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When it came time to set my 2022 New Year’s resolutions, I immediately thought about how I could make the worst part of my day — cooking dinner — more enjoyable. Although I love to cook, I dread standing over the stove and chopping ingredients after a long day. Meal prepping seemed like an easy solution, and it became my goal for the year. But as I set out to meal prep for the first time, I quickly realized that I did not own the appropriate containers to store the food I cooked for the week.

Meal prep containers are now key to my operation — I store, portion out and reheat food in them, as well as eat out of them. But I initially overlooked their importance.

SKIP AHEAD How to shop for meal prep containers

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Lisa Young, a nutritionist and professor in the health science department at New York University, said the point of meal prepping is to “have everything available so you can be an automatic pilot” when you’re ready to eat a meal or snack. Buying meal prep containers should be an extension of that — “you want to identify what is going to be useful for you,” Young said. “You’re meal prepping so that it’s going to be less work in the long term.”

We talked to nutrition experts about features you should consider when buying meal prep containers, from the materials they’re made from to their size and shape. They also shared their favorite container options.

Meal prep containers to shop

Young said the biggest mistake those new to meal prepping often make is taking an all-or-nothing approach. “They feel like they have to meal prep every meal, which is not true,” Young said. “You could start with just meal prepping breakfast, or just meal prepping your snacks.”

Experts said any meal prep container should have a leak-proof lid or seal. This reduces the risk of bacteria growth on stored food, according to Shelby Yaceczko, an advanced practice clinical dietitian in the Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA Health. And if you’re transporting meal prep containers during the day, a tight seal or leak-proof lid helps prevent spills and leakage.

Containers should also be BPA-free, according to experts, which means they do not contain the BPA chemical. Young said BPA is a concern because some research has shown that it can leak into food or beverages when stored in containers made with the chemical, leading to possible negative health effects.

To source the meal prep containers below, we asked experts to share a few of their favorite options ranging in material, size and style to accommodate different types of meals and portion sizes. For general container types experts recommended — like mason jars, reusable silicone bags and smaller storage options — we found highly rated products that meet their guidance. All the below containers are microwave-, dishwasher- and freezer-safe, and we noted which ones are also oven-safe.

Bentgo Prep 3-Compartment Meal-Prep Containers

Yaceczko said Bentgo offers “great stackable, multi-compartment containers which can be used to build snack packs or multi-item meals.” The Bentgo Prep collection features containers with one, two or three compartments in multiple colors. The containers and their custom-fit lids are stackable and can be used up to 10 times, according to the brand. Bentgo also says these containers are dishwasher-, freezer- and microwave-safe.

Pyrex Freshlock 10-Piece Glass Storage Set

Yaceczko recommended looking for meal prep containers with an air-tight seal like those in Pyrex’s Freshlock collection — the containers’ lids are designed with locking tabs to create a leak-proof seal, according to the brand. This 10-piece set comes with five stackable containers and lids in multiple sizes, and the containers are rectangular and square shapes. Pyrex says its Freshlock containers are dishwasher-, microwave- and freezer-safe.

OXO Good Grips Smart Seal 12-Piece Container Set

OXO also offers glass containers with leak-proof lids, Yaceczko said. You can purchase a 12-piece set with six containers and lids in multiple sizes, and the containers come in rectangular and circular shapes. OXO says these containers are stackable as well as dishwasher-, freezer-, oven- and microwave-safe.

Ball 16-ounce Mason Jars

You can use glass mason jars to store vegetables, salad and meals like overnight oats, Young said. Ball Mason Jars are available in sizes from 4 to 32 ounces, and each jar comes with a screw-on metal lid and band to form a tight seal around the mouth, according to the brand. The jars are dishwasher-, microwave- and freezer-safe, according to the brand, though it is recommended to wash the lids by hand.

