What do you do with the empty, food containers, that are bought in the store?

depnds on the container , the small butter bowls make great snack bowls for kids school lunchs , the bigger bowls make great left over containers , i have even stored sugar in them as well as storing koolaid packets etc , the ice cream pails make great laundry soap containers as well as clothes pin containers ,, the buckets i get from buying cat litter i re use them as well , for storing christmas lights , laundry soap (powder) , bathroom trash , bed room trash cans , as well as kitchen trash , i also us ethem to store pet food , so there are many uses for them , if kids come over and want to color i use several smaller bowls to place exact amount of crayons and same colors in them so the kids dont fight over them etc , , i also use the bowls and ice cream buckets for food containers for my pets , i even use them as water cathers for my plants , or if im gonna be gone a few days i place the plant in the bowl and water till the water over flows from the bowl , then i know my plant will have enough water to soak up from the bottom till i get back

i have even froze water in the buckets , and bowls as well as the soda bottles for ice for the ice chest if htere was a big get together or party etc

Yeah sometimes - it depends what the container is like. There are a lot that are very flimsy and wouldnt do very well at holding much again and lots of them have holes all over. I do try to think of purposes that I could reuse things for but I dont stack up things just for the sake of not throwing anything away.

Here most food container materials can be recycled unless they are made of combined materials, like "paper cans" used for frozen juice. I try to avoid those containers or cut the metal from the paper so they are recycleable.

Sometimes I use the containers to freeze leftovers or store bits and pieces, but I don't concern myself over it too much since they are diverted from landfill anyway. If your area doesn't have a recycling program you should demand one.

Store containers are not suitable for storing or heating leftover food. They contain chemicals that will leach into your food. However, as you suggested, you can reuse them to store nails or other hardware. You shouldn't throw them out. Instead you should recycle them. And if your community does not recycle yet, then you should get active in your community and demand a recycling program.

normally i try to wash them and reuse them. Not always for food. Sometimes i keep them for nuts and screws in the tool cabnet. Also a good thing to use them for is to store small things in the bathroom, like hair ties, clips, bobbypins. When they arent a color I liek i just go to the craft store and buy paint made for plastic and paint over them (not recommened for food)

why waste perfectly good containers?

The little microwave plates are great for a kid's paint palette.

I save the mayo and sauce jars and after washing them out I store the herbs from my garden I dehydrate, they store soup in the fridge really well and at Christmas the kids decorate them and we fill it with dry soup mixes, cocoa mix or cookie mixes and give them as gifts.

The plastic containers that sugar free drink mix comes -- the outside container -- is great for herbs, sewing supplies, kid's treasures, dog treats and for the cocoa mix we give at Christmas.

The bowl with lid kind -- cottage and ricotta cheese and yogurt -- are cleaned out and used to store leftovers. Our church saves them and when we have a supper leftovers are sent home with some of the elderly or used to take to shut ins, and no one has to worry about returning them. My family saves theirs and at the holidays we use them to divide up the food after the big meal.

When the kids were babies I used the old baby food jars to store my homemade roast garlic paste.

What we cannot use or have too many of we recycle in attempts to keep it out of the landfills.

Peace.

How about saving the liners to your cereal boxes. They are a good heavy duty kind of plastic. You can use them as plastic bags or open them up and use them instead of waxed paper. When I need to pound out some meat, like chicken breasts, I put them in the plastic cereal box bag and pound away. No shredding up like when I use plastic wrap.

the plastic kind that are washable? we use them! the don't last that long, no matter if you buy the 'glad' brand or use the old meat plastics...

better question: what do you do with cereal boxes? our recycle center won't take them. (cereal boxes, mac and cheese boxes, etc.)

I use some of them the way you do. I can now recycle many of them so they're not taking over my house! ;-)=

i do throw most away. my husband hates extra stuff! i save like pickle jars for carrot sticks and celery sticks. i throw most others away tho, i do think that i coul duse some for storing food, but like i said, my hubby hates it!