Glass won't taste your garlic.

Plastic lunch boxes soak up garlic and fish smells because they’re porous, so the real fix is switching to glass or stainless steel.

Plastic is basically a sponge on a microscopic level. Heat makes it worse — hot food or the dishwasher opens those pores right up and lets the smell in for good.

If you’re stuck with plastic for now, baking soda is your friend. Make a paste with water, coat the inside, let it sit overnight, then rinse. A white vinegar rinse helps too, and sunlight actually breaks down the smelly compounds, so leave it in the sun for an afternoon.

Long term, just buy glass. It doesn’t absorb anything, comes out of the dishwasher like new, and doesn’t make your Tuesday sandwich taste like Monday’s curry. Your future lunch deserves better.