Best Food Storage Containers of 2025

Plastic containers, like Tupperware’s, have long been the obvious way to pack up food, and silicone options, in recent years, have become more popular. So why don’t any show up among our top five or even on our recommended list? Here’s the scoop.

Plastic food storage containers; We wanted to find and test products made from alternative materials due to the growing research on the environmental and health risks of plastic. Plastics are mostly made from fossil fuels. And some of the chemicals used to make plastic are not inert; they can transfer to whatever they’re in contact with. In the case of plastic food storage containers, those chemicals can leach into your food, particularly if you’re storing food that is highly fatty, acidic, or alkaline. And exposing a plastic container to heat—say, by microwaving it—can increase the rate at which chemicals leach out.

We know that certain chemicals in plastics can have adverse effects on health. Many, including bisphenols (such as BPA) and phthalates, act as endocrine disruptors, which can affect how hormones behave throughout your body. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been linked to an increased risk of infertility and other reproductive health issues, metabolic diseases, obesity, and some cancers. Even plastic products that are claimed to be BPA-free, for example, may have other ingredients that are equally worrisome or that we just don’t know much about.

If you’re looking to reduce your exposure to plastic, food storage containers are a great place to start. Some of the plastic-alternative models in our tests do have plastic lids or plastic latching mechanisms, but the containers themselves, which come into most contact with food, are not plastic.

Silicone food storage containers: Ultra-lightweight and often collapsible, silicone containers seem to be a convenient choice. Like silicone food storage bags, they’re also safer and more sustainable than plastic options. But the silicone containers in our tests presented the most problems. As Deitrick says, their collapsibility, while great for easy storage when not in use, is precisely what makes it so hard to attach the lids. Worse, their pliability affects the integrity of the seal. “All of the silicone ones leaked terribly under any sort of pressure,” Deitrick says.