then to be disposed of. This means that they will keep any smells from contained foods, have higher levels of softeners present, and are generally thinner than more resilient containers. As such it may be useful to have a number of disposable containers for use where you just don't need the containers to return, such as for sending food out or for lunches. Frugality is fine, but there need to other considerations for containers, and disposable containers usually do not make the grade; this applies to disposable containers as well as plastic bags. Use no more than a few times and then toss them in the right bin.
A last major sin is containers from detergents and other chemicals. While it's not a bad idea to keep some of them, you should nonetheless throw away most of them. Too many and you are just wasting space, so keep a few and toss the rest. Keep in mind that you should somehow note what is inside the container if you store something different in it than the original contents so as to avoid confusion and to find them a lot easier.
Again, frugality is always a good thing, but it can drown you if you think in terms of what you may need versus what you do need. Keep a few, but don't keep too many or you will bury yourself under stuff you just don't need.
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