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:
I learned to cook without measuring so I use a small piece of wax paper and about a tablespoon of raw meatloaf, macaroni and cheese or whatever . Put the food on thewax paper and into Micowave on low/med temperture. Cook and taste for seasoning before baking.
I also use wax paper with flour on it to coat meat before frying.
Use a double layer in vegetable bin of fridge to make easier cleanup if something goes bad before use.
Use waxpaper to clean iron plate if scorched from starch.
You can also use it between delicate fabric and sewing machine foot to protect fabric. when sewing.
You can also use it to rub a light coat of wax on sewing needles and other things to make them easier to use. and top of drawers to make easier to slde into chest etc.
There are many more ways to use it also. My mother used it for everything. That was the only kitchen paper she bought.
“Mama” is from the era I am from…Wax paper wrapped sandwiches were the norm for us. The wax paper always kept the bread soft and fresh! Like previous poster, I learned at an early age to cut the “cake pan” circles when baking a cake. It peels right off when the cake is cooled too~
My favorite use for “wax paper” is to make a small ball of it and use it to scoop out some Crisco to grease any pan from cookie sheets to pans for cornbread.
I absolutely LOVE the tip for the top of the cabinets! I will be cleaning them and placing some wax paper on them this weekend! What a wonderful tip. It is perfect for protecting the counter top from spills etc as well…such a useful product that I grew up with and it is still available to purchase..It stood the test of time!!
I use wax paper for making baked potatoes in the microwave. I wrap each one individually in a sheet of wax paper.
My thought as I read the tab part was….”not on the cheap, off-brands I use, I’d have noticed by now as much as I use parchment, aluminum foil, cling, and wax paper.” I just went and checked them all and the tabs are there. Mama I will never doubt you again!
Great post, mama Janice. I still buy the wax paper because while growing up, my mom always used it. Mom also used the wax paper when frosting cakes. Another use by her was for making our lunch sandwiches in the Am in bulk. She’d line up all the Wonder white bread, put the spread, asking us ” mayo or mustard”, then the domestic ham slices, or bologna, and finally the top slice, each sandwich wrapped in wax paper or there was ” wax” sandwich size bags that fold over. In fact, at mom’ s house there is still a single box of the wax paper bags right next to the ziplock plastic baggies.
Wax paper also used for rolling out cookie dough to do the cut- outs.
I used it last week for crushing graham crackers for crumbs by placing crackers in between and rolling my grandma’s rolling pin, ( for beach theme cupcakes using Teddy Graham’s, and Life saver’s tummies, etc. ) . A post on summer in the yard activities with your grand kids , cooking, decorating, economical tips.
I use wax paper when I need to bread anything before frying. Just put flour and/or bread crumbs directly on the wax paper and toss when finished. I have used plastic bags for this also but it seems to take so much more flour to do it that way and the bags are way more expensive than wax paper.
My hint is to turn your cake pan upside down and make a circle on your waxed paper and then put in the bottom of the pan never sticks and cakes are lovely when you peel the waxed paper off them.