Water bottles in the car
Yesterday was an absolute scorcher in our part of the world, over 40°C which didn't let up until around 8pm at night. For the first time this season, all the coconut oil in the warehouse was melted down to the bottom of the jar. It usually just gets a little melty on the top and then goes solid again. Not yesterday. When I got in my car at the end of work I grabbed my water bottle to take a drink. While I have quite a few different drink bottles, the one in my car yesterday was made from bpa free plastic, and normally, I don't have any issue with drinking from it in the car. I have never noticed the taste of the plastic leaching in to the water before. Yesterday was different.
At 5.30pm, the temperature outside was reading as 42°C, I can only imagine what it was like inside the car. It was like it for at least 6 hours. When I took a sip from my bottle, it was hot enough to make tea from, and I could taste the difference in the water. For the first time, I could taste something leaching in to the water from my drink bottle. Needless to say, one sip was all I took and I went back inside for a refill before driving home. While this has never happened before, the extreme temperature and sheer length of time has made a difference in this instance. Because of this, I am now going to switch to a glass water bottle for my car. We'll give you a run down on the best water bottles for your car below, but first we'll talk about when using bpa free water bottles is still a great choice.
So when are BPA Free bottles ok?
If you are ok with the use of bpa free plastics, there are still times that they're not the best choice. You can use this information below to make an informed choice about when to use them and when to use an alternative. From my own personal experience and speaking to industry experts, the use of bpa free plastics is best done when there are no extremes of temperature involved.
- No dishwashers
- No hot cars for extended periods of time
- No hot sun all day at the beach (without insulation)
- No freezers
If you're going for a walk and you don't want to carry a heavier stainless steel or glass water bottle, bpa free plastic is great. If you want to send your kids to school with one and you know they're not going to have it out in extreme heat all day, that's great too. Taking a short trip in your car, fine. A long trip in winter, fine too. Just watch extended periods of extreme heat.
Of course, if you decide that bpa free plastics aren't what you want for your family, that's fine too. You can always choose glass or stainless steel as an alternative, and now we'll go through some of our favourite choices for bpa free plastic water bottles.
Glass Water Bottles
For a car, I think glass water bottles are the best choice. You can be limited by the size of your cup holder though, so let's go through a couple of choices.
Measuring in with a 7cm diameter, the Beautiful Beaches glass water bottles are my first choice for a glass water bottle for the car. Here's why.
- 7cm narrow diameter (without the neoprene pouch)
- Comes with a neoprene pouch for insulation
- The inside of the lid is stainless steel, so there's no plastic touching your water
- Available in 570ml or 750ml
- Multi-tasker made from heat resistant glass so you can put tea, coffee, hot chocolate in it too
There is one draw back here, and that's the lid. You do need to unscrew it and then screw it back on when you're done. If you're a 'drive and sip' kind of person, then you'll want something with a straw to drink from.
The Eco Vessel range of glass water bottles come with two lid systems, a wide mouth screw lid (great for smoothies) and a straw lid which is perfect for SIP'n'DRIVE scenarios (pictured above). There is a bpa free plastic straw inside the bottle, so for a completely extreme day like yesterday, I would consider removing the straw if it's going to literally sit in your car for 7 hours at extreme heats and just pop it back in when you get back in the car and put the air-conditioning on.
- 7.5cm diameter still fits most car cup holders
- Protected by silicone cover with DROP SHIELD BASE with drop protection up to 8 feet
- Available in 5 colours
Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottles
The third option is always stainless steel, and it's the #1 choice for many. All the stainless steel bottles in our store are made from food grade stainless steel. Any plastic sports or sippy lids are bpa free. Klean Kanteen have options available where the screw lids are all stainless steel (and they're always available as an additional purchase for the Classic series bottles.
Want your drink to stay cool all day in the car? Then stainless steel is your only option because you'll need a bottle that is vacuum insulated. If this is what you need, then an insulated water bottle is the thing you need. The Thermos brand are the first that most people think of in this arena. They're certainly not the only choice though.
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Now that you have all this information, just remember, stress is toxic too. At Shop Naturally, we're not obsessively strict about anything. We're all about helping you REDUCE the toxic load in your life. The level to which you choose to do this is totally up to you. We believe in offering sensible information without the 'fear factor' and letting our savvy customers decide what's best for them. All the information above about how to use bpa free plastics is also applicable to your lunch boxes, although, for most people, if they're in the heat all day, they're in an insulated lunch bag to prevent food spoilage. Still, if you have something in a plastic lunch box that won't go off in the heat, you may still be aware of some taste leaching out when you use them in extremes of heat, and as mentioned above too, they're best washed by hand and not in the dishwasher.
As always, if you have any questions, please let us know and we're more than happy to help.