Stasher Meal Prep Storage 6-Pack

Reusable silicone bags “take up minimal space and may be helpful if you have space restrictions,” according to Yaceczko. Stasher Bags — my personal favorite food storage containers — are made from food-grade platinum silicone, according to the brand, and feature the brand’s leak-free Pinch-Loc seal. In addition to being freezer-safe, the brand says the bags are dishwasher-, microwave- and oven-safe up to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. They come in a variety of styles, sizes and colors, and some models have a flat bottom so they stand upright. Stasher’s Meal Prep Storage 6-Pack includes two Stand-Up Mega Bags, two Half Gallon Bags and two Quart Bags.

Rubbermaid TakeAlongs Twist & Seal Food Storage Container

To store condiments like dressing and snacks such as dried fruit and nuts, Young suggested using small stackable containers. These round plastic containers from Rubbermaid come in a pack of three and feature a twist and seal lid. The containers are microwave-, freezer- and top-rack dishwasher-safe, according to the brand.

Stojo Box

When I meal prep lunch to take to school or work, I use the Stojo Box or Bowl. Both containers are made from premium food-grade silicone, according to the brand, and collapse when they’re not in use — this helps me save space when storing the containers in my kitchen’s limited cabinet space. Stojo’s Box has a 24-ounce capacity while the Bowl has a 36-ounce capacity. Both feature a four-clasp lid and come in multiple colors. The Box and Bowl are microwave-, dishwasher- and freezer-safe, the brand says.

Sistema Multi Split To Go Container

This stackable meal prep container from Sistema boasts three compartments inside, allowing you to portion out food. The lid also has clips to create a leak-proof seal around the top, according to the brand. The container is top-rack dishwasher-, freezer- and microwave-safe without the lid, Sistema says. You can purchase the Multi Split To Go container individually or in a multipack.

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A step-by-step guide to shopping for meal prep containers

When buying meal prep containers, features to think about include the material containers are made from, their color, their shape, heat resistance and more.

“It’s a good idea to start with four to five containers at home to see what you like before you make the commitment to invest in a full set,” Yaceczko said.

What type of container works best for you?

Before I started researching meal prep containers, I only pictured using rectangular, square or round storage options with lids. But experts said mason jars and reusable silicone bags are also useful to keep on hand.

Rectangular, square and round containers with lids are best for storing large quantities of food for meals. You can separate each dish into its own container and serve directly from it, or you can portion out meals by adding a serving of each dish into separate containers to eat throughout the week. If you prefer doing the latter, experts suggested looking for containers built with dividers that create two or three compartments inside.

As for mason jars and reusable silicone bags, Young said you can purchase them in a variety of sizes and use them to store chopped vegetables, salads, cooked grains and snacks. I also meal prep smoothies in freezer-safe silicone bags by portioning out frozen fruit, vegetables and milk ice cubes so I don’t have to spend time measuring each ingredient later on.

What size container are you looking for?

Determining what size meal prep container you need involves thinking about two factors, experts said:

• The purpose of your meal prepping: “Is it for snacks [or] one meal or will it serve to support a full day of your nutrition?” Yaceczko said. Small and medium-sized containers are usually sufficient for snacks and singular meals, while meal prepping an entire day’s or week’s worth of food could warrant larger options.
• How many people you’re feeding: “Is it just for you? Or are you going to be prepping for two people?” Young said. Meal prepping for one allows for using smaller or mid-sized containers, but you might need larger options if you’re cooking for two people or larger groups.

What material do you prefer?

Young said it’s important to consider whether or not meal prep containers are oven-, microwave-, freezer- and dishwasher-safe, factors that are usually dictated by the material they’re made from. If containers are oven- and microwave-safe, you can reheat food in them, for example. And being dishwasher-safe gives you the option for easy clean-up.

Meal prep containers are most often made from plastic or glass, according to experts, although silicone and stainless steel options are also available. Each material offers its own benefits and limitations:

• Glass: Most glass containers are oven-, microwave-, freezer- and dishwasher-safe, making them highly versatile, Young said. However, glass containers are fragile, so if you plan on taking food with you on the go, they may not be the best option.
• Plastic: Plasticis a sturdier material compared to glass, making it better to travel with. Young said plastic containers are also useful for those with children who may be eating out of them or who like helping in the kitchen — if the container falls, it’s less likely to break.
• Silicone: Silicone is a more flexible material compared to glass, plastic and stainless steel. Many food storage options made from silicone take up minimal space, Yaceczko said, and either lay flat or fold down when not in use.
• Stainless steel: Like plastic, stainless steel is durable and easy to transport. But while many stainless steel containers are dishwasher- and freezer-safe, they’re not microwave- or oven-safe, so you can’t reheat food directly in them.

