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Luisa Tam

When I was a child, I remember my friends loved to visit my house because we always had a lot of food stocked in the kitchen.
Despite being a small family of three we had two fridges, one of which was a freezer, and there was lots of cupboard space for copious amounts of canned food.
My friends used to joke that my family had more than enough food to survive a nuclear fallout.
Those growing up in a Chinese household will never starve because there is always more than enough food and ingredients around to make a meal, even if there is no fresh produce available.
Any Chinese family will have stocked up on plenty of canned food because they believe these foodstuffs last forever, even though they actually have expiry dates and only keep from two to five years.

A quintessentially Chinese ingredient that has a supposedly infinite shelf life is ham dan (salted eggs) and pei dan, the much-revered thousand-year-old eggs. While they may not last forever, they certainly taste like they have been around forever.
One of my aunts from my father’s side used to say that a Chinese kitchen was not complete unless it had lots of instant noodles, a big bucket of rice, a proper rice cooker, a bottle of rice wine, a vast collection of must-have Chinese seasonings, and a freezer stuffed with frozen food such as meatballs and dumplings.
And there is one thing that distinguishes a Chinese household from non-Chinese ones, an odd collection of reused containers that have been repurposed for the kitchen.
For example, my aunt has reused old make-up bottles to store oils and other condiments. And even more confusing – at least for those who aren’t familiar with her particular system – is that each bottle isn’t labelled.
What’s in a name? For Hongkongers, more than you might think
After all, it is her kitchen, so why should she need to label them? Unfortunately, this has proved to be a nightmare for those who have dared to cook in her kitchen.
In spite of her seemingly strange storage system, my aunt is a fantastic cook. She can whip up a good meal with very limited resources. If I were to rate her, I would give her at least two Michelin stars. Plus, the exclusivity of her personalised kitchen system makes her meals all the more unique.
She is also an environmentalist, albeit an inadvertent one, as she was one of many Chinese home cooks who pioneered this system of reusing and repurposing, even before recycling became popular in this part of the world.
My aunt reuses most containers, especially those made of glass, and she loves them because she thinks they are durable, easy to clean, and they look good.

She doesn’t care what the container previously held. Her rationale is that as long as the container is thoroughly cleaned it can be used to hold anything, once it’s been given a new lease of life.
There was one time I was watching her cook as I wanted to pick up a few tricks, and when she asked me to pass her some chilli oil she said: “Could you pass me that bottle of skin toner please?”
You can imagine my reaction. Then she would say, what about some sesame oil in the other bottle of skin toner? I was confused and said: “Which brand, the Japanese or the Korean one?”
My aunt has all kinds of skin toners that have been rebottled to hold any and all kinds of liquid seasoning. If anyone could hear our conversation during cooking, they would probably think we were trying to poison our family.
My aunt even once complained to me she was not happy with the material of her repurposed containers. She said most make-up bottles used to be made of glass instead of plastic. From her point of view, glass has no chemicals and it’s easier to clean, and because it’s see-through, it’s easy for other cooks in her kitchen to see the contents of a bottle.


My older relatives, mostly in their 70s and 80s, are the same, if not worse.
They store, or hide, their precious belongings in the most dreary looking reused containers, mostly biscuit tin boxes. That’s why they love to receive boxes of biscuits as presents during Lunar New Year, it means more tin boxes for them to use for storage.
They told me it’s the best way to store passports, photos, jewellery, and other precious items because if ever should there be a fire, they would just need to grab these tin boxes and run for their lives.
I can’t stop laughing whenever I try to picture my old aunts and uncles running from a burning building, cradling an assortment of tin cans in their arms.
But after one of my aunts later explained their logic to me, it all became clear, and even I have been tempted by the idea of storing my belongings in reused tin containers.
She said even if they couldn’t take all their “mobile safes” with them, their belongings would remain intact because tin cans don’t burn and can withstand intense heat. Even I have gradually bought into the idea over the years.
Chinese, frugal and proud: why splashing the cash doesn’t always pay
And to be honest, it’s not really that difficult to manoeuvre with repurposed make-up bottles or tins.
It may seem ridiculous, but can you deny the obvious benefits?
One, you’re doing your part for the environment. Two, they are a lot less conspicuous than a jewellery box and could protect your belongings against thieves. And finally, your belongings are also safeguarded against some unexpected disasters, like a house fire.
Sounds like a win to me!
Luisa Tam is a Post correspondent who also hosts Cantonese-language video tutorials that are now part of Cathay Pacific’s in-flight entertainment programme


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Uniquely Hong Kong

A Chinese kitchen: buckets of rice, makeshift containers, stashed jewellery and enough food to survive a nuclear fallout

Any Chinese family will have stocked up on plenty of canned food because they believe these foodstuffs last forever. Photo: AFP

View of Golden Resources Company's Golden Elephant Brand Premium Jasmine Rice in Tsing Yi. 12FEB20 SCMP / May Tse

Customers can spice up the noodles with home-made chili oil and spicy dried radish at WYJI, Wanchai, 2019. [100- 17SEPTEMBER2019] SCMP / OASIS LI

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Forget expiry dates, everlasting foodstuffs packed into old skin toner bottles and other repurposed containers meant there was always a meal to be made
Old biscuit tins made the perfect hideaway for jewellery and other valuables



Forget expiry dates, everlasting foodstuffs packed into old skin toner bottles and other repurposed containers meant there was always a meal to be made.


Hong Kong culture

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Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


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My Hong Kong

My Hong Kong | A Chinese kitchen: buckets of rice, makeshift containers, stashed jewellery and enough food to survive a nuclear fallout

Forget expiry dates, everlasting foodstuffs packed into old skin toner bottles and other repurposed containers meant there was always a meal to be made Old biscuit tins made the perfect hideaway for jewellery and other valuables

Forget expiry dates, everlasting foodstuffs packed into old skin toner bottles and other repurposed containers meant there was always a meal to be made

Old biscuit tins made the perfect hideaway for jewellery and other valuables