Heritage Hints From Mama: Uses For Waxed Paper
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:
My mama taught me to use wax paper to get candle drippings or grease stains out of cloths or clothes. Just place the cloth inside out and iron wax paper in top of drippings /grease. It takes it out everytime with no grease ring in sight!
I use a sheet of wax paper when making sunny side up eggs – just tear a piece to cover pan – it fits perfectly and seals tight for a perfect egg – you can reuse it multiple times until you are done frying.
Thanks, Shelly! I will definitely try that next time I fry eggs!!!
This post reminded me so much of my mother who used waxed paper a lot. I was only 25 when she passed and I am now 62. My mother would wrap our lunch sandwiches in waxed paper. I can still see her cutting out a large circles to put in a cake pans to keep the layers from sticking to the cake pans. Wonder how many people still do that? It was always fun peeling the waxed paper off of the bottom of the cake layer.
When freezing casserole, put crumbled up wax paper on top before the lid. This will keep the freezer burn from getting on the casserole top. If it’s soup, that I’m freezing, I’ll freeze the soup. Then add the crumbed wax paper afterwards.
I measure my dry ingredients for cookies or cakes onto a large piece of wax paper and then I can fold it up and our into my mixing bowl with the creamed butter and sugar. Much better than getting another bowl out.
You can also use a wadded up ball of wax paper (wax side out) to rub on the the bottoms of drawers (along the rails or sides) if they are sticky. Not too many people iron anymore, but I used to use a sheet of wax paper (or wadded up ball), again wax side out (or up) to clean the bottom of a hot iron. Just make sure to run the hot iron over an old towel to remove any remaining wax before you iron the clothes. Now, I’m going to go look for those dang tabs I knew nothing about for 58 years!
When I was growing up (I’m 70 now), we would wad up some waxed paper and polish the slide in the neighborhood park. Haven’t thought of that in many years. Blessings to all!