Another factor to keep in mind while deciding what material you prefer is whether or not you can see through it, allowing you to view the contents inside the container. If you’re storing portioned meals made up of the same dishes, seeing inside the container may not matter. But if you’re putting each dish in its own container, being able to see what’s inside can be helpful when you’re serving.

Young also said some people prefer to purchase containers in multiple colors, or with different colored lids. You can designate a color for each day of the week or for different food groups, like one color for vegetables and another for grains.

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Anticipating that thousands of Los Angeles Unified students still may not be vaccinated this fall, the Board of Education has taken the first steps toward a major expansion of remote learning, including creating as many as six new online schools that could enroll up to 15,000 students.

To date, nearly 90% of LAUSD students 12 and older have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or have obtained a rare medical exemption. But even that high compliance rate translates to about 20,000 unvaccinated students in the nation’s second-largest school district. Unvaccinated students will be barred from campuses for fall 2022 under LAUSD policies.

Additionally, district officials say they’re finding an unexpectedly large number of families who want to keep their children in independent study next year, an emerging trend education experts say they are seeing across the country with more school systems offering virtual schooling.

“Districts are hitting the reality that many families are happy with this option,” said Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. Districts are “also realizing they’ll lose enrollment if they don’t provide this option.”

Thousands of Los Angeles parents opted for independent study last fall during the surge of the Delta coronavirus variant, and stayed in the online program for the current term as Omicron raged. Many have said they fear that high coronavirus transmission rates posed safety concerns for their families.

But that deluge of students overwhelmed what had been a small, niche program, City of Angels, which typically handled about 1,800 students each year. Enrollment ballooned to15,000 students in the fall and 17,900 are currently enrolled, the largest it’s ever been.

Parents of City of Angels students have also indicated they plan to continue online. A survey of 6,280 families found that 77% want to continue online next school year, a higher rate than the district anticipated, LAUSD Chief of Schools David Baca said. It’s become clear that the district needs to create the infrastructure to sustain the program, he said.

Interim Supt. Megan K. Reilly acknowledged the program would not be for everyone but would address the needs of families who are seeking a long-term remote option. Reilly has repeatedly said that schools remain safe with layered coronavirus safety measures, including masking and a staff vaccination mandate, but establishing the online schools would prepare the district for future emergencies, such as another coronavirus surge.

“We’re trying to be as forward thinking as possible, for whatever kind of alternative we get challenged with,” Reilly said. “I do think we should still be prepared for a next variant or some other circumstance, and make sure we’re providing the best quality.”

Late Tuesday night, the board voted to authorize the district to apply for so-called county-district-school codes from the state, which assigns a unique number to a school for data keeping and other tracking, a number required for all new schools. District officials said they will later decide whether they will need all six online schools, but are aiming to open enrollment in March.

In discussing the issue, several school board members expressed interest — and in one case wariness — in pursuing the idea not just as a pandemic response, but also as an innovative digital extension of school choice — and as an offering that could bolster plummeting enrollment.

“If we build this, we should recruit [students], and it’s potentially an interesting way to get enrollment,” said board member Nick Melvoin. “We do have the resources to invest in virtual programs the way other districts don’t, so we should play to those strengths.”

But board member George McKenna, the lone no vote, was not convinced. He expressed concern that the expansion of online education could lead to student isolation and would not address the digital divide in which the families of low-income students do not have reliable internet and at-home technology.

“Everyone doesn’t have the same access, so I see a cultural and even a socioeconomic divide that’s going to take place, where people don’t have the same access,” McKenna said.

