I tried the OXO Reusable Silicone Bags to do my food prep and now I won’t be going back to tupperware.
It has to be said I’m a sucker for meal prep. As much as I enjoy cooking, I don’t always have the energy to be making healthy meals from scratch every night of the week. Not to mention, an increased cost of living has made my budget smaller, so I’m always looking for easy ways to save money at home.
Because of this, meal prepping my food throughout the week has become a bit of a saviour for me. Cooking healthy meals in large batches has proved best for my budget, diet and free-time. A recent survey by GlobalData found 46% of us are now meal prepping, with a further 63% doing it to save money.
Now, I have to say that most of my weal prep ended up in plastic boxes I’d collected from various takeaways, which wasn’t exactly a great fit for organising my fridge.
So when I saw OXO had released new Silicone Bags designed for meal prepping, I had to give them a go. I was impressed with the results, too - they're spacious, leakproof and easy to clean.
The OXO Silicone Reusable Bags
There are six bags available in 335ml, 828ml, 946ml and 1.8l sizes, making them ideal for carrying everything from snacks to large portions of leftovers.
The silicone is both microwave and freezer safe which is exactly what you want when it comes to storing leftovers. The bags also stand up on their own, designed to be easily stored in your fridge. At the same time they are quite malleable and can be folded when not in use - so you can say goodbye to that messy cupboard of plastic boxes.
What’s more the oat-coloured seals are leak proof. I for one have spent too much time wiping leaking bolognese out my fridge (and sometimes my work bag) to not be impressed by this.
Oxo’s Silicone Reusable bags start at £12 for the smallest and £25 for the largest bag, In terms of kitchen storage ideas, they’re not the cheapest. After all you can pick 4.5l Foodsaver for Tesco for £2.50.
However, the material feels more durable than typical plastic food savers. And being dishwasher safe, you can expect to get plenty of use out of them too.
The range is available to shop on John Lewis and Amazon.
Batch cooking a large casserole, I decided to use the Stand Up Half Gallon Bag as I planned to make at least eight portions in my slow cooker.
I was a little dubious that all my ingredients would fit in the bag at first glance but I was pleasantly surprised. I added five carrots, two red onions, a handful of garlic, 500g of baby potatoes, a pack of chestnut mushrooms and a tin of chopped tomatoes. I would add my meat and seasonings when it came to putting it all in the slow cooker.
All the ingredients fit in the bag with ease. However, with a very small fridge, I was unable to stand the bag upright. Trusting its leakproof promise, I led the bag down flat. Which worked out well as the seal did live up to its name.
And when it came to cooking the casserole the next morning - in the short window of time I had between getting home from the gym and going to work, all I had to do was dump my ingredients in the pot.
Washing the bag in the dishwasher, I was really impressed. I stuck it on an eco and while there was a slight orange stain, tomatoes and plastic have always been a disaster so I wasn’t too bothered.
I was then able to use the bag to freeze my left overs, ready for my mid-week meals.
Overall, I was impressed. I think my takeaway boxes may have finally been banished and the OXO Silicone Bags have replaced them.
They’re easy to clean, spacious enough for large batches and most importantly saved me time. While it has to be said cheaper storage options are available, these bags are good quality and in my opinion, worth investing in.
