If you cook enough food to last more than one meal, chances are you use some sort of plastic container to store the leftovers for round two…or three perhaps.

Plastic containers are convenient, economical, light-weight and often easy to store.

However, there are a few downsides; one being the tendency of these containers to retain the smell of previous meals even after multiple thorough washes.

Here are a few things you can do to get rid of that smell:

• Rinse/Wash them as soon as possible. This is a no brainer as the longer they sit in the sink the worse they’ll get
• Store the containers with a pinch of salt. Food52 suggests that the salt absorbs the odour and kills odour causing germs. Remember to rinse out the salt before you re-use. Storing your containers with newspaper has the same effect. The carbon in the paper absorbs the odour.
• Exposure to sunlight. Air drying your containers in the sun for a few hours will also go along way to eliminating some of the odour.

If your containers are stained (because very few Nigerian recipes exclude oil), try making a paste (by mixing baking soda with water) and rubbing on the affected area. Let if sit for a day and then rinse.

What steps do you take to keep your containers fresh?

Food52 | How to Get Smells and Stains Out of Tupperware