Under the nascent plan, each online school will have a distinct theme, and officials pledge to look to parents and teachers on how to shape the program. But few details were discussed with board members. Several board members said any plan that comes to them for approval should show how learning services — including those for special needs students, social-emotional development and targeted academics aimed at closing achievement gaps — will be woven into the program.

The district projects that each online school will have up to 2,500 students. Each will have a principal, three assistant principals, two academic counselors, and clerical and administrative staff. The total cost of all six schools will be about $16.2 million.

School costs are typically covered by state funding generated by enrollment, and the district intends to cover non-teacher staffing and resource costs with federal COVID-19 relief funds for the following two school years, a board report stated.

The creation of the schools will be taken over by incoming Supt. Alberto Caravalho, whose first day as schools chief is Monday.

Several education experts say the decision to invest in a robust online option is a wise move to retain enrollment and serve the needs of constituents.

“It’s clear that there’s a large number of families out there who want this option for their kids,” said Pedro Noguera, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education. “Anything they can do to keep kids in the system would be helpful.”

The district faces the challenge of creating a high-quality virtual program that will serve students long term, Noguera said, noting that the pandemic forced some districts to create quickly built virtual learning programs that did not always work. “We’re going to be living with virtually learning. This is the new normal.”

A recent survey, the American School District Panel, found that about 20% of school districts intend to move forward with a virtual option, said Lake, whose organization partnered with the Rand Corp. to conduct the survey.

She said districts are thinking about permanent online learning for two reasons.

“There’s always some portion of students who need a virtual option for life circumstances that prevent them from being at school,” Lake said. “The other factor is to be resilient to any future disruptions that come along…. If there was ever a time we need diverse solutions, it’s now.”

Antonella Guerrero, a resident of Canoga Park, said she opted to send her 12-year-old to a virtual charter school after struggling to get her son into City of Angels classes back in August. The district was not prepared for the massive onslaught of enrollment, and disorganization and lack of resources beset the early months. Students with disabilities faced barriers to accommodations and services as required under federal law.

When Guerrero could not reach LAUSD administrators for help, she enrolled her son in the California Connections Academy. The sixth-grader enjoys the flexibility and independence of online classes, she said.

If the Los Angeles school district offers a more robust online school next year, Guerrero said, she would consider bringing him back to LAUSD to make the eventual return to in-person classes easier.

For the current school year, many parents chose independent study out of safety concerns — not wanting to expose their children and other family members to the coronavirus. But district officials believe most of the increased demand will come from families not willing to abide by the board’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students.

The school board approved its mandate in September — one of only a handful of school systems in the state to do so — and set a Jan. 10 deadline. Unvaccinated students were to be moved to the independent study.

But as the deadline approached, the school board voted to delay enforcement to fall 2022, citing the harms of disrupting learning for so many students — some 28,000 who had not complied with the policy and those left on campus.

A representative of United Teachers Los Angeles expressed reservations about the planning for the virtual schools during public comments.

While an expanded online option is desirable and needed, the district has not provided a plan on how the six online schools would operate, what students would be eligible or who would be prioritized, and how staff would be recruited, said UTLA representative Ingrid Gunnell.

“The district has not meaningfully engaged the community’s labor partners or other stakeholders,” Gunnell said. She urged the district to present a clear plan of the program and “show us how this program will be designed with equity in mind to support our most vulnerable students and prioritize those that most need an online option.”

It remains to be seen how proposed state legislation that would require all California students be vaccinated against COVID-19 will affect online enrollment. State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) has proposed legislation that aims to add COVID-19 vaccines to the state’s list of required immunizations for children attending K-12 schools, supporting the mandates of LAUSD and other school districts.

Times staff writer Howard Blume contributed to this report.

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Since its inception in 1966, the Super Bowl has served as the featured event on the National Football League (NFL) calendar. It has also become a national holiday of sorts, annually attracting a mammoth television audience that makes it the biggest event on the sports marketing calendar as well.

At Nationwide, one of the world’s largest insurance and financial services companies, many of those sports marketing responsibilities fall to Jim McCoy, Wittenberg class of 1998. The Columbus, Ohio-based company’s associate vice president for sports marketing, McCoy has more than 20 years of experience in the industry, including the last 17 years helping to build Nationwide’s brand through sports partnerships.

