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:
As a child (I’m 65), we used big squares of wax paper to sit on while we slid down the slide at the park. After a few times, the wax made the slide faster. Loved doing that!
We did that too! WEEEEE it you make you fly!
This isn’t a kitchen tip but it’s a fun craft for kids. When I was a little girl I liked to make bookmarks by putting dried, pressed flowers between 2 strips of wax paper and ironing it together. I also made wax paper butterflies by sprinkling crayon shavings between 2 pieces of wax paper that were cut out in the shape of a butterfly and ironing them together. I put a clothes pin down the middle for the body and attached pipe cleaners for the antennas. Cheap and easy craft and we had everything on hand!
I just like to hear the name Mama…
Thank you for sharing,
Thank you, Mama. I didn’t know those things, and I love your tips! If you have any tips on how to do freezer meals in bulk, please do a post on those. I would love to find a group or a business that had a class for women to learn how to do this and what to cook.
I use wax paper for smoothing out buttercream icing on cakes. Just let the buttercream icing set for 10 minutes or so to “crust” then lay wax paper on it a section at a time and run an off set spatula over it a few times and it smoothes to look just like fondant! (you can use a Viva paper towel too and leaves a pretty pattern on the icing)
Cool idea about the buttercream frosting! I am going to try that! Thanks so much!!
Wax paper is great for lining the pans before pouring in your fudge mixture to cool and set. Just leave a few inches overlap on opposite ends for lifting out the fudge block when cool. It also works very well when making divinity drops and other drop candies.
When my children were little after polishing their white baby shoes i would shine them with wax paper, they held the shine a lot longer, did not scuff nearly as bad. Bet you hadn’t thought of that!!!
My Mom taught me to do this, too!