I know that several
government websites suggest storing grain such as rice in plastic bottles is
safe. I repeat BPA free bottles only for
me! These websites are rarely updated to
reflect newly discovered industry inflicted dangers to humans. If I purchase water bottles that are stamped,
stickered, or printed, BPA free, I wash them in cool water with a few drops of
bleach. I dry them thoroughly by putting
them upside down in a mesh laundry bag with a drawstring closure to air dry
before use. 
I hope we have all
heard the warnings about the use of BPA in the plastic bottles we use. I hope we are all looking for our plastic
sport drink bottles with the BPA free sticker on them. I want to talk now instead of the dangers of
BPA and plastics in the human body, but about the true enemy of plastic itself,
heat.
Heat is the enemy
of plastic. Heat is the reason we
insulate our food containers in storage. Heat melts plastic. I know you don’t think your garage is hot
enough to harm your food stores, but let me tell you a little story.
I have a client who
thought he would like to try frying the family turkey, one Thanksgiving. He is a frugal man and ran in to the seasonal
fryer oil sale that was too hard to resist.
He bought enough oil to fry a gaggle of geese! He tells me the first year he had the oil,
the turkey came out great. The next year, when Thanksgiving rolled around, his lovely wife wanted
to try her hand at the holiday turkey.
So, the leftover new in-the-plastic-bottle-in-a-cardboard-carton-oil
stayed in the garage for another year. One day, he came to me while I was cleaning
and asked if I had any degreaser in my car.
Well, sure I do, so I asked how much he needed. He said about a gallon!
It was true.
If he had stored the oil against an interior wall, it might have lasted
longer, but he stored it against the western exterior uninsulated garage wall
near a window that reflected (or is it refracted?) light into the corner where
the oil was stacked one on the other.
The bottom container split its seam weakening the support of the upper
and oopsie doopsie, what a mess! There
are several lessons to learn here.
Heat is the enemy
of plastic, even if it is in a grab-n-go cardboard box, it is not
insulated. The sun is hot. The sun sets in the west. Oil is a messy
cleanup that spoils the concrete and many more lessons; you can see them
without a pointer!
If you are not sure
if your containers are BPA free use Mylar liners to separate your food stuffs
from their container walls. If you are
sure your containers are safe, remember to treat them with the respect of their
chemical nature, heat is the enemy. If
you are stacking and storing containers on concrete at ground level, you can
line the floor with a rubber mat. An
auto shop quality mat is available at Advanced Discount Auto parts Store, Pep
Boys, Wal-Mart, Harbor Freight, and many other parts shops and hardware
stores. The best varieties are the kinds
that come in a jigsaw puzzle edge. They
fit together in many configurations. I
do not know about those left over foam mats sold to keep babies from touching
the floor, but if you have those, put them to use and in seven years, let me
know if they lasted and did a good job! Store
safe, be safe.
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