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This year, McCoy’s Super Bowl week in Los Angeles includes a speaking appearance for Brand Innovators Sports Marketing Upfronts, which offers content daily February 8-10. McCoy is a featured panelist in a session scheduled for 1:20 p.m. EST Wednesday, February 9.

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Legislation overhauling oversight and governance of state-run veterans homes in Holyoke and Chelsea is on deck for a House session on Thursday, Speaker Ronald Mariano said Monday.

Zooming out past this week, Mariano also said work continues to “adjust” offshore wind legislation and indicated that the House plans to act this session to address “revenge porn,” or the sharing of sexually explicit images or videos without their subjects’ consent, a practice that Gov. Charlie Baker has repeatedly and unsuccessfully targeted with legislation.

After meeting Monday afternoon with Baker and Senate President Karen Spilka, Mariano said the House on Thursday will take up “a bill that’s going to really improve the condition in the soldiers’ homes and be the best thing that we can possibly do for our veterans in Massachusetts.”

The bill, Mariano said, will draw “a lot of influence” from the reform package that Rep. Linda Dean Campbell and Sen. Mike Rush compiled after leading a legislative investigation into the fatal COVID-19 outbreak that tore through the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home in spring 2020.

Campbell, a Methuen Democrat, said last September that the tragedy in Holyoke “resulted from multiple deficiencies of governing” and that “comprehensive change” was required in response.

The bill she originally filed — which has since been redrafted by the Veterans and Federal Affairs Committee and endorsed by the Health Care Financing Committee — would recast the governance structure at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home and the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home, eliminating the boards of trustees that currently oversee each facility and creating new local stewardship bodies to provide community representation for the homes.

Among other measures, Campbell’s bill would elevate the secretary of veterans’ services to a Cabinet-level position, require soldiers’ homes superintendents to be licensed nursing home administrators, and require the Department of Public Health to inspect both homes at least twice a year and publicly release the reports.

The latest version of Campbell’s bill (H 4298) was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee last Thursday, and the committee could make its own changes before releasing the bill. The House has an informal session scheduled Wednesday, and sometimes bill are teed up for further deliberation during such sessions.

The House and Senate both have formal sessions scheduled for Thursday, when the Senate plans to consider a bill addressing prescription drug costs. Spilka said the Senate looks forward to receiving the soldiers’ home bill from the House and “will be taking it up subsequently.”

Formal legislative sessions for the 2021-2022 term end on July 31, giving the two branches just under six months to pass bills tackling their priorities and negotiate differences between House and Senate versions of legislation.

Offshore wind policy legislation has been among Mariano’s priorities. When the Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee rolled out a bill last month that would soften the state’s wind power price cap and impose new charges on gas and electric consumers to generate revenue for an offshore wind investment fund, the House chair of that panel, Rep. Jeff Roy, described it as something that Mariano “wants to do as soon as possible.”

Asked Monday about the status of that bill, Mariano said, “Well, I think it will be acted on pretty quickly. I guess it’s on your definition of quickly. There’s ‘legislative’ quickly and then there’s ‘press’ quickly.”

He pointed to a recent trip he and Spilka took to Salem to visit “what we hope will be the focal point of all our offshore wind development here in Massachusetts” and said lawmakers “continue to adjust this bill to make sure that we understand what’s needed to make Massachusetts the premier offshore wind center on the East Coast.”

“We want to make sure we get this right,” the Quincy Democrat said.

Baker, in his State of the Commonwealth speech last month, prodded lawmakers to act on some of his priority legislation, including the bill criminalizing “revenge porn,” which he has filed three times.

Mariano said “yes” when asked if the House would act on that issue but did not provide a timeline.

He noted that Roy has also filed legislation involving the sharing of explicit content — Roy’s bill (H 1859) speaks specifically to images shared by teens rather than adults — and expressed plans to “look at that and see if we can combine it with some of the things that the governor raised and get a bill that’s a little bit more comprehensive.”

