A while back I bought a set of glass storage containers, which had silicone seals. I thought to myself, is silicone really any better than "regular" plastic? The answer is "Yes." Plastic is made from oil; silicone is made of silicon (a naturally occurring element), oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. However, it does take a lot of heat to extract silicon from quartz, so there is still some fossil fuel used there.
Silicone is less toxic than plastic, a great thing when storing food. And you can wash and reuse the silicone many times.
I have been debating for a while buying some silicone storage bags. They are pretty pricy. But I finally worked up the nerve to order a set of Gorilla Sandwich Storage Bags from Amazon to try out. As you can see, they are not cheap. With the coupon applied and Amazon Prime, they come to about $4 each, so they had better last a long time.
Aside from the cost, they are great. I have been using them for leftovers. A small bag holds 4 blueberry muffins, 4-5 oatmeal pancakes, or two large packages of blueberries, which I froze. The slide closures were a little stiff the first time I used them, but they slide on and off easily after that. The bags are heavy duty and the slides are also sturdy.
My only complaint? Each bag is wrapped in plastic and then all of them are put together and wrapped in plastic again. Getting rid of plastic is why I bought these in the first place. I plan to make a comment to the manufacturer and see if they can change that.
The bags came through the dishwasher fine and are ready to go again. I plan to buy some more at some point.
