Would anyone know which of the millions of plastic containers sold by US Plastics is best for storing food (like Olive Oil, Salt, Spices etc)?

There are dozens of plastic and nalgene containers with all kinds of chemical descriptions (PET, PU, polypropylene, fluorinated etc etc..).. not sure what's safe for food.

Edited by longhiker on 06/30/2010 09:59:40 MDT.

I store my olive oil in the small bottled water bottles you can get from the grocery store. 8oz, safe for whatever you want to put in them, won't leak, very light, works for me!

Most spices I just put into my dry meals before leaving home. I've never ever felt the need for MORE salt, a fair portion of backpacking foods are already chalk full of salt.

It's not so much the plastic as the seal on the lid. That's why Nalge are so popular: their seal WORKS.

Cheers

"their seal WORKS"

I can accept that. Why does it work, or how does it work better than the others?

--B.G.--

Hi Bob

> Why does it work,
Well, they USED to have a really good cross-sectional drawing of the Nalge cap seal, but the company has been bought out and the web site changed. I can't find that page any more.

Basically, rather than just have the flat inside of the cap screw down onto the neck, there is also, inside the cap, a tapered flange which seals against the inside of the neck of the bottle. They got some of their fame from this seal: you knew that a Nalge bottle would NOT leak in the lab, while other brands could and did.

Cheers

Excellent. So, some smart-thinking engineer actually earned his salary that day. I've used Nalgene bottles for decades now, and I never quite knew _why_ they were good.

--B.G.--