DIY Reusable Eco-Friendly Food Wrap

If plastic wrap and Ziploc baggies cause you undue anxiety – or if you’re interested in eliminating plastic from your kitchen altogether – beeswax wraps may be the solution you’ve been searching for.

Making your own “plastic” wrap is simple and cost-effective. A single sheet of beeswax wrap is completely washable in cold water and will last up to 12 months. And if you want to make plastic-free bags from the wrap you created? Simply sew on a pair of buttons.

Materials:

– Beeswax, grated or pellets. (Buy less than you think you need, or approximately 2 ounces. To save yourself the hassle of grating it, purchase beeswax in pellet form.)

– 100% cotton fabric, cut to desired sizes. I found 14 x 14″ squares is a good size for both the wrap as well as the bags. (Purchase some cute fabrics or reuse what you already have. Old cotton bedsheets work, as do your child’s old clothes in adorable patterns that can’t be otherwise repurposed.)

– Old cookie sheet (The cookie sheet you choose must fully hold the size fabric you choose: no fabric can hang over the tray’s lip.)

– Old paintbrush

– Old cheese grater, if the beeswax you purchased was in block form

– Clothesline and clothes pins

– Oven

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 185 degrees F.

2. Place pre-cut fabric on cookie sheet.

3. Sprinkle the underside of fabric evenly and lightly with grated (or pellet) beeswax.

4. Place in preheated oven. Watch carefully until wax has melted (approximately 5 minutes)

5. Remove from oven; spread wax evenly with paintbrush to cover all areas of the fabric. If your wax starts to harden before you have evenly spread it, simply reheat.

6. Hang on clothesline, fasten with clothes pins.

7. When dry and cool, wrap is ready for use!

8. Make another by following the steps above. If you have a lot of wax left on the cookie sheet, additional dry fabric will absorb the extra wax.

To make a “bag”, fold your beeswax square in thirds, then unfold. Add two buttons in the center panel, shown here:

Close by refolding in thirds. Use string, yarn, or twine and loop around the buttons.

Notes:

Wash in cool water with a mild soap.

Your homemade beeswax wraps will last for a year. When they start losing their “stick”. simply reapply more beeswax.