Heritage Hints From Mama: Uses For Waxed Paper
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I’m excited to have my Mama with us today! She has a lot of wisdom to share. Be sure and click on some of her other posts at the bottom after you read this one 🙂
Gratefully,
Christy
Hello Everyone!
My name is Janice, better known as Mama. You are welcome to adopt me as your go to Mama and I’ll attempt to answer any of your questions. I will be here to pass on my years of learning by trial and error. Today I thought I would pass on some of the many uses for wax paper.
Now some of you young people may not have a roll of wax paper in your kitchen but I am from a different generation who used it to wrap sandwiches. You see we did not have all sizes of zipper bags: snack size, sandwich size and now even large sizes for storing bedspreads and the like. We used wax paper primarily to wrap sandwiches for our lunches. Over the years, I have found a few different uses for wax paper.
One of my favorite uses is to put it under batters to catch the drips. I use a batter bowl to mix up pancake batter. The bowl has a lip on it so that you can pour the batter into the pan. After you pour the batter, there is always a little that drips from the lip onto the counter. If you wait to wipe it up, it becomes similar to concrete and takes a lot of scrubbing to get it up. Just put a small piece of wax paper on the counter underneath the bowl and you don’t have to worry about the drips. Just wad it up and throw it away when you clean up.
I also slice tomatoes and potatoes over a piece of wax paper and then just gather it up with the peelings still on it and throw it away. It saves having to mess up a bowl or messing up the counter with the peelings (Those thin plastic grocery store bags are good for this as well).
If you are icing a cake, cut three small pieces and slide them underneath the edges. After you finish icing the cake, slowly pull them out and the cake plate will be clean as a whistle. (By the way, who knows how clean a whistle is? I’ve always wondered about that!)
I have another wonderful use of wax paper that saves having to get up on a stool or ladder to clean the tops of your cabinets. If your cabinets do not go all the way to the ceiling, cut a long piece of wax paper to lay on the top of the cabinets. My cabinets are a little narrower than the wax paper. I just cut the length and then fold about an inch under and lay it on top of the cabinets. If you want to display things on top of the cabinets, just set them on top of the wax paper. When you get ready to clean the top of your cabinets, just roll the wax paper up, throw it away and cut another piece to fit. It sure cuts down the time that you would usually spend cleaning the greasy cabinet tops! Ideally, you should probably change the wax paper every three months or so but I promise I will not drop in to see if you want to do it once a year. No one will know but you.
Now, in closing, I’ll leave you with a tip that most of you probably know. I just discovered it last year and it has made a real difference! Most rolls of wax paper, aluminum foil and plastic wrap have a tab on each end of the box that you can push in. It keeps the roll from falling out of the box when you are rolling the product out to cut it. I guess if I had time to read the boxes, I would have known this sooner. Oh well, at least I found out about it before I turned seventy! You see there is a bright side to everything!
Let me know if you have other uses for wax paper or if you discover a time saver for the home. We’re all here to learn together. I’m sure everyone would love a few timesavers and shortcuts.
In the meantime, I need your help. Is there anything in particular you’d like me to write about? I enjoy visiting with y’all but I want to share useful information that you’ll enjoy so your ideas are welcome! Please share them in the comments along with any other great ideas for waxed paper uses. We’d love to hear them!
Take care and remember Mama loves you!
~Mama
You can some read other Heritage Hints From Mama By visiting the links below:
Thanks, Mama, enjoyed your article so much. You know, my husband showed me the tabs on the end of the boxes a while back (I am 64). I had never even noticed them either!!! Just goes to show, “we are never too old to learn”. Thanks for sharing all your wisdom with us. Keep the posts coming!!
Wax paper is the best! My MIL uses it to separate layers of homemade cookies in the Tupperware container my kids are always happy to see when she visits…
I make a lot of packed school lunches every morning, a sheet of waxed paper makes a nice surface to corral the sandwich crumbs and mess. Can usually reuse too.
One idea for waxed paper…Run your hot iron over a piece. The wax on the paper does a good job of getting spray starch off.
I use waxed paper for loads of thing. I have never wrapped a sandwich in it.
Thanks for your ideas.
Jane
Great tips from Mama and everyone else. I grate cheese on wax paper, then just grab the wax paper to move the cheese to the bowl.
Hi Mama Janice,
Thank you for a great post. I am 57 and like you, I did not know there were “tabs” at the end of the boxes of wraps to hold them in place. I found out by accident—if I had only realized earlier, how much easier it would have been to have stored family-dinner leftovers. What a great marketing campaign you and Reynolds can help show everyone else. I think you would be an excellent spokeswoman for them.
My Mama always wrapped our sandwiches in wax paper and I still wrap all mine the same way. When you unfold the wax paper you have a nice placemat to eat off of. I even have my Aunt Vi’s foil, wax paper, and paper towel holder (metal) hanging in my kitchen holding it all. It’s still painted the yellow of her kitchen. The original color was pink and you can see it on the inside. I think it’s called Garnerware. My Mama and my Aunt are now gone and I thank you for conjuring up many happy memories.
Christy – I see now where you get your beauty from – You are your mothers double!! Thanks Momma for the tips – wisdom is always a great gift to give – even about wax [paper! CJ