Kitchen Favorites: Glad Take-Aways
Glad Take-Aways are my kitchen favorite this week, and the reason is simple: they are the only container I own that I am genuinely happy to lose. It is back to school here, my college kids are coming through the door again, and these go out of my house every single day right now. I am not paid by Glad and nobody asked me to talk about these — I buy them in bulk at Costco with my own money because they solve a problem I actually have.
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• I get mine in bulk at Costco, but this is the same thing on Amazon. Thirty-five sets for around eleven dollars, which works out to about thirty cents apiece — and that price is the whole point. At thirty cents I can hand one to a kid walking out the door and never think about it again.
Here is the thing nobody tells you about nice food storage containers. The nicer they are, the more they cost you every time one walks out the door — and in a house like mine, they walk out the door constantly. Somebody is taking lunch to school. Somebody is heading back to their apartment with dinner. Somebody’s friend is going home with a plate. Every one of those is a good container gone, and I spent years quietly keeping track of who had what.
I do not do that anymore. These cost about thirty cents each, and that number changed how I feed people. I do not ration them, I do not remember who took one, and I never make anybody feel like they are borrowing something. If it comes back, I run it through the dishwasher and we use it again. If it does not come back, I do not lose one minute of sleep over it. And I will tell you plainly — I do not want it brought back to me after it has been sitting in a school locker for three weeks.
It is the same logic behind the disposable aluminum pans I buy by the case for drop-off meals. When somebody is going through something hard, the last thing they need is to worry about returning my pan. These are that same idea, just lunchbox sized.
How I Actually Use Glad Take-Aways
Lunches first. My kids are not sandwich eaters, which means the easiest thing in the world to pack is off the table at my house. So the way they get a real meal in the middle of a school day is last night’s dinner — a baked potato, lasagna, a casserole, stir fry — packed in one of these the night before. It is honestly how I get something halfway decent into them, and it costs me nothing extra because I already cooked it. That is the same system behind my whole approach to school lunch ideas kids will eat.
Then there is sending food home. My college kids come over, they eat, and they leave with plates. Company comes for dinner and goes home with what is left. That is how I was raised and it is how this house runs, and Glad Take-Aways are what make it possible without me doing math about my own Tupperware. One of them usually ends up holding leftover cheese, too — the little catch container on my box grater fills up faster than you would think when I am shredding a block for a casserole. That is exactly why a fresh 70-piece box went in the cart on my October Costco haul — I was cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for the college kids, and nobody leaves my table without a plate.
One thing I learned that turned out to matter more than I expected: the shallow rectangular shape is not just a storage convenience, it is a food safety one. The USDA’s guidance on leftovers says to divide leftovers into shallow containers so they cool quickly, and to get them in the refrigerator within two hours. A deep tub of hot casserole sitting on the counter cools from the outside in and stays warm in the middle far longer than you would guess. These are shallow by design, which means a big pan of something hot gets portioned and chilled fast instead of sitting out while it cools.
Glad Take-Aways FAQ
Is Stephanie paid by Glad?
No. Glad has never contacted me and I have never been paid a dime by them. I buy these at Costco with my own money the same way you would, and I am telling you about them because they genuinely fixed a problem in my kitchen. If that ever changes, I will say so right here in this spot.
Are Glad Take-Aways actually reusable, or are they disposable?
Both, and that is exactly why I like them. They hold up fine in the dishwasher and I reuse the ones that come home over and over. But they are cheap enough that you can also just let one go without it stinging. You get to decide in the moment instead of committing up front.
Can you microwave them?
Yes, these are labeled microwave safe, and that matters for the way my family uses them — a kid reheating leftovers in a dorm or a school microwave is the whole use case. I still take the lid off or vent it rather than heating them sealed shut.
Is the Costco pack the same as the Amazon one?
The one I buy at Costco is the 70-piece box, which is 35 containers with 35 lids. Pack sizes and counts do move around between stores, so check the count before you buy rather than assuming. If you have a Costco membership the warehouse is almost always the better price on these — Amazon is for when you do not.
Do they leak in a lunch bag?
They snap shut and they have held up for us with normal lunch food — pasta, casserole, a baked potato, rice and stir fry. I would not send soup across town in one and expect nothing to happen. For anything really liquid I use something with a gasket lid and accept that I want that one back.
🧰 New here?
Every honest review I have written lives on my Kitchen Favorites page — sorted by what each thing actually does in the kitchen.
More Kitchen Favorites You’ll Love
- Kitchen Favorites: 9×13 Disposable Aluminum Pans — the same idea at casserole scale, for when you drop a meal off and never want it back.
- Kitchen Favorites: Aroma Professional Plus Rice Cooker — how I get a big batch of rice right every single time without babysitting a pot.
- Kitchen Favorites: Kinder’s The Blend Seasoning — the one seasoning that lives on my counter and goes on almost everything.
- Kitchen Favorites: Marble Rolling Pin — the opposite end of the spectrum, and the one thing in my kitchen I would never be happy to lose.
- Kitchen Favorites: Depuley Flush Mount Ceiling Fan with Light — not a kitchen thing at all, but it is what made our converted patio livable for the teenagers.
- Kitchen Tools for Cooking for a Crowd — every pot, platter, pan and gadget I use to feed seven, grouped by the problem it solves, with a free printable checklist.
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Glad Take-Aways — About Stephanie Longstreth
Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.