What Do We Have Against Aluminum?

"Aluminum has finally been foiled." Why, exactly? Oh - that's right, because we came up with something even more convenient.

I realize the process of getting aluminum from the planet isn't like being licked by puppies, but the stuff is endlessly recyclable, back into the same stuff it started out as. Aluminum. Or, if you are British, aluminium. Which I find a pretty cool way to say it. But anyway. Up til now, if you needed a quick baking pan or something to bring to someone else's place, you bought an inexpensive aluminum pan that pretty much had just a few uses in it, if you were careful. No worries when it was no longer able to go on... or you put the knife through it... it went in the recycling bin, no questions, no second thought. I personally take my food to other places in my Pyrex. I'm not terribly worried about not getting it back, you know? But anyway.

Chinet doesn't think that is good enough. Nope, they saw a market and went for it. They have new disposable non-stick attractive bakeware. Freezer to microwave. Resealable lid. OK to leave behind. $4.95 is not a bad price point, I suppose, for something you are only going to use once, right? And it's made from 90% recycled materials.

I.... have questions.

There is an instructional .pdf. Cool. This will tell me more. Uh... no, now I just have more questions.

90% recycled material. Recycled WHAT? I'm getting that it's a paper sort of product. I guess. I think. Recycled from where? It never actually says WHAT it is. And it's non-stick? How? With what? What makes it non-stick? Is it plastic? Dupont? What? It doesn't say anywhere. It has a lid. Made from what? Oh - plastic. Is it recyclable? Doesn't say. All it says is you'd better not put the lid on when food is hot or warm, it can deform. Hm... not a very effective lid. Chinet Bakeware is great to go to the freezer, but not with its own lid. You need something else. (Like, aluminum foil, maybe?) And don't reheat anything in it with the lid on it. Lid can deform. (I'm getting a little dizzy at this point.) You cannot reuse the pan at all. You cannot wash the pan. (It will deform. I'm seeing a trend here. oh - SORRY - "distort and weaken.") You can't broil in it or go above 400 degrees. You can't use it in anything but a regular or microwave oven... not a toaster oven, not around a grill, not around portable cooking devices.

(Who besides me is reading all this handy information before using???)

"Sturdy and dependable." Yeah - once. Even a one-night stand is sturdy and dependable ONCE. Usually.

I guess I'm just failing to see the point here, except that we have a product that is destined for the landfill. It cannot be recycled again, the plastic lid is apparently completely useless except for a tiny portion of its life, which you may as well use FOIL at that point... That's it. If I go anywhere pot-luckish or picnicky, and someone has brought one of these, I really will not be able to NOT slap them. There. Everyone has been warned. Thanks, Chinet! You found yet one more way to bring even more garbage to picnics and life in general! Impressive!