Condiments are great.  Virtually every type of cuisine on the planet features some sort of condiments to go alongside its dishes. If variety is the spice of life, then condiments are the spice of food. Well… you know, besides actual spices. Afterall, french fries are pointless without ketchup and chicken fingers without honey mustard is a crime against humanity. But let’s face it, the vast majority of sauces and dressings we use are liquids that don’t hold up against the almighty force of gravity. Sure you can pour your favorite salsa out onto a plate and thrash your corn tortillas around in it like some sort of gluten intolerant caveman, but why do that when you can do better?

For reals. Don’t be save. Not cool dude.

There’s something strangely satisfying and comforting about dipping your food into a container filled with your favorite sauce. We see them all the time at restaurants. Yet it’s such a rarity to see any of those nice ceramic or hard plastic mini-cups in any cooking ware stores. How some company hasn’t put two and two together yet and decided “Hey let’s market these to regular people instead of selling them in bulk to large franchises, is beyond me. It’s not that frigging complicated either… it’s a small plastic cup. That’s it. No moving parts. No features. It’s literally just a cup. In theory you may be able to find them in a restaurant distributor store, though as mentioned those typically come in bulk, and many of those wholesale places require memberships. The restaurants that feature these nice cups don’t let you take them home either, so yeah, screw that. Move on to Plan B: stealing recycling.

You may be familiar with these little guys too. Similar to the ceramic cups you see in restaurants, these little plastic cups make their rounds in more laid back places, where they usually are given for take-out or even just left out alongside the plasticware where you get utensils and stuff. Whether you can find them clean or just get some home in your take-out, for the love of God hang onto these things. Sure it gets caked in dressings and sauces and whatever was in there, but it’s plastic. It’s not permanent, fancy plastic, but hey it’s still reusable. After you finish your condiments up, wash it in the sink with hot soapy water for a minute and-

Da-da-da-daaaa!

Look at that shit! They look perfect! Who’d’ve thought that cleaning would make stuff look brand new? But joking aside, these things clean up really well and honestly you can reuse them again and again and again. And if somehow they end up getting cruddy or worn out, just toss them in the actual recycling, so they can get turned into a park bench or milk bottle. Or maybe even another new little cup.

Either way, they come in handy so often, you can’t imagine. This little ensemble here was just a little sampler I put out when making some homemade chicken fingers one night. Yeah honey mustard is great, but why stop at just one condiment? With these cups, you can let each finger get its own sauce. Ketchup? Check. Honey mustard? Check. Sweet chili glaze? Check. BBQ sauce? Bam. Four chicken fingers, four condiments.

Why stop at chicken fingers though? Like I said, french fries appreciate the lovin’ too. All sorts of foods you eat at home can get the condiment cup treatment.

• Onion rings and chipotle ranch
• Mac ‘n’ cheese bites with marinara sauce
• Quesadillas with fresh pico de gallo
• Grilled chicken goes great with fresh Indian dressing / dipping sauce.
• Pizza is actually kinda good with hot sauce
• Potato pancake latkes and apple sauce
• Chicken tempura NEEDS a dipping sauce like ponzu sauce

The list goes on and on and on… but honestly, don’t get intimidated. You don’t need to make fresh condiments to make good use of these cups and enjoy dipping your food. Just go do what I did above, buy a bunch of sauces from the store and squeeze ’em into your cups as needed. It’s quick and easy and basically kind of free, since those cups come with your orders generally. What do you have to lose?

Pro-Tips

• When cleaning these plastic cups, do not put them in the dishwasher. It’s tempting, but the extremely high temperature of the water inside can actually cause the plastic to soften and warp.
• Similarly, do not use these cups in the microwave since they are not meant to be permanent containers. Microwaving plastics like the kind they’re made out of can release chemicals into the sauce it holds, so avoid doing that.