Why You Don't Need To Toss Your Food Takeout Containers

Technology and widespread delivery at your favorite restaurants has made mealtime easy for busy parents.

It's easier than ever to have your Bob Evans breakfast, lunch or dinner favorites delivered to you when you need a quick and satisying meal for your family.

But once the food is gone, you’ve got a bunch of packaging left over. The 50th anniversary of Earth Day is April 22 and we’ve got a few ideas to upcycle some of the containers you might find after your meal is over.

Herb Garden

Springtime is a great time to think about planting a garden. Not all gardens need a big back yard though. We poked a few holes in the bottom of a few of our soup containers, filled them with potting soil and planted a sink-side herb garden! Now, when you’re preparing your next home-cooked meal, you can reach over a pick a few leaves off your herb plants and season away!

Note: the lids can be used as trays underneath the planters to catch water and any loose soil!

Activity Banks

If you’ve got kids at home, take some time to teach them about money. Piggy banks are great, but we like the idea of Activity Banks. Add labels to a few empty containers with activities you and your kids enjoy – like movie night or a baseball game. When kids earn money for doing chores, they can add it to the bank they’re most excited about.

Note: we used an Xacto knife to cut a coinslot in the container lid. Be sure to cut it wide enough to allow for $10s and $20s!

Time Capsule

We capture so many memories digitally these days with our smartphones, but memories are also seashells from a beach vacation, subway tokens, wine corks and other treasures we pick up along the way. Turn your container into a time capsule. Glue a label with the year on it to the side and fill your capsule with all the things you accumulate throughout the year. Be sure to include notes to your future self in your time capsule so you can revisit special thoughts and memories you had as you assembled your capsule. Store your capsules away in a closet and make a plan to reopen them at the beginning of the next year.

Recycle

If you decide you’re finished with your packaging, we understand! Please consider, washing it out when you’re finished and recycling it so we can keep it out of landfills – and hopefully it can be used to create something else!

Container Challenge

These are just a few of the ideas we came up with, but there are so many more things you can do with these containers and all of the other empty packaging you have left over when the leftovers are gone. Get your meal delivered and share your creations with us using the packaging! Follow us on Instagram @bobevansfarms and tag your ideas #deliveryart