So I open this month's copy of Consumer Reports...and there are my dear Lock n Locks! Seems they beat the crap out of other containers....fighting mold and such. The only thing they scored poorly on was picking up the colors of the food inside them. But that's what they get for trying to use them for actual food!

I wish they had some info in the article about where to find them..

LW PhD *who picks them up whenever she sees them*
"Nice Counts"

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So I open this month's copy of Consumer Reports...and there are my dear Lock n Locks! Seems they beat the crap out of other containers....fighting mold and such.

Much as I think CR is generally full of it, I'd agree with them on this one. But then, we all already know as much about Lock 'N Locks as CR ever will, don't we?

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The only thing they scored poorly on was picking up the colors of the food inside them. But that's what they get for trying to use them for actual food!

Actually, in our experience around this house the trick is to not heat food in them. Storage is OK, just don't heat. Put the food into a dish first, then heat in the microwave.

-- Kirbert

Where does one purchase these miracle containers? We've only been lbing for a couple of months and I don't think I've seen one yet. (at least I don't think I have - don't know what they look like!)

Thanks

Galaxy4

You can get them at Target, Wal-Mart, Meijers, etc. or order them directly form Heritage-mint, the company that makes them.

Also to keep them from absorbing coclor spay with Pam or another type cooking spray.

I use mine for spaghetti sauce all the time and they are not yet stained.

I love LnLs for everything.

The only thing they scored poorly on was picking up the colors of the food inside them.

This happens generally when things are heated in the containers... especially tomato sauce... and that's with anything other than glass or ceramic... and besides...

that's what they get for trying to use them for actual food!

I can't believe that there are people out there who would actually put food into one of these containers... or one of my other favorites, the blue-rimmed Rubbermaids!! What are they thinking??

I wish they had some info in the article about where to find them...

Around here, the Linens-n-Things has four-packs for $6. The one near home ran out and hasn't restocked, but the one near work had plenty. I grabbed two packs!

the best price so far has been heritage mint

here is the link:

http://www.heritagemint.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=7&path=1%2C2%2C7

they are great!

six stars

See, that's the problem...I have no reliable source of Lock N Locks in my area. Sure, Target and Walmart stock em, but only a few and in sizes that I don't really need. The grocery chains around here usually run "special purchase" sales of them around the holidays..while marking them 50% off, but this year none of them did. What happens when you need large quantities of a certain size?

For instance, I need about 50 sandwich size. I don't mind paying $2 each, but spending $4 each is ridiculous. I usually just keep my eyes open for the sales.

LW PhD
"Nice Counts"

Those look pretty cool. Next question - what size do you like? I'm thinking I might just order some today!

Galaxy4

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I don't mind paying $2 each, but spending $4 each is ridiculous. I usually just keep my eyes open for the sales.

I looked on the Heritage Mint site and it looks like they have some on clearence. Although they are round, they are selling sets for $10 bucks. One set has 10, one has 8, and one 6. The larger the size, the smaller the amount in the set.

I found them at the bottom of this page:

http://www.heritagemint.com/jump.jsp?itemID=248&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C7%2C54&iProductID=248

Trish:)

what size do you like? I'm thinking I might just order some today!

I like the 6 oz / 0.75 cup size. Why?

1) These are the ones that are available in the 4-pack at Linens-n-Things for $6. That $1.50 each as opposed to $2.50 on the website.

2) Their smallish size means that more hiding places are available to, kinda like parking a Mini in London as opposed to a minivan... ;-)

3) Their smallish size limits the size of your stamps, so you get more stamps from your slabs.

4) Their smallish size also limits the size of your logbooks. I've got a "template" that nets 9 pages per Letter-size sheet of paper with only 0.25" trimmed from one long side.

My 4 cents...

StarSAELS

I like the 1.7 cup square. They are still smaller than the typical rubbermaid containers but are big enough to fit some store-bought log books. If you are careful with your stamp and book size, you can also fit a HH.

MB

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I can't believe that there are people out there who would actually put food into one of these containers... or one of my other favorites, the blue-rimmed Rubbermaids!!

Actually, I've become less enchanted with the rubber-rimmed Rubbermaids (I've seen them with a blue rim and I've seen them with a tungsten-colored rim). I've found several in the wild that weren't holding a seal too well.

