Steel beats plastic when tomatoes are involved

Stainless steel is the safer choice for storing acidic foods like tomato sauce. Plastic can leach chemicals into acidic food, and the acid makes it worse.

The issue isn’t the food, it’s the container. Acidic foods like tomato sauce pull more out of plastic than neutral foods do. Heat makes it even worse, which matters if you’re packing hot leftovers or reheating in the container. We’re talking BPA and other chemicals you don’t want in your lunch.

Steel doesn’t have this problem. It’s non-reactive, so tomato sauce sitting in it all morning won’t pick up anything from the metal. No coating to degrade, no plasticizers to migrate. It’s also more durable than plastic and doesn’t stain or hold onto smells the way plastic does.

One honest caveat: cheap stainless isn’t always solid 304 food-grade steel, and some have plastic lids or seals that touch the food, so check the specs. But as far as the container itself goes, steel is the obvious pick.

Your tomato sauce has been through enough already.