The “good” plastics
Any parent has heard that you have to be careful with plastics. There’s no question that it’s smart to use Pyrex, real glasses, ceramic dishes, uncoated aluminum water bottles, and real silverware as much as possible. But you just can’t eliminate plastic entirely, and it does appear that some plastic is tolerable (in baby bottles, for example), provided it’s BPA-free and you don’t heat it up (e.g. put it in the microwave) or cut food on it.
There’s a small triangle on the bottom of plastic products with a number inside – some numbers should be avoided, others seem okay. But for all the times I’ve heard what the acceptable plastics are, I can never remember when I’m actually buying things. So I made up a saying that has forever seared “the rules of plastic” into my mind:
“1 way 2 go 4 a high 5 is to avoid 3 and 7″
At this point, I just remember “1 way 2 go 4 a high 5″ – the latest research says that plastics with the number 1,2,4, or 5 on the bottom are best. Just repeat it a few times and you should be good to go!
