This $10 Plastic Container Changed How I Eat Dinner

updated May 3, 2019

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Dining area with round marble table, brown chairs, potted flowers, decorative plates, and faux deer heads on cream curtains. — (Image credit: Esteban Cortez)

There are many ways living in Germany has changed my life, but the greatest change came from a most unexpected source: a cheese box.

How has a five-Euro plastic container made such a huge impact on my dinner habits and well-being? And what makes a cheese box so superior to a dedicated cheese drawer in your refrigerator? A cheese box is ingenious because you can fill it with cheese from the market and put it straight on your dinner table — that’s why.

In Germany, a hastily composed cheese and charcuterie plate with some jam and pickles is a socially acceptable dinner. This is known as Abendbrot. Keeping all the components in one place (i.e., your cheese box) in your refrigerator makes it incredibly easy to put it on the table and call it a day.

(Image credit: Lily Kelting)

3 Cheese Boxes to Try

Cheese boxes are commonplace in Germany (and other parts of Europe), but try Googling cheese box in the States and you probably won’t find what I’m talking about, which is basically a plastic container.

It might be a large box with an airtight lid or it might be more akin to a very large butter dish. You can get fancy, too, and go for a multi-tiered box.

The most important thing, though, is that it’s big enough to hold all your cheese, small enough to fit in your fridge, and not so much of an eyesore that you can’t put it on the table.

Rosti Mepal, a Danish design company that specializes in plasticware, is a great place to start. Here are three different cheese boxes to try.