Are BPA-containing plastics as bad as they've made out to be?  In short, yes.  They are really bad for you.  Ideally, you should change out all of the BPA-containing plastics in your house over to BPA-free varieties or glass.

And now, I introduce you to...reality.

Unfortunately, most of us don't have the money to change over all of the plastics in our home at once.  It's...um...kinda costly.  Trust me, I know.  I've tried to switch over literally every piece of plastic in my home that contained BPA.  It's not nearly as easy as you'd think.  I'd venture to say that most of society has no idea how many of the plastics we encounter on a daily basis contain BPA. 

If you can only afford to change a little at a time, I always recommend starting in your kitchen.  Specifically, with dishes that you eat on daily or  storage containers that you use on a daily basis.  (Rubbermaid now makes a fairly affordable BPA-free line.)  The starter set is only $10 at Walmart.  However, our favorite storage containers are glass.  We have a ton of canning jars, but will also re-use old pickle & applesauce jars.

In the meantime, what do you do?  Just keep exposing your family to the BPA and pray for the best?  Well yes, but there's also more you can do to ensure that you are lessening the exposure they may have to the BPA in the plastics.

The number one thing to remember is that heat is what causes the BPA to leach into your foods.  In order to minimize the likelihood of that happening, you can do one of two things.

1. Hand wash your BPA-containing plastics.  We all put our plastics on the top rack of the dishwasher, but if that plastic has BPA...you don't want it exposed to the heat of the dishwasher at all!
2. Don't put hot foods in any plastics that contain BPA.  Save those bowls for cereal, ice cream, or other room temp or cold foods. 

That's it.  Those are the two main rules to remember when using BPA-containing plastics if you hope to minimize your family's exposure to the BPA in those plastics.

I do recommend that you change over the BPA in your kitchen as soon as possible.  In the meantime, do what you can to help your family be safer and healthier.