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:
Thanks for the great uses for waxed paper! Love the stuff. My homemade pie crust recipe says to roll dough out between two sheets of waxed paper. Dampen the counter first so it doesn’t slide. Easy to transfer to the plate! Also, when I make cut-out cookies, I roll out the unchilled dough in batches between wax sheets and then chill it. Works just fine and cuts cleanly. I find I never get the chilled dough soft enough or even enough. Also use it on the counter when I grate cheese or other things–easy clean up! Love your comments, Momma!
Hello Mama!
I love when you visit us! I love your wax paper tips, thank you! (I will smile the next time I ice a cake!) I would love for you to share how to make biscuits. I have Christy’s books and used her tutorial and still they just don’t turn out nice and fluffy like her photos. I am sure there is something I am missing! I would adore your tips! (Christy’s and anyone elses too!) God bless you.
Sincerely,
Carmell
Hi Christy,so wonderful you still have your beautiful MOM. I had stop using wax papper,it is now own my shopping list. Thank you for the tips. as always,God Bless.
I use waxed paper to drop no bake cookies on and as a bowl cover when beating whipped cream or other things that splatter when using my hand mixer. Take a piece alittle bigger than the bowl and poke a hole in the center with the beaters before putting them into the mixer. Also as kids we used waxed paper on the metal slides to make them slippery, along with sled runners and ice skates.
I enjoyed so much the wisdom from your mom. My mom has been gone for several years,
and I miss her so much. Christy, spend as much time with your mom as you possibly can.
The years go so fast, and when she’s gone, I know you’ll miss her dearly as I do my mom.
I’m looking forward to more words of wisdom from my new go-to mom. I love the way she
writes. Thanks!
Thanks for all of the good tips!
In the fall I use wax paper to make leaf place mats or mobiles by ironing the leaves between 2 sheets of wax paper. I have also done this with crayon shavings – make hearts for Valentines day. You can make them look like stained glass.
When I make rice krispie bars I use wax paper to press the mixture into the pan – no stick!
When the sandwich containers were dirty I used wax paper to wrap sandwiches – worked great.
Wax paper works great to put “no bake” cookies on to dry. They come off easily.
At Christmas time I used wax paper in between layers of cookies to store.
Love wax paper. There are so many uses for it. Nothing taste better than a fried egg wrapped in wax paper. Or a fried bologna sandwich. I wonder why that is…. Christy, I know you and your Mother must have used wax paper this way. Thanks for your wisdom.