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Disposable dinnerware is convenient and has improved a great deal from the leaky, flimsy picnic fare of years past.
From weddings to backyard BBQs, we've found the best disposable plate to meet your style, your budget, and even for the environment.
We've all been there. You're at a function with paper plates. You load your plate, juggle your cutlery and drink, and look for a place to sit or prop up. Then the plate folds and everything tumbles to the ground or into your lap. The party is over.
Disposable dinnerware has come a long way from the nearly see-through scallop-edged white plate. Today you can find affordable, stylish disposable dinnerware made from hard plastics, coated papers, bamboo and palm leaf fibers, and in every shape, design, and color. With so many options, finding the best choice for your needs can be confusing.
After years and years of feeding the masses of family and friends at my door and the inevitable task of cleaning up after, I made it my quest in the last few months to find the best disposable dinnerware to make my life easier. Oh, I can still break out the china and shine the sterling, but sometimes there are just more important things in life.
As we've all discovered, not all paper plates are equal. Fortunately, there are plenty of choices available so you can find the right product for the right occasion. For a kid's birthday party serving only cake and a scoop of ice cream, a brightly colored theme plate works just fine. For a picnic buffet where heavy burgers and potato salad and soupy baked beans are on the menu, the need for sturdiness outshines the need for style. But for special occasions like wedding and anniversary parties, a look of even faux elegance is essential.
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I've taken into consideration looks, performance, price, and environmental impact.
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We might like to have custom china designed to complement the theme of a wedding or celebration, but most of the time budget constraints keep that from happening. Unless you are holding the event in a full-service facility, renting china is expensive and the hassle of borrowing enough plates for everyone can make you weep.
Luckily, there are Occasions Wedding Party Packs. I found this company when putting together an anniversary celebration. Working with a budget, we wanted more than flimsy clear plastic plates but couldn't afford to rent china. With 24 available patterns and two different pack sizes, we found the perfect plates for our gathering.
The pack includes 10.5-inch dinner plates and smaller dessert or salad plates that are 7.5-inches. While sturdy enough to support a steak, the white plastic background is quite translucent like fine bone china and looks best on white or very light-colored linens. The plates can actually be hand washed and reused several times (I did not choose that option!). I don't recommend using these in a microwave; however, the plastic is recyclable and BPA free.
My favorite thing about the packs is how many design options are offered. Some cost a bit more but you are still getting plates at a cost of $0.30 to $0.42 each. That's less than $1 per person for a dinner and dessert place setting. With a 4.5-star rating on Amazon, plenty of party planners have discovered the elegance and ease of this dinnerware.
The word "picnic" invokes a casual, relaxed, easy-to-host image. Yet when I think back on the many picnics of my youth and those with my kids, I don't always feel relaxed. We would arrive at an area to find not enough tables available so some had to eat with their paper plate in their lap. That led to complaints of leakage and collapsing plates; not to mention wasted food.
After trying numerous brands, I have found that Dixie Ultra Heavy Duty Paper Plates offer the best performance at a picnic for the best price. The plates are just a touch over 10-inches in diameter and will support up to two pounds of food when held with just one hand. Thanks to a proprietary coating, they are soak-proof, cut resistant, and microwaveable. While they can't be recycled at home if contaminated with food, they are compostable in established facilities.
The downside of the plates is that design choices are limited. Dixie has several designs but they tend to run seasonally; so if you find a pattern you like, stock up. You may never see it again. But at a cost of around $0.11, I can live with a design that might not be my favorite. Remember, they are going in the trash can right after the meal.
Around 85% of the purchasers on Amazon give the Dixie Heavy Duty Plates a 5-star rating. That's some happy campers.
Pros: Sturdy paper plates with leak-proof coating, 11-cents per plate with coupons and sales offered frequently, compostable
Cons: Limited design options, cannot be recycled at home if contaminated with food products
The best for the environment
With no inks, no coatings, and composed of renewable plant fibers, Hefty Paper Plates are best for the environment.
Strict environmentalists will tell you that no disposable dinnerware is good for the environment. It is true that every disposable adds to the solid waste problem. But the realities are that sometimes we choose to use disposable plates. When you do, Hefty Paper Plates are one of the best choices.
The plates are molded from plant fibers that contain no chlorine from bleaching, no coatings are applied, and they are free of inked-on designs. Certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), the plates are totally compostable in commercial facilities.
Consumer Reports tested numerous plates and only Hefty Paper Plates biodegraded completely within three weeks. Others took much longer to disappear.
Even though the plates have no special coating, I found that they hold up well to very moist foods with no leaking. They are safe to use in the microwave for reheating foods.
The dinner plates are a bit smaller than some at only 8.75-inches. There are also 6.75-inch snack plates, bowls, and platters available. With a 4.8-star rating of approval from purchasers on Walmart.com and at a cost of around eight cents per plate, you can afford to help protect Mother Nature.
Pros: Sturdy, no leak paper plates, no dyes, ink or chlorine, the fastest composting rate for disposable plates
When my sons were younger, they seemed to eat 24-hours a day. I know you think they slept some of that time but the number of dishes I found under their beds begs to differ.
Needless to say, I got very tired of gathering and washing dishes but Dixie Everyday Paper Plates came to my rescue. I had purchased the least expensive store-brand paper plates but they were worthless. They leaked, they folded and spilled food everywhere. Why pay for something that makes more work?
Dixie Everyday Paper Plates are more substantial and can hold up to one pound of food without collapsing. That's about four slices of pepperoni pizza (six on a plate is a family record) on a 10-inch plate. They are five-ply, have a soak-resistant coating, and are safe to use in the microwave. Complimentary bowls are also available.
Design choices are limited but at a cost of only nine cents per plate, I can live with that. Dixie products are often on sale and subscription services offer even better prices so you can probably save each time you shop.
The nearly six hundred reviewers on Amazon give Dixie Everyday 4.7 stars. You'll get plenty when you order, enough to get you through at least a few days with kids!
Pros: Sturdy and soak-proof, budget-priced, microwavable
There you are at an event trying to eat your dessert when a tine breaks off the fork. Or, just try to look graceful eating anything with a spork. No thank-you.
No plastic, disposable cutlery is going to work as well as metal utensils but Precisely Plastic Disposable Cutlery comes close. And the big bonus, you don't have to wash it after the meal even though the pieces are sturdy enough to use again.
Remember the anniversary party with Occasions Disposable Dishes? Right beside the plates, we used Precisely Plastic Cutlery. The pack with 100 forks, 50 knives, and 50 spoons were perfect for the event. The pieces are around 7.5-inches in length and heavy-duty enough to cut through food without breaking.
The only downside is the cutlery is only available in silver if you crave another look. With a 4.8-star rating on Amazon and a cost of only 38-cents per place setting, I can like silver.
Pros: Sturdy plastic holds up to most foods, disposable, cost-effective