I work hard to make my food storage is as waste-free as possible (though I am very far from perfect). I take reusable mesh bags to the farmers’ market and grocery store for produce. I often tote glass jars to the bulk section when I need to restock my dry goods. Our leftovers go in wide-mouth jars and Pyrex containers with snap-on plastic lids. The one thing I’ve really struggled with is finding a good way to keep things things that need close wrapping.
I wash and rewash plastic bags, but they don’t last forever. I sometimes succumb to the lure of plastic wrap, but I hate the idea of swaddling food in a single use cling. Happily, I’ve discovered a new-to-me product that has solved most of my food covering woes.
Called Bee’s Wrap, these food-safe wrappers are made from sheets of organic cotton fabric that are imbued with beeswax, jojoba oil and tree resin. You wrap them around food, bowls or plates and use the heat of your hands to mold the fabric into place. So far, I’ve used them on hunks of cheese, cucumbers, and to cover bowls with rising bread dough. I adore them.
I first learned about the Bee’s Wrap when I got an email from Sarah, the woman who makes them. I asked her to tell me a little about her product and how she started making them. Here’s what she said.
I love to make things and my husband and I love food! I grow and preserve almost all of the vegetables for our family of five, make our bread and my husband raises pigs, chickens and lambs for food. We have dappled in a lot of projects from making beer, cider, yogurt, milking goats, and lots of sewing.
As my children are growing out of babyhood I was finding a need and desire to enter the workforce, but wanted to be close to home and work for myself. Within an ongoing exchange of ideas, my cousins suggested that I make wax infused cloth to use in the kitchen. It was such a lovely idea and after some time I started experimenting and researching it.
The practicality, common sense, and environmental benefits was so amazing I felt I could turn it into a business that would help to support us, as well as provide a great product. I also just love working with beeswax and fabric.
I find that these wrappers are quite easy to care for. They clean off with a quick wipe of gentle dish soap and a rinse in lukewarm water (you want to avoid the hottest water your tap can produce, in order to prevent the wax from melting off the fabric).
I’ve found that these wraps can do nearly everything that plastic bags and Saran wrap can do. The only exceptions are covering dishes in the microwave and helping prevent dough from sticking while rolling out. Sarah does recommend that you avoid using them on meat, poultry and fish, to help prevent any cross-contamination or funky smells from developing.
They last a good long time, and when they eventually wear out, they can be composted. You can’t say that about the more conventional plastic bags and wraps!
Thanks to Sarah, I have a set of three (small, medium and large) Bee’s Wraps for giveaway today. Here’s how to enter.
- Leave a comment on this post and share your favorite trick for leftover storage.
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog over the weekend.
- Giveaway open US residents only.
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.
Disclosure: Bee’s Wrap gave me a set of two wraps for review and photography purposes and has provided a set of three wraps for this giveaway. They did not pay for inclusion on the blog and my opinions remain entirely my own.
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It’s like you were at dinner with me Sunday night when we were talking about the guilt we felt because we had covered the dishes we’d brought with plastic wrap!
We switched from plastic containers to glass about a year ago, but there are times (like when we go to dinner with friends) where the bowl I want to take doesn’t have a top, and I resort to something else.
I use what I have depending on what I want to store–reusable produce bags, reusable storage bags, foil, plastic containers and bags that get washed/reused until they leak. I’d love to try Bee’s Wrap–especially for cheese!
How neat! I’d love to try them.
I recently ditched all the plastic containers in favor of pyrex and mason jars. My complaint with pyrex is that they leak, and so I still use plastic wrap (nothing worse than trying to clean bacon grease or fish sauce out of your backpack). These look great – what an fantastic idea!!
Very neat!! Love it and would love to try this new product!
Wow! What a neat product! I am trying to ditch plastic and use other things. This would be a great alternative.
Mostly I rely on Pyrex for leftover storage. Plastic baggies, unfortunately, also come into play quite a bit–I’d love to replace them with something like this.
There is hardly a thing that can’t be put in a mason jar!
I reuse bread wrappers for double wrapping bread to freeze,and save almost any container I get. Why throw out a nice plastic container with a cover, if I can use it to store something else in? I re-wash them and they last a very long time….that is unless the husband puts it in the dishwasher and melts it.
What a fantastic idea. I do miss cling film sometimes. (P.S. Not entering the giveaway since I’m not in the US, just wanted to comment on what a fabulous product they look like.
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I’m fond of employing saucers in my food storage. For a sliced tomato, this means putting it face down on the saucer and refrigerator. For food in bowls, it means putting the saucer (or larger dish) upside down on the bowl and placing in fridge.
These sound wonderful! I’d like to try them to wrap my soaps! Pyrex has been my choice for leftovers. I much prefer glass to plastic!
