I’m really excited to introduce my newest dappling: a Reusable Food Wrap made with Beeswax! I’ve been trying to find out how to reduce waste in my life. Some things I cannot help, but plastic food wrap was one of those I went scrounging up for a solution. I came across Bee’s Wrap, a beeswax based reusable food wrap. It was perfect! But at almost $20 for only 3 my budget did not find that investment inviting so I decided to invest my time instead creating a homemade reusable DIY Beeswax Reuseable Food Wraps.
These beeswax wraps will heat up with the heat of our hands and become malleable enough to conform to whatever container we place them around, much like plastic wrap. As long as the seal is good, they will even hold liquids in!
Bees constantly amaze me in everything that they are capable of. The natural qualities of the products they produce are mind-boggling. Beeswax, like honey, has antimicrobial properties which means that these handy little beeswax reusable food wraps will also not harbor any harmful bacteria through a 100% natural properties of the beeswax. However, I would still not recommend using these wraps for raw meat.
I am extremely excited to kick the plastic wrap habit and create less waste for our oceans and environment with these beeswax wraps.
Supplies for Beeswax Reusable Food Wraps
- 100% Cotton Fabric
- Beeswax (Sky Organic’s USDA Organic White Beeswax Pellets)
- Foam Brush
- Pinking Shears
- Baking Sheets
I started by ordering some organic white beeswax pellets from Amazon. I went with white so whatever color cloth I decide to use it won’t alter the color. Because of my budget I went with a bundle of pretty, yellow, 100% cotton quilting remnants.
Step 1: Flattening the Beeswax Reusable Food Wrap
The first step will be to iron or rinse out the cotton fabric we will be using for the reusable food wrap and let dry flat to remove the major creases. In my first attempts I assumed that the creases will release through the process of making the wrap. Little wrinkles will disappear, but major creases will not. This won’t ruin the wrap (they will still function as advertised) but definitely keeps it from looking as pretty. Fully washing the fabric with detergent is not necessary but does make for some softer fabric to work with.
Step 2: Pinking the edge
For this step, we will take our pinking sheers to keep the reuseable food wraps from unraveling. It also creates a more decorative edge and cuts the fabric down to the desired sizes. Not every size should be large enough for a watermelon or small enough to only fit a lemon.
Step 3: Prepping the oven
Set the oven to 200°F (90°C). Place your fabric on a baking sheet so it lays flat. The limit to the size of your reusable food wraps will be the size of your baking sheet, if you have a flat sheet that is larger then use it! (However, if you are making a lot of wraps having the lip will help with excess wax) Sprinkle or shave your beeswax on your fabric spreading it around somewhat evenly. When ready go ahead and put it in the oven. It won’t be completely heated but beeswax does not need that much heat to melt it. Don’t wander too far away. At temperature, the wax will melt within 3 minutes. Fortunately, it is forgiving, if you get busy with other things and 3 minutes turns to 10 or 15 there is no harm done.
Step 4: Squeegee the Beeswax Wraps
Squeegee is such an underrated word. When the wax is melted completely there will be all sorts of bubbles and pockets waiting to dry into imperfections that will make your wrap lose it’s structural integrity as well as look a poorly placed screen protector (Ew). Take your foam brush and use it to squeegee out the pockets of air. Unlike a screen protector, they will disappear like magic. However, this needs to be done relatively quickly before the wax hardens. If the wax does harden, no worries, just pop the reusable food wrap back into the oven and let it melt out again.
Step 5: Letting the Reusable Food Wrap have a cooldown
Picking up a bit of fabric saturated with hot wax may seem daunting but channel your inner BDSM slave and dig into the moment of how neat melted wax feels. You should not burn yourself, but before the wax has time to completely harden you also need to pick it up. If you’re still squeamish, lining the pan with parchment paper will help immensely. Once the fabric is freed from the pan give the fabric a little wave to help cool it down further. You will feel the reusable food wrap stiffen under your fingers.
From there place it on a chair, hanger, bookshelf, cooling rack, etc. to let it cool further. Again, this will not take an excessively long time, 5-10 minutes.
Step 6: Wrap those Beeswax Wraps!
Once cooled, these wraps are ready for use! Simply place over food and cover with your hands. The heat from your hands will make the wax on these reusable food wraps more malleable and form a seal to keep food fresher longer without harming the environment! I’m very excited to use my wraps and I hope you will as well!
Maintenance
To clean the beeswax reusable food wraps use some soap and cold water, fold them up or lay them out flat to store where your plastic wrap used to be. they can be reused numerous times before the beeswax has reduced enough to require making more, this should be about a year. Keep at room temperature or in the refrigerator. They will not prevent freezer burn. Be wary of putting them in places that are too hot such as a car or outdoors in the summer.
Learn from my Trial and Error
- As mentioned before, the fabric of these should be relatively flat. I now have some beautiful fabric that is permanently creased. Although the beeswax wrap functions fine, it looks… meh.
- I originally wanted to use a double boiler and paint the wax on. The wax dries too quickly for this to work. Almost immediately the wax hardened and made for some streaky mess.
- Since painting didn’t work and I have a bunch of melted wax in a mixing bowl I tried to just dump it out and spread it around with the paint brush. This does not provide for a very even coating as well as drying quickly, some places the wax would peel off while others did not see any wax.
Thank you for looking through my DIY Homemade Beeswax Reusable Food Wraps!
