How to Create a Rustic Food Display!

This is the finished display!

We use reusable (PP: Polypropylene-Plastic # 5) containers to display food.

These were tricky to find and we didn't order them all at once. We also live in Japan and ordered in country. Search 'PP plastic deli containers.' The safest plastics for food are numbers 2, 4 and 5. That's HDPE, LDPE and PP. I'll add more info on the containers at the end of this post.

I can hear the screams now..."PLASTIC!!!" Polypropylene (PP) is a thermoplastic polymer. It is strong, tough, has a high resistance to heat and acts as a barrier to moisture. It's the same stuff used to make lunchboxes. If you decide on plastic, make sure that it's a food safe plastic. We often throw food parties and these are perfect!

Here's some more info on what we used:

Plastic 5: Polypropelene (PP)

Polypropelene containers do not leach harmful chemicals into foods or liquids and are not associated with any known health issues. Typically, this plastic is transluscent or opaque in color and has a high melting point, which typically makes these containers microwave or dishwasher safe, according to Chemical Safety Facts.

Type 5 plastic is used to make yogurt containers, cream cheese containers, maple syrup bottles or prescription bottles.

The containers we use are microwavable and dishwasher safe, but we don't microwave them or put them in the dishwater. We don't cook food in them either.

We like these containers, because they are easy to clean and store away.

Mariko used my workshop to display the food. Check out those green blinds.

Mariko is going rustic so no tablecloth. These are two of my workshop tables pushed up against each other. I stained them with 'kakishibu' and if you follow me, you know I love kakishibu!

I built these two boxes for Mariko and stained them in teak. Building boxes is super easy! I used regular plywood and just screwed all the pieces together from the sides. The dollar store sells wooden boxes too!

We already had that large box in storage and it was just the right color. You can also use crates and pallets as stands for the food.

Mariko wanted some steps for the back of the display, so I made these. Just three pieces of plywood! I painted them red and then darkened them with a watered down black paint to match the dish that'll sit on them.

This is just a piece of plywood screwed to the bottom of a dollar store box. The dollar store carries all kinds of cool stuff! I stained this in teak to match the boxes.

These are the dishes that were used.

-The three red and two wine red baking dishes are from Costco Japan.

-The glass bowl and cake stand are from Ikea Japan.

-The two white flower vases are from The Daiso Japan.

These were used to display the meat and cheeses.

-The cutting board and black plate are from Ikea Japan.

-The two white sauce dishes are from Cainz Japan.

-The serving tray was a gift.

-The wooden square is from The Daiso Japan.

Cooking and baking is Mariko's superpower!

This post is "how to create a rustic food display." The costliest part is of course the food and I won't list that here.

For the containers, check out https://www.webstaurantstore.com/779/deli-take-out-containers.html

You're looking at 25-50 containers for about $5. Search with keywords like:

-round,

-rectangular

-parfait

-sauce

I wish Hometalk would make a Foodtalk! What do you think?

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