(Copyright (c) 2022 State House News Service.

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I went down to the basement this morning after a fruitful trip to Aldi’s and after standing at the bottom of the basement stairs with my chin in my hand for a while, I decided if we had to depend on my storage capabilities to live, we’d be gone in a month.

I’ve been buying extra food and other goods since the pandemic began. Call me Chicken Little, but I saw the writing on the wall in February 2020 when Lysol disappeared from the grocery store shelves. And when the cost of food started to become unbearable, I thought it would be smart to hoarde certain things — things that would likely go up in price–like meat. Or paper towels.

I thought I was so smart. But half the canned food I bought back then is almost expired and my boxes of instant rice, I realize now, wouldn’t feed us very long.

If you’re going to get serious about stocking up for an emergency you really need to know what you’re doing. We’re talking big sacks of rice and big quantities of flour and sugar. Your two jars of pasta sauce will make a few days better but not a month. Think you’re going to live on pancakes? Don’t buy a mix that’s going to need eggs or milk.

Now, I’m not pushing a dooms day narrative here, but I am urging you to be smart. It’s not too hard to see that things are tough out there–inflation, food shortages, a shipping crisis. Human experience has taught us the importance of being prepared. I read this today: “Prepping isn’t just something to laugh at from afar — it’s quickly becoming the smartest thing you can do.”

I’m onboard. But the ten boxes of pasta sitting on a shelf in the basement, or the three pounds of flour—they’re going to need to be stored in Mylar bags if they’re going to be any good a year from now. Buying the food isn’t enough. You have to store it right, too.

One thing I had never considered when stocking up for “just in case” is how much I’d miss eggs and milk if I couldn’t just run to the store for them. These are two things everyone uses a lot. Thankfully, they come in dried form and it wouldn’t hurt to have some stored for an emergency.

And how about yeast? You’re not going to make much bread without it. Having the ingredients to make the things you want to eat is part of a well thought out plan. There are great books and online sites out there to get you thinking about food prepping and storage, if you’re interested in learning more.

The big story circulating now is the cost of liquid fertilizer, which has reportedly increased dramatically in price. Some farmers quoted in an article I read say they’re converting acres of corn into soybean because it takes less fertilizer to grow soybean. But corn is a staple in so many of our products. It also feeds farm animals.

A quick Google search will show that it’s true–the cost of fertilizer has skyrocketed. I read another article about a farmer named Matt Miles from Arkansas. He has more than 11,200 acres and raises six crops including nitrogen-hungry corn, cotton, and rice. Miles has been running through the possible scenarios for months as he watched fertilizer prices climb.

The price of some of his fertilizers went from $400 per ton to $1,000 per ton. Can you imagine? He has seen potash jump from $300 per ton earlier this year to $800 per ton now. “It will cost $180 an acre more in nitrogen to grow corn in 2022 than it did in 2021.”

As much as I envy farmers for being self-sustaining, I know that in the times we live in, farming is a balancing act few of us could imagine.

Miles says he’s going to start using more chicken litter as a fertilizer, although there’s a bit of a shortage of the stuff because all of the other farmers are doing the same thing.

This is the conversation amongst farmers at general stores and pancake breakfasts: how can we push back on fertilizer prices? Apparently, taxes and tariffs from fertilizer shipped to the States is behind the rising costs. We can thank the U.S. International Trade Commission for imposing these new tariffs. So much of what people put up with these days–especially farmers–comes from some high brow office somewhere from a pencil pusher taking orders who doesn’t know the first thing about farming.

“This issue is almost all we hear about today at every meeting and gathering of farmers,” one Ohio farmer was quoted as saying in an article. “When farmers are talking about 300% cost increases from a year ago, it raises red flags. We just can’t let this go without looking into this. There are clearly supply chain disruptions with everything from tennis shoes to fertilizer, but none to the tune of 300% increases.”

Farmers are going to push back and well they should. In the meantime, buy some extra food and some Mylar bags. I’m not looking at 2022 like it’s my best friend.

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