Can you reuse Microswaveable Soup Bowls?

[Frank]

I am trying to eat better (and cheaper) while I am at work. I picked up a couple of the Microwaveable Campbell Soups and they were pretty good but they cost more then if I go to Sams and pick up a bundle of them.

My question is can I safely reuse the containers of the Microwaveable soups with regular soups? I have seen articles where they state the plastics in a lot of temporary containers breakdown after multiple uses but I am not sure if this applies to a product that is designed to be microwavable.

[fatboyuk]

I think you should be safe for a few good eating sessions with them.

I reuse the microwave-able pudding bowls to make my own in and they haven't had a melt down on my hands yet :D

Just check for cracks when you wash them up in the evening.

[+M2Ys4U Subscriber¹]

IANAPE but I'd say you can probably get a handful of uses out of them before it's best to change it.

[John S. Veteran]

Yeah I get those microwaveable bowls (near the styrofoam plates/cups) and reuse them several times before tossing them. But as far as eating 'better' many soups are loaded with massive amounts of sodium. Plastics have come a long way, some are even oven safe, we'll be seeing more of that in the next few months/years.

[phend-one]

If you really want to be healthy, you'd choose something else other than prepackaged microwavable soup. As much as I'd love to save time and not have to worry about making my own food, if you make it you know what's in it. You care about your health, then stop eating so much preprocessed food. Eating cheaper doesn't mean going for what's labelled in the store that's labelled and cheap. You can still eat cheap and from natural things.

I agree with John S. There have been a few TV shows, articles about how much salt is in some of these soups. Campbell's particularly has taken the spotlight for this issue in a few select brands of it's soup. If you have low blood pressure I suppose it might help you? (If you must drink the soup: Drink / Avoid list for canned soup)

As to microwaving plastic, if I can avoid it, I'll do it. I don't care who says what about plastic. That material has shown up too much in the news (those plastic drink bottles) and if you just search for the term "plastic leaching into food" on your favorite search engine, you'll find quite a number of articles about the potential dangers of it. No one can really prove it (plastic makers want to keep their business/profits intact so of course they'll say it's not harmful. You going to believe them? What about the scientists they hire to lobby for their message that it's not harmful? At this point what can you believe?). But if there is a slight chance that it could be harmful for you and your family, why take the risk because of convenience?

I think there have been some articles stating that microwaving food is unhealthy too (link, but do your own research).

Sorry for going off on such a long rant and slightly off topic, but when I see a few posters saying that it's OK to reuse 1 time use containers it really worries me. Again, do your own research and decide for you and your family if it's right for you (going off your avatar and assuming that's your boy). This post is really to give you a base to start your own research.

[MillionVoltss]

Soups have some of the highest amounts of salt than other foods in them, you could get noodles instead as an easy replacement.

[John S. Veteran]

As to microwaving plastic, if I can avoid it, I'll do it. I don't care who says what about plastic. That material has shown up too much in the news (those plastic drink bottles) and if you just search for the term "plastic leaching into food" on your favorite search engine, you'll find quite a number of articles about the potential dangers of it. No one can really prove it (plastic makers want to keep their business/profits intact so of course they'll say it's not harmful. You going to believe them? What about the scientists they hire to lobby for their message that it's not harmful? At this point what can you believe?). But if there is a slight chance that it could be harmful for you and your family, why take the risk because of convenience?

What exactly is supposed to be leeching into food? PET plastics (drink bottles) raw products are wood pulp and Acetic acid (vinegar is weak Acetic acid). Since the Acetic is recovered from the process and reused you're afraid of wood pulp?

[_bobcat_ Veteran]

What about buying a ceramic/glass bowl and just keeping that at work? We have some stoneware plates and bowls that are microwave safe, and I can't imagine there is a limit on how many times they can be used.

If you really want to be healthy, you'd choose something else other than prepackaged microwavable soup. As much as I'd love to save time and not have to worry about making my own food, if you make it you know what's in it. You care about your health, then stop eating so much preprocessed food. Eating cheaper doesn't mean going for what's labelled in the store that's labelled and cheap. You can still eat cheap and from natural things.

I agree with John S. There have been a few TV shows, articles about how much salt is in some of these soups. Campbell's particularly has taken the spotlight for this issue in a few select brands of it's soup. If you have low blood pressure I suppose it might help you? (If you must drink the soup: Drink / Avoid list for canned soup)

....

You don't know what he was eating before. It could be a very big improvement on that. :p Small steps toward a healthier diet are often easier to maintain than a wholesale change..

I think there have been some articles stating that microwaving food is unhealthy too (link, but do your own research).

.....

I don't like that link. It's very vague and makes the mistake of attributing cause and effect when there is only a correlation.

There are case reports of anaphylactic shock in patients receiving blood transfusions after being warmed in a microwave.

It makes claims without direct references (numbered at each point) unless you want to sift through the links at the bottom..

So I wonder what the author makes of the regular practice of irradiating blood with a source of gamma radiation (for certain patients, not all). I don't know if you can get an allergic reaction from a blood transfusion. Sounds more like a case of incorrect typing causing a "transfusion reaction" - nothing to do with the microwave, it just wouldn't cause it. Well, unless it could magically turn O into A or introduce some Kell and FYB antigens.. not likely really!

Microwaving is just a source of heat. Any health risks are probably more to do with what is being microwaved. Your article does not state whether diet was looked at. Microwaves might just encourage a lazy approach to diet over the traditional baking in the oven.

What about comparisons with other sources of heating .. they might cause problems. If you burn food it creates toxic substances. Clearly we should not be cooking at all.

To be fair, I don't know for certain that microwaving food is safe, but I just think that was a very badly written piece by someone with little scientific education ... I would trust scientists over non scientists on this matter.. It looks like a conspiracy theorist who is slightly more logical and articulate than they usually are. I certainly wont be avoiding microwave ovens on that basis. The article isn't good enough to warrant further research.