Instead of putting them in a plastic bag, why not just make lots of little holes in the plastic lid? I used many of them in my first few years of WSing, and they did work well. Yes, they are shallow, but if you allow that those can be the first seedlings you plant out, it can work. I've stated over and over that allysum is one of my very favorites to WS, and the aluminum pans work well with that particular seeds. Don't forget to make drainage holes on the bottom also. I have an old ice pick that I use to make holes in every container I use, water jugs, salad containers, and aluminum pans. I heat that ice pick on the stove burner, and it melts plastic like butter. My other suggestion would be to use a deeper kind of container for the things you will not get planted right away. As stated above, most of us consider 3 inches of soil to be the minimum to WS with, but again, I've used less for these babies and its worked out well too. Its fun, and its exciting to see the first ones germinate, so experiment but mostly have fun. Alberta

Sounds like the salesman was full of it. I was looking for a cheap small fridge for the laundry room otherwise I would not have stopped in that particular store. This is the place that sold me a Frigidaire and then delivered out an Amana and was surprised when I didn't want the unit. When I told the salesman I had never heard of the problem with the pans, he said "They aren't going to tell you that" and my response was "If this was happening, the people on the message board I visit would be screaming about it". I do live out near the middle of nowhere, SD. They sort of count on customers not wanting to make the extra effort to find it cheaper somewhere else. Cathy

Your potato salad looks delicious! In the past when I have made potato salad for a large group I made it the day before and stored it in aluminum pans in the refrigerator and never thought a thing about it. It tasted fine. A few years ago I started baking my potatoes for salad instead of boiling. The potato salad keeps better and doesn't get "watery." We like our potato salad chunky and the potatoes hold their shape better. Chase, I enjoyed keeping up with your road trip also. I know you had alot of fun!

Okay, I'll get the silicone crust shields and report back. I already have four glass pie pans, and I only use those for pies that have crumb crusts or other pre-baked pie crusts. For the regular pie crust, I prefer using the metal pan because I like the way the bottom crust comes out, compared to the Pyrex pans. I used to have both 8" and 9" pie pans, but the 8" appear to have been phased out when I wasn't looking. Now I see more 10" pans. As for silicone, I have a Madeleine pan that I use for making chocolate candy but rarely for Madeleines. Silicone is ideal for chocolate. Lars