I think it may be because they're susceptible to contamination of the seal by the surrounding soil. The box gets all covered with dirt while sitting in the woods. A finder opens it up, and in the process spreads the dirt around a bit. Then when closing it, some of the dirt gets under the rubber lip. Result: the next finder (me) finds 1/2" of water in the container!

That's just a theory about what happens, but I have found quite a few in which the innards weren't being protected from the elements. Whatever the cause, if you're buying containers for outdoor hides, I suggest buying the Lock 'N Locks -- the rectangular ones, not the round ones.

BTW, for storing food around my house, we're getting more and more into glass containers with snap-on plastic covers, such as Corning bowls and cooking pans (Corning seems to make plastic snap-on covers to fit a lot of their dishes). You can cook, store, reheat, and serve -- and they're easy to clean. We do not reheat with the plastic covers; take them off and drape a paper towel over instead while reheating.

For carrying lunch to work or whatever, we use the ZipLoc or Glad thin all-plastic containers; when they get a bit discolored or cracked, throw them away.

-- Kirbert

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I don't mind paying $2 each, but spending $4 each is ridiculous.

Well, you could do what I do. I haven't purchased a container in a year. Instead, I reuse jars that food comes in. Plastic peanut butter jars, plastic Planters peanut jars, mayonnaise jars, etc. Any plastic jar with a wide-mouth screw top seals as well or better than a Lock 'N Lock if the finders will make sure to screw the lid on tight.

-- Kirbert

Kirbert,
I am sure this has been talked about, but how do you get the food aroma out of your

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plastic peanut butter jars, plastic Planters peanut jars, mayonnaise jars, etc.

Wouldn't an animal find the lingering smells from these jars just too good to pass up?

Do you spray paint them as cammo?
Six Stars

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Next question - what size do you like?

See, this is another problem with paying good money for Lock 'N Locks. The bigger ones cost more than the smaller ones, so the temptation is to use one that's just barely big enough for the stamp and log book. Hence, there's never enough room for a hitchhiker -- and boxers carrying around hitchhikers get frustrated because they can never drop it off, and swear to never pick one up again.

If you use a mayonnaise jar or peanut butter jar instead, it's easy to leave room for a hitchhiker.

Of course, with some hides you need the smallest container you can find. But with many hiding places, you could hide pretty much any size container you have on hand.

-- Kirbert

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3) Their smallish size limits the size of your stamps, so you get more stamps from your slabs.

Well, that's looking on the bright side!

I generally carve stamps in whatever size "seems right", and then find a container to fit. In one case the stamp image was about 4" x 4".

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Actually, I've become less enchanted with the rubber-rimmed Rubbermaids (I've seen them with a blue rim and I've seen them with a tungsten-colored rim). I've found several in the wild that weren't holding a seal too well.

These rubber-rimmed containers may not actually be Rubbermaid. I purchased about a dozen look alikes from a dollar store for a Girl Scout project. It may be the knock offs that you finding that aren't sealing well.

FG

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Actually, I've become less enchanted with the rubber-rimmed Rubbermaids (I've seen them with a blue rim and I've seen them with a tungsten-colored rim). I've found several in the wild that weren't holding a seal too well.

I have to agree here. At first, I thought these were perfect LBing containers. But since then I've found more than one of these with small critter chew marks and holes on the rubber edges. It must be nice to chew on. What I like about the Lock n Locks is that there's no soft rubber exposed to the outside, only hard plastic.

Carianna of GG

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I am sure this has been talked about, but how do you get the food aroma out of your

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plastic peanut butter jars, plastic Planters peanut jars, mayonnaise jars, etc.

Uhhh, I wash them. :-)

Seriously, the only time I've had trouble with odors was in the case of screw-top jars with metal lids. The metal lids have either a cardboard gasket or a layer of rubber underneath to provide a seal. Either the cardboard or the rubber coating can absorb odors and hold onto them forever. If it's cardboard, just peel it out and throw it away, it's not an effective seal anyway. With the rubber, I carefully peel it all off the metal. And then with either case, I'll install a layer of vinyl (upholstery material) with some contact cement to serve as a gasket.

