The studio kitchen has taught me to be honest about what earns a shelf. A fridge and a stretch of counter the size of a chopping board don’t leave room for anything that only does one job well. For a long time that meant plastic containers, the kind that go cloudy after six months, that hold the ghost of last week’s curry no matter how many times they go through the dishwasher, that warp slightly in the microwave until the lid never quite seals again. I kept buying them anyway, because glass felt like a luxury for a bigger kitchen than mine.
Then I brought home the new Pyrex Ultra Glass Bake N Reheat Range, now sitting exclusively on Coles shelves, and realised I’d been solving the wrong problem. The base is borosilicate glass, non porous, so it doesn’t hold onto smell or stain the way plastic does, and it shrugs off scratches from actual daily use. The lid is tempered glass too, airtight and leak proof, which matters more than I expected the first time I tilted a container of leftover soup in my bag without a second thought. One material, base to lid, doing everything from the oven to the freezer to the dishwasher.
The round ones: Bang Bang Chicken Rice Bowl and Hummus
The 650mL and 950mL round containers became my meal prep bowls almost immediately. There’s something satisfying about cooking straight into the same glass you’ll eat from, then sliding it into the fridge without a container swap in sight. When it’s time to eat, the lid’s integrated steam vent means I can microwave the whole bowl without lifting the lid at all, just a twist to release the steam and keep the splatter contained.
Bang Bang Chicken Rice Bowl
Ingredients (serves 2)
• 2 cups cooked jasmine rice
• 300g shredded cooked chicken
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• 1 tbsp sriracha
• 1 cucumber, julienned
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 2 spring onions, sliced
Method
• Whisk together the mayonnaise, sweet chilli sauce and sriracha until smooth.
• Spoon the rice into the base of your Pyrex round container, then top with the chicken, cucumber and carrot.
• Drizzle the bang bang sauce over the top, scatter with spring onions, then seal with the lid and refrigerate.
• To reheat, open the steam vent and microwave for 2 to 3 minutes, no need to remove the lid.
Swap rotisserie chicken in for an even faster version. The sauce keeps well if you make a double batch to dress bowls through the week.
Hummus
Ingredients (Serves 4)
• 400g canned chickpeas, drained
• 60ml tahini
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 60ml cold water
• 1/2 tsp salt
Method
• Add the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and salt to a food processor and blend until crumbly.
With the motor running, stream in the water and olive oil until smooth and creamy.
• Adjust salt and lemon to taste, then spoon straight into your Pyrex round container and seal with the lid.
Keeps in the fridge for up to five days. A swirl of olive oil on top before serving never hurts.
The square ones: Almond Croissant Baked Oats and Baked Lasagna Bowl
The 520mL and 800mL square containers are the ones that go into the oven. That’s the detail that changed my routine the most, being able to bake in the exact dish I’ll eat and store from, since the base is oven and air fryer safe as well as freezer and dishwasher safe. The lid stays freezer, microwave and top rack dishwasher safe too, so nothing about the routine gets more complicated once the food is cooked.
Almond Croissant Baked Oats
Ingredients (Serves 1)
• 60g rolled oats
• 150ml milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbsp flaked almonds
Method
• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Whisk together the oats, milk, egg, honey and almond extract directly in your Pyrex square dish.
• Scatter over the flaked almonds and bake uncovered for about 25 minutes, until just set and golden on top.
• Let cool slightly, then seal with the lid. Keeps in the fridge for a few days.
• To reheat, open the steam vent and microwave for 60 to 90 seconds the next morning.
A few chopped croissant pieces stirred through before baking push this properly into bakery territory.
Baked Lasagna Bowl
Ingredients (Serves 1)
• 3 lasagna sheets, broken into pieces
• 200g bolognese sauce
• 60g ricotta
• 40g shredded mozzarella
• 15g grated parmesan
Method
• Preheat the oven to 190C.
• In your Pyrex square dish, layer the lasagna pieces, bolognese and ricotta, repeating until the dish is full, finishing with sauce.
• Scatter over the mozzarella and parmesan, cover with the lid and bake for 20 minutes.
• Remove the lid and bake a further 10 minutes, until golden and bubbling.
• Cool completely, seal with the lid and freeze. Reheat from frozen with the steam vent open.
Because the base is freezer safe and the lid seals airtight, this one goes from oven to freezer to microwave without ever leaving the dish.
Range: Pyrex Ultra Glass Bake N Reheat, available exclusively at Coles
Sizes: 650mL and 950mL round, 520mL and 800mL square
Base: borosilicate glass, non porous, stain and scratch resistant, oven, air fryer, microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe
Lid: tempered glass, airtight and leakproof, with an integrated steam vent for mess free microwave reheating, freezer, microwave and top rack dishwasher safe
None of this required me to overhaul the kitchen or find more cupboard space. It just meant swapping the plastic tubs stacked behind my one cupboard door for containers that go from prep to oven to fridge to microwave without a single transfer in between. In a studio, that’s not a small thing. It’s the difference between cooking around your kitchen’s limits and just cooking.
