Marking containers

Hey permies,

What do y'all use for marking containers? We currently use masking tape and a sharpie marker. We're usually marking glass containers for leftovers in the fridge. The smell of the markers tell me they shouldn't be in my home, let alone near my food, and I imagine the tape has loads of gick in it too. I'm looking for a less toxic solution.

A marking method would need to be easily removable during normal dish washing (hand or machine) and high enough visibility on glass to read at a glance in the fridge.

My current thought is some kind of wax pencil or crayon. Though the crayons I've tried don't seem to leave a dark enough mark on the glass.

What do you do? Any creative ideas?

I mark the lids. Mason jar 2 part lids. Never thought of crayons but i bet they work there. I mainly put the date on them. Contents are self evident...usually...lol

The missus has landed on using a little piece of paper with the label written on it in pen or pencil.  Then she tapes it on with two pieces of scotch tape.  One on each side.  Then when it's time to remove the label she tears it in half down the middle and uses the two sides to peel off each piece of scotch tape.  No residue but it's a bit time consuming to do.  Masking tape residue is kind of a pain after it's good and dried out (months).

With mason jars, I cut circles of paper and write on them and insert them between the rim and lid. But, I do this for long-term storage (to label the jar as having coconut flour or ginger, etc) One could probably cross out old labels and write new ones below, to keep from having to keep making little paper circles.

For leftovers in the fridge, I just look in the container to see what it is. Though, having a date on it would bed helpful sometimes!

Wayne, what do you use to Mark the lids?

Mike, for longer term storage, Scotch tape does make more sense because of residue. Not as convenient for short term though, which is what I'm usually doing.

Nicole, paper between the lid and rim is a great idea for main jars. Maybe if I had pre-cut pieces I could make that work just as fast as masking tape. Yeah, I'm usually more concerned with the date, though sometimes I label contents for things that are less self evident.

We also have  many Pyrex containers with plastic lids, and the occasional plastic takeout container (though I'm not as concerned about these long term). Any thoughts for these type of containers?

I use a permanent marker, but you have me intrigued to switch. A grease pencil would work on the lid or on glass. It's softer than a crayon.

Nicole, pinning paper between lid and band is a great tip!

The other way she does it for short term is a small paper note with a piece of scotch tape just holding the top edge on.  Then when it needs to come off, just pull the label and the tape peels right off.

For canning we use sharpies on the lids.  By the time the jar is used up and the lids washed, they are barely legible and can be reused for non-canning applications and new writing applied.

I like china markers for many things instead of a sharpie.

The grease pencil, a wax writing tool also known as a wax pencil, china marker or chinagraph pencil (especially in the United Kingdom), is a writing implement made of hardened colored wax and is useful for marking on hard, glossy non-porous surfaces.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_pencil

I use them for plant labels, packages and quite a lot in the kitchen.   The wax is a little hard to remove from glass or metal...not impossible though and I suspect it might stain plastic?  
I tried to find out what's in them and all I found was 'non toxic wax'.  I assume they are petroleum based, like crayons are? Something in their make up lets them adhere better than a wax crayon does.

Shane DeMeulenaere wrote:
Nicole, paper between the lid and rim is a great idea for main jars. Maybe if I had pre-cut pieces I could make that work just as fast as masking tape.

Tip for precutting things (from my teacher days): Trace the lid multiple times on one piece of paper. There sill now be something like 6 or 8 circles on the paper. Stack a bunch of paper under the one with circles (do at least 3 pieces under the traced paper. I usually do something like 7 for something like this where the cuts don't have to be perfect). Now, while holding all those papers together, cut out the circles. You'll get 4+circles made for the time it would normally take to make one, and by the time you have all the circles cut out, you'll have 24+ circles made and ready to store!

Shane DeMeulenaere wrote:
We also have  many Pyrex containers with plastic lids, and the occasional plastic takeout container (though I'm not as concerned about these long term). Any thoughts for these type of containers?

For short term storage, I write on the lids with a non-stinky dry erase marker inherited from my mom. It wipes off a little too easily, but once I got used to grabbing containers from the sides only, t was fine.

Nicole, I love the paper lid idea.  Thanks!