All in all, it's much easier just to use containers with plastic screw-on lids. If they have a cardboard gasket, remove it and discard, just screw the lid on without it. If the top edge of the jar itself isn't clean and smooth enough to effect a seal, lay some sandpaper on a flat surface, turn the jar over and slide it around on it for a few seconds to clean up the sealing edge.

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Do you spray paint them as cammo?

Of course! But you'd have to do that with either jars or Lock 'N Locks, wouldn't you?

-- Kirbert

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I've seen them with a blue rim and I've seen them with a tungsten-colored rim.

These rubber-rimmed containers may not actually be Rubbermaid.

These were genuine Rubbermaid. IIRC, they were special somehow. I think they may have been usable for cooking or some such, like the rubber wasn't actually rubber but was that silicone stuff they use for cooking these days.

-- Kirbert

I just have to throw a word of caution here...if using peanut butter jars be EXTREMELY careful to remove all traces of PB. There are some people that are highly allergic and can have reactions to it even with the tiniest amount. Some people are more sensitive than others, meaning that even the smell of it, or touching the smallest amount can cause a reaction.

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Instead, I reuse jars that food comes in. Plastic peanut butter jars, plastic Planters peanut jars, mayonnaise jars, etc. Any plastic jar with a wide-mouth screw top seals as well or better than a Lock 'N Lock if the finders will make sure to screw the lid on tight.

See that's just it. I spend enough time carving stamps and writing clues and hiking trails again and again to plant. I don't want to spend time doing more "housework"...and scrubbing out old food containers is way to close to housework. :) And I'm lazy. Like you say yourself, old jars seal as well or better IF the finders make sure to screw it on tight. Ah..the human factor. Nothing can fight it.

I'll hold out hope for big sales.

I have many boxes that can't fit a HH. But not because I don't want them. Just because many HHs that have come through here are ENORMOUS. I mean, storebought wooden backed stamps. Full spiral bound 5 x 7 logbooks. Someone has definately misled these boxers about the average life of a hitchhiker...as it would have to travel actively for 10 years to fill up some of these books. If you want your HH to move...make it small...and make sure there is a return address. My first couple of HH's were larger and I've never heard from many of them. The smaller ones are still out there making the rounds.And some even made it home. I was furious when I came across one of my boxes during maintenance completely open..with a large HH sitting on top of the "innards" and the box top acting as a little "roof." Thank god clueless boxers are few and far between....

LW PhD
"Nice Counts"

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You can get them at Target, Wal-Mart, Meijers, etc. or order them directly form Heritage-mint, the company that makes them.

Just a quick note on this.If you have more than one Target or Wal-Mart they both may not have them. Sometimes only one store in an area will have certain products so if you don't find them in the first store go to the others.

Shiloh

man, my uncle is a major packrat. he likes to buy things. LOTS of things. he had six pressure cookers and gave me two. gave me a bunch of flannel sheets. he's got like four or five sets of dishes he's never used. and that's just the very very tip of the iceberg. and he's got a shelf chock full of lock-n-lock boxes. i think i slobber a little every time i go over there and see them sitting there, all empty, all not being used. i asked him once what was the deal, did he buy them all separately or what, and why so many? he said they came in a set. i said, and of course you had to have a set. he said, oh no, i had to have TWO sets! i need to ask this special uncle if he has a job his very favorite niece could do for him, in exchange for lock-n-locks! ha! any house cleaning, dear uncle? any painting? any lawn mowing, dear ol' buddy ol' pal? heehee!

becky

Becky- that is TOO funny. I too would be offering housecleaning services for Lock n Locks! I once came across a pile of Lock n Locks at a garage sale. The family was moving. I couldn't believe my luck! I believe I paid 10-25 cents for each. It was all I could do not to giggle madly while checking out and run ( skipping actually) to my car!

LW PhD
"Nice Counts"

Thats funny
Freebird

Central Market in Seattle carries the small sizes individually for about $1.25 each, I think. They're hidden away in the "Asian Housewares" section, near the ceramic rice bowls, chopsticks, rice cookers, etc., not with the other tupperware-type items. You might try an Asian goods store in your area.

Mariette
(dbltall of Team Garlic)