Hi, and welcome.... having not seen the particular item you are speaking of, I will say off the top of my head, if you are a seed saver, perhaps, the strainer could be used after drying seeds to sift away the misc plant material that you often get while reaping the seeds... I use most of my plastic 'discards' to winter sow seeds and it seems that I get better results than when I use to try indoor seeding.... too late for this year, but drop in on the Winter Sowing area of this site and check it out...

I've had them and saved one for steaming veggies in the microwave. The rest went in the recycling. They are not deep enough for planting in and the holes are too big for some seeds when you are saving seeds.

I save lots of things to plant seeds in--I just love those mushroom plastic containers and berry and salad containers. With these the best place is the recycling bin

I used them last year for seed starting. I moistened the seed starting mix before adding it to the basket and it worked fine without falling through the holes. I started about 30 marigolds in one tray. They were transplanted into cell packs when they began getting their true leaves. I kept the "saucer" underneath so I could set the whole thing whereever I wanted without worrying about water stains.

If I had any around now I'd be using them for starting other seeds that I usually transplant, such as tomatoes and peppers.....however, there have been no good sales around here lately, so HC steamers were not a frugal meal choice now.

I think last years strainer is in the sandbox where children enjoyed it last summer after I was done with it. Not sure how it overwintered :)

You could invert the strainer in a hanging basket to create an area in the bottom that would drain well and keep your plants from sitting in water. Some purchased baskets have something like that in them.

Maybe use them over newly sown seed to protect them from heavy rain that might wash things away or birds that might eat them. I plant lettuce and other greens in clumps and this might work well since lettuce germinates best when barely covered with soil. A heavy rain washes it all over.

You can use them to dry your foods on after they are picked from the garden. You can use them for hydroponic trays for the plant, but not sure it would hold enough root for a large plant. You can use them to catch worms in, but they may fall out the bottom if the holes are too big. Worm castings are the best type of manure. They can be used as a strainer when washing foods off. Maybe stacking them on top of each other, the middle cut from them accept the bottom one, 6 on top of each other will stack to 6 inches.

I'm with Oilpainter! I use them all the time to steam veggies in the microwave. I have steamed corn on the cob, brocolli, green beans, potatoes, and my favorite Artichokes! They are great! I also use the bottom part to serve gravy or something like that in. They are nice little dishes, but probably too shallow for seeds. Seeds put down some long thin roots!

I have about 10 stacked dish to dish, and then strainer to strainer. They don't take up much room.

I think I'll go buy some Cafe Steamers today! I love those TV Dinners!

The best seed starter I have found is a styrofoam egg carton from Publix. Use a sharp knife to separate the lid, then slit the bottoms of the egg chambers. Put starter mix in the egg chambers, then add some water to the upturned lid. Place the lower carton into the upturned lid that acts as a water chamber. I then set the unit on the window sill until they sprout.