Your plastic lunch box will always smell. Switch to glass.

Your plastic lunch box is going to keep absorbing fish and curry smells no matter how well you scrub it — the real fix is switching to glass or stainless steel.

Plastic is porous. The oils in curry and fish seep into microscopic scratches, and once they’re in there, washing won’t get them out. Daily use makes it worse because the container never gets a chance to fully dry and air out between meals.

If you can’t swap it out right now, here’s the damage-control playbook:

• Let hot food cool before packing it. Heat opens up the pores.
• Line the container with parchment paper to catch the oily residue before it reaches the plastic.
• Wash it immediately after lunch. Don’t let it sit in the sink.
• If it already smells, soak it with a baking soda paste or white vinegar overnight. Sunlight helps too.

The lid and silicone gasket are usually worse than the body — silicone loves odors, so soak those separately.

Glass and stainless steel don’t have this problem at all, and a cheap glass container costs about the same as a halfway decent plastic one. Tomorrow’s sandwich deserves better than yesterday’s curry.