Dirt Cheap Gardening: Why You Should Save Takeout Containers

woman stacking takeout containers — (Image credit: © eleonora galli / Getty Images)

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If you’re like me, you hate tossing old takeout containers in the recycling bin. I always try to find ways to reuse them around the house. But there are also some great ways to use takeout containers in the garden that I’ve discovered as well.

Whether it’s the beginning of the growing season, the heat of summer, or plants are winding down in the fall, there are plenty of uses for takeout containers in the garden. These easy ideas turn trash into garden treasure and help you grow a better landscape without spending any money.

In this latest installment of the Dirt Cheap Gardening series, I share the reasons why I always save old takeout containers to use in my garden – and how you can use them in your own yard.

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1. Seed Starting Trays

Woman holding plastic container with seedlings inside

Plastic takeout containers make great DIY seed starting trays. The containers from my local Chinese takeout restaurant are particularly well-suited to this purpose. The shallow plastic container comes with a lid – that’s often clear, which is perfect for turning the tray into a mini greenhouse.

Before you plant, you need to create some drainage holes in the bottom of your takeout container. You can do this with a drill, an awl and mallet, or you can even heat up the sharp tip of a metal skewer with a lighter to make it easier to puncture the plastic.

Poke or drill at least a handful of drainage holes into the bottom of the container, then fill it with a high-quality seed starting mix – I’ve always had great results with this seed starting mix from Miracle-Gro – and plant your desired seeds.

Make some holes in the clear lid, if your container has one, and you can use that to help hold in moisture and heat while seeds germinate and start to grow. This turns your old takeout container into essentially a mini greenhouse for free.

2. Keep Bird Baths Cool

Summer heat can turn bird baths into breeding grounds for mosquitoes, bacteria, and algae. But that takeout container from your dinner last night can solve this problem. Instead of simply refilling your bird bath every few days with water, you can use the Tupperware trick to turn it into a clean cooling station for the local birds.

Fill a plastic takeout container with water and put it in the freezer overnight. In the morning, you’ll have a giant ice cube that you can put into the bird bath in your yard to give your feathered friends a refreshing surprise. As the outdoor temperature rises during the day, the ice cube will melt and create a cool, clean new splash zone for your neighborhood birds.

This trick not only helps birds cool off during late summer heat, but it also keeps your bird bath cleaner for longer and cuts down on pests. Warm water is the ideal environment for mosquito larvae to grow as well as harmful bacteria and algae. Combine this DIY trick with a copper bird bath disc from Amazon that naturally purifies the water and keeps it algae-free.

3. Create an Ant Trap

Creating a container for a homemade ant trap

If your garden is overrun with ants, then pull that takeout container out of the trash and turn it into a DIY ant trap. You first need to poke some holes in the bottom of your plastic takeout container – the same way you did to turn it into a seed starting tray.

Then add a tablespoon each of baking soda and powdered sugar, which you can pick up online from Target, and mix well. Don’t use regular granulated sugar because the ants will be able to separate the larger granules from the baking soda. The powdered sugar attracts the ants, but the baking soda creates a deadly reaction with their stomach acid.

If you only have a small infestation of ants, you can put the lid on your container and place it near the anthill in your yard. However, if you have a large infestation, mix in a little bit of water to create a paste. The paste is easier for them to carry back to their anthill and will eradicate some of the ants back in the hill as well as the ones who brought your concoction there.

4. Store Leftover Seeds

Takeout containers aren’t just good at storing food, they’re also good for storing leftover seed packets or large quantities of seeds you harvested from your own garden. If you have an abundance of seeds you weren’t able to plant in the spring and summer, then place them in an airtight takeout container to keep them dry and organized until next spring.

If you have any seeds that require cold stratification, you can also use a takeout container to give them a head start. You can either place the seed packets inside the takeout container in the back of your fridge in late winter (exactly when depends on the type of seed) or you can sprinkle some seeds on a damp paper towel, fold the towel, and place it inside the takeout container in your fridge.

Laura Walters is a Content Editor who joined Gardening Know How in 2021. With a BFA in Electronic Media from the University of Cincinnati, a certificate in Writing for Television from UCLA, and a background in documentary filmmaking and local news, Laura loves providing gardeners with all the know how they need to succeed, in an easy and entertaining format. Laura lives in Southwest Ohio, where she's been gardening for ten years, and she spends her summers on a lake in Northern Michigan. It’s hard to leave her perennial garden at home, but she has a rustic (aka overcrowded) vegetable patch on a piece of land up north. She never thought when she was growing vegetables in her college dorm room, that one day she would get paid to read and write about her favorite hobby.