Friends, customers, clients, countrymen and women:
I write to you from the depths of despair!
Allow me to take a deep and cleansing breath before I unburden my troubles. Brace yourselves.
Rubbermaid has stopped making the Stain shield clear plastic containers that I use for my meal delivery service.
I know. It’s shocking, and horrific.
Allow me to provide you with a little more information on this most troubling development in the world of plastic food-storage containers. They have replaced them with the Rubbermaid Stain shield Premier line, which is in every way inferior, especially since it does not include a 4-cup size, of which I use dozens upon dozens each week and have been hoarding for years. This news has greatly wounded me, and I have been in high-level talks with the Rubbermaid folks, impressing upon them the benefits of the crystal-clear plastic and gunmetal grey tight-fitting lid that is the original Stain shield line. Alas, my entreaties have not made them relent.
Amazingly, Rubbermaid refuses to take the quantities of Lagusta’s Luscious meals into account when planning the sizes of their product lines!
O Stain shield containers! My heart weeps! How well they withstand repeated washings! O how steadfastedly do they refuse to become stained with tomato products! The new Premier line, with its bulky black lid which takes up twice as much space in the cabinet, will never take the place of the original.
I am not writing this email to ask you to, as I have, call up Rubbermaid and get the numbers of all the wholesale retailers in this fine country who might have caches of these fine containers in the back corners of their warehouses and could be persuaded to part with them in exchange for a few credit card numbers.
No, friends and lovers of high-quality containers, I am asking something different. I am asking you to think back to a time when you might have received food from me and the container – for whatever reason, I am not being judgmental, I know it happens – did not make its way back to me. Please, in the name of maintaining my all-important stocks of containers, search your cabinets, your freezers, your kitchen shelves, and return to me any beloved Stain shield containers (4-cup, 2-cup, and the ever cute round 1-cup which is being replaced by a cruel-looking square 1-cup which will just not be the same) that might be found therein. For your reference as well as reminiscing purposes, a photo of the containers follows.
Thank you for sharing in my horror at this most unwanted development.
Yours in plastic,
Lagusta
My heart weeps and falls like rain for you ~
One word for you girl, eBay!
ps. Mary sent me the link to this here blog of yours. What a treat and what a good writer you are! You are so inspired and I love it ~
[...] high quality and made in Europe or the USA. The only thing I really use that loophole for are my containers, of which I do own [...]
I do adore those stain sheilds but,
What about using those newish containers made of corn and grass, have you seen these? I’ll try to find you the web site. They are disposable, which sounds horrible but, you can put them in your compost and the will return to the earth in 45 days. Now the question is: which is worse? the usage of water when cleaning the reusable containers or the usage of energy that goes into making these disposable, “plastic looking”, biodegradable containers. hmm…. miss u, hope you’re well
I completely agree!! I also ran into many brick walls trying to get the “old” stain shields from Rubbermaid that I dearly love. I would be embarassed to say how many hours I’ve spent on this; I really do have a life! I found some old stock at a Kroger store and snatched them up fast! I don’t care for the new Premier line at all. I will keep an eye out for you, and if I find anyone who has a decent supply of stock, I’ll let you know..good luck!
Ebay has some NOW… 03/12/08… for another 16hrs. I’m with you, I like the orignal containers better and have spent hours looking for a few replacemnets as well. a lady on ebay has a few adds but they are bidding out REALLY REALLY high. Guess we are not he only ones unhappy. Good luck!
I found your cool site while surfing the web for, well, for, um….those damn stain shield containers. How funny is that??
Anyway, love your site…I’m a journalist and thought you might be interested in one of the online pubs I write for: http://www.ecosalon.com I will now end my search for those containers. If I find a decent replacement I’ll let you know.
-Susan
I am also looking for those containers. How easy they made my lunch packing/leftover packing! Have you been able to locate them? Please share the address if you were successful.
Stain Shield containers contain bisphenol A. We are getting rid of ours. Anyone want them?
Tom,
I think someone read an Alternet article today!
http://www.alternet.org/environment/98809/what_the_chemical_industry_doesn%27t_want_you_to_know_about_everyday_products/
You’re right though – I have been trying to decrease my plastic usage for a while now. I’ve been slowly transitioning to glass (Pyrex) containers.
Can I talk about all the reasons I hate them? They are heavier, so my delivery people and clients have more weight to lug around. They don’t stack, so they take up four times as much space. They are twice as expensive, often more. And worst of all, they chip if you stack them (which everyone does, even though they wobble), so I have to constantly be on chip alert and am constantly throwing out (or saving for nonfood purposes) chipped ones. A friend suggested filing them down with a diamond file, but the guy at my hardware store told me this will be a lot harder than I think, and recommended I use a dremel tool with a special bit (attachment?) and wear gloves and a mask. A friend of mine has a dremel I can use, but does anyone think the containers will still be safe for food after filing them down? I need to research this.
On the upside, you can bake in them! And I don’t have to worry about clients microwaving them (though I still think microwaving is no good, but they are going to do it anyway – most use the food for lunches at work – so at least it’s healthier for them).
My god, it’s hard doing the right thing.
In case you’re wondering, I still hate the Premier line that Rubbermaid replaced my old lovelies with. The lids are so bulky and stupid.
I found this site while looking after Googling for stainshield. I completely agree about the new line. I don’t like them at all, and the lids are too bulky, they don’t stack as well, etc, etc. I really want to find some more of the little 1 cup size. They are just the right size to microwave one serving of vegetables. Since my husband and I like very different vegetables, they are invaluable for making individual servings of whatever each of us likes.
stop!
you are killing yourself slowly.
microwaving plastic is bad to begin with but if you are microwaving in the rubbermaid stainshield containers you are pooring BPA into your body. It has been proven to cause cancer in humans, as well as totally mess up the endocrine system which can lead to autoimmune deseases such as diabetes. I don’t know you and I don’t work for a competor of rubbermaid – I can’t suggest another product – I just think everyone should know about the dangers of some plastics and especially the dangers of microwaving any plastics. Honestly, to protect yourself and your family get rid of all your plastics that have a 3, 6 or 7 on the bottom or if there is no number inside a triangle – that is a DEAD givaway that the plastic is bad news. Unfortunatly using BPA is not illegal – mostly due to big business lobbiests. Just protect yourself and your family – tell your friends too. love for all strangers!
Yes, I loved them also ……………, except every Stain Shield bowl I own or have returned or just thrown out has either had a cracked lid-cover, cracked bowl itself, or both.
I want my mony back……………..
People say this about the cracking, and it happens to me too once in a while, but only after maybe four years of constant, constant use. I don’t get it—why is everyone so hard on their containers???
[...] the other hand, because of the containers debacle (my business is all about debacles, I tells ya) I am constantly making furtive horrible trips to [...]