OP -- same thing happened to me when I was forced to make baby food and buy bottles. I started questioning what I was serving my baby her food in.

HF Coors is American made, lead-free (MANY name brands have lead! you would be surprised), cadium-free, meet California Prop 65. The dinnerware is a bit heavy, but it's very sturdy, as it's used in restaurants.

Corelle and Crate and Barrell dishware contains lead. I have called and talked to their customer service dept. But they are FDA approved, as the US govt DOES allow some lead in dinnerware.

Beware of highly colored, foreign-made dinnerware, esp from countries like Mexico and China.

This is what I do -- all cookware is stainless steel made in the USA (altho I have heard cast iron is the best), NO non-stick cookware, as the coating contains harmful chemicals. We don't use any plastic to eat out of -- never microwave plastic. We use glass to drink out of (American made). Again, foreign made glass can have lead.

I store baby food in glass containers (Innobaby) and breastmilk in glass bottles (that I can freeze -- Evenflo bottles).

I serve my babyfood in stainless steel bowls -- ThinkBaby makes them and you can get them on Amazon. Also, make sure the stainless steel is food grade too. I also use small glass custard dishes to serve baby food.

I have tried to rid plastic from my life b/c it's toxic, it contributes to our landfills and you can't heat food in it.

I use stainless steel sippy cups and every now and then I use a plastic ThinkBaby sippy cup. If you use plastic make sure it's #5.

#2, #4, and #5 plastics are the safest. Don't ever use #7 -- it contains BPA.

16:08: Generally, you can't go wrong with glass. Buy a big Pyrex set at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and call it a day! Like the PP, we're comfortable storing cold food in plastic, so we also use a Rubbermaid set in the fridge, for cold lunches, etc. But we have switched everyone to stainless steel waterbottles.

Plastic doesn't heat well. It can easily allow toxins to leach into the food. I personally don't mind plastic for storage or room temperature use. But I heat things up in glass.

Most bigger brand name porcelain uses lead and cadmium free glazes. California required labeling in the late 90s and most are lead-free now everywhere. Be more concerned/careful with no-name brands.

Yikes this question makes me cringe a little as I'm sure I've been unintentionally poisoning everyone in my family as I have a whole shelf of those ziploc gladware plastic boxes that I use to store food in the fridge. Even freezer.

Does anyone have a good reference/cheat sheet they can share about what dishes/containers are safe to use for various tasks--storage in fridge, freezer, and microwaving?

I'm sure I'll get flamed for not knowing this, but I don't.

Currently my 2 year old is drinking out of a playtex sippy cup. He ate lunch off of an OXO Tot plate with a fork of the same brand. I think our dishes came from Crate and Barrel 5 years ago and I routinely heat up stuff for my child using one of those plates/bowls in the microwave.

I feel like I will never catch up and have all of the safety things correct.

Corelle dinnerware is mostly made in the U.S. Other Corelle products (glassware, mugs, etc.) is made in China.

Everything by Anchor Hocking is US-made. Most of it is glass though, but it's microwave and oven safe.

http://www.anchorhocking.com/prod_17_dinnerware.html

Corelle here too. It was important to us that it was kid durable and made in the USA.

Our previous set was pfaltzgraff, but that's hard to find now.

NP here -- Fiestaware is made in the United States, for the record -- in West Virginia. That's what we use and our kids eat on it as well.

Fiestaware.


We have some stainless steel from the camping department

We have the little glass bowls that have kids. and is perfect snack size.

PP again, I also bought Duralex glasses. None have broken despite lots of spills and drops. For travel & outings, I use stainless steel.

I bought Corelle for the kids. The dishes are chip resistant (none of ours have broken in 3 years), made in the USA and made of glass. I also like how space efficient they are. They're great.

We use Pottery Barn's caterer's dinnerware. Plain white, but nice quality.

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/caterers-12-piece-dinnerware-set/?pkey=cdinnerware-white

Agree with PP, but if you need something unbreakable/babyproof for the short term, I don't think there's anything wrong with melamine (just don't micro anything in it)...if you want to avoid the plastic trap, you could look into enamelware (enamel coated metal dishes--like for camping) probably still can't micro it, but it is unbreakable and should last past the baby stage.

Porcelain/stonewear is fine. Fiestaware is pretty rugged and inexpensive, but there are lots of brands.

So I started out looking for dishes made in the USA and it proved virtually impossible. I must admit I'm not the most up to date on plastic vs silicon vs stainless steel etc etc. I'd appreciate recommendations for non-toxic dish options - both those that are baby/kid friendly and those for general family use once the kids are a bit older. I have to start making baby food for #2 and I'm not sure what to serve it out of and it has somehow prompted me to make a kitchen overhaul. Any go to websites with ideas would be great, too. Thanks!