At Christmas time, my family exchanges gifts. The same tins and plastic containers have been going around the family for years now. I take reusable bags to the supermarket and even to the clothing stores. I keep one plastic bag to use many times over for the meats before recycling it. My town recycles plastic.
I would love to have these; so many ways to use them.
What a GREAT idea! I would trust wrapping my food in this product rather than plastic wrap. Would cling better too!
That is amazing & I love the fact that they can be composted. I hope I win!
I use various tricks–Tupperware and Corelle bowls with a plate as a lid. Did you know those are made in “units” and that works?
leftovers? we eat em!
I also use plates as lids on bowls. For sourdough starter I put a damp cloth between the bowl and lid to keep it from drying out.
I don’t have a favorite leftover-keeping technique, I’m sorry to say, because I find them all so wasteful. I love my glass-with-plastic-lid Pyrexes, though. I’ve lost a few at work but never had to throw one away because it wore out like the reusable plastic containers can. I love love love the idea of compostable wrappers.
I find a small plate fits perfectly over my bowls, which all stack nicely in the fridge. I also use glass jars for everything!
I love to freeze soups and sauces in mason jars, making sure to leave enough head room of course, so they don’t explode. I also love wrapping leftover cookie dough in wax paper (or bee’s wrap!?) and sticking it in the freezer for easy cookie-making later on.
I, um, well, I…put most of my food, ah–in jars.
What a lovely product! Thanks for tipping us off.
I also use the plate over a bowl method, but also the opposite, a bowl over a plate. I watch second hand stores for glass bowls with glass lids for storage.
Really great idea!
I reuse any container I can. Including those Chinese take out containers and I use mason jars for a lot of my storage.
I use glass storage containers, like you. I’ve struggled with cheese storage, as well. What a great product!
I don’t really have aany tricks. I do use glass jars for storage. I would be interested to learn more about this product.
This looks awesome! We wash our plastic bags and reuse ’til we can’t, but I’d love to get away from plastic. Mason jars are our friends, as well.
Bees wrap is brilliant!
I’ve been struggling with this myself! The best thing I’ve come up with is to ditch the overflowing drawer of plastic and slowly collect Pyrex refrigerator dishes with lids. Practical and they make my fridge look adorable!
Use plates for lids over bowls. Have mason jars all over the kitchen and in the fridge storing food..
I freeze the little remainders of wine in an ice cube tray and then use them for stews etc.
These days, most leftovers go into glass jars of varying sizes, but keeping cheese fresh & not dried out is one thing that I haven’t been able to do without plastic.
We use ceramic bowls with a plate on top for short term, everything else goes in various glass jars!
Whenever I don’t use an entire container of tomato paste, I make one tablespoon plops onto a cookie sheet, freeze until solid, then wrap individually to use one at a time when needed for soups or other items that don’t need a full can of paste. The bee’s wrap sounds amazing. What a great idea!
Plate on a bowl like my grandma used too.
My favorite storage at home is a set of Sterilite containers with snap down lids my mom has. In the dorm, I use plastic Mardi Gras cups with lids. At the hunting camp, I use old cottage cheese and yogurt containers. I don’t know why we don’t just standardize from one place to the other…ah well.
We aren’t very clever around here. :/ But we do use the Ball freezer jars with lids and regular glass jars to store in. They seem to work ok, but these are very cool! Thank you.
Definitely can’t live without Pyrex!
We usually use glass jars for most of our leftovers. However I hate using plastic wrap for my breads and cheese. These beeswax sheets will certainly do the job!
I’ve seen these somewhere and have really wanted to try them. I wash and reuse plastic bags too!
I try hard to put leftovers in see-through containers, because if my husband can’t immediately see it, it doesn’t exist, even if I *label* it! [Sigh.] I also freeze any leftovers from stuff I make, because he only recognizes leftovers from dishes he’s made. (He’s a great cook, and does most of the cooking, so I can’t complain, though!)
We use glass jars and Pyrex…but Bees looks perfect for wrapping up the cheese. Great idea! Would love to check it out…
My favorite trick is to have a massive quantity of tupperware on hand so that there is always a size that will fit.
Jars – the best for storing leftovers.
I use Pyrex dishes mostly and the occasional piece of cling wrap or foil. I’m happy that I have had my same rolls of both for over a year now… so I know I’m using them very sparingly! The beeswrap sounds wonderful…
My “trick” for leftovers is that they become my husband’s lunch the next day. It’s the best solution for us. We use our leftovers, and my husband doesn’t have to buy lunch (or I don’t have to make sandwiches).
These covers look awesome!
Canning jars with Tattler reusable lids are my favorite for storing leftovers.
Great concept! We reuse plastic containers from lunch meat to make single servings, usually for lunches.
I love putting leftovers into individual servings in tupperware so they’re ready to go when we need to pack our lunches.
I normally store my leftovers in jars or in plastic containers.