Heritage Hints From Mama: Uses For Waxed Paper
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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:
I love it when I do anything with chocolate, you can separate a single serving of meat(a hamburger, chicken breast or pork chop and take out exactly what you want just flash freeze them, put wax paper in between them and freeze in a zip lock bag. It works great, allllllot cheaper than parchment paper because a lot of times I can find it in the dollar store.
I have used wax paper to line my cake pans since 1950. I fold about a 10X10 inch square of wax paper into 4ths and cut an 8 inch or 9 inch circle to fit the cake pan. Peels off of warm cake like magic. Leaves a Clean cake pan too.
Me too! Works so well with fruitcakes.
Thanks Ms. Janice. . I roll and cut my biscuits on wax paper. I wipe the counter with a damp rag and the paper sticks right down. Easy clean up.
That is brilliant! I will have to start doing that!!
I use it on the clothes bar in the closets. Just rub a wad of it up and down a few times, makes the hangers slide so much easier. Also, I wrap blocks of cheese in it before I put it in a zip bag, seems to keep it fresher.
Thanks for all the tips. I love it when Christy lets you guest host.
When I was a kid I had an aluminum saucer sled for use in winter. It was faster than any sled in the neighborhood! To make it go even faster across the snow, we’d rub it with wax paper before every snow storm.
We used wax paper to “slick up” the slide in the backyard! Good memories!
Yes, we did! Whoo-ee, that was one slick slide~ 🙂
Thank You, I wasin need of a Mama, Love your wit.
Thank you, Mama, so much for these helpful tips. I think the biggest problem I have right now is how to tell when fish is cooked. What exactly does “till opaque” look like??? I have long stayed away from cooking fish because I never know how to tell if it is truly cooked! Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi, Chris,
When fish is cooked, you can easily use a fork to make it flake. Stick the fork in a thick part, and twist gently. If you get any resistance, the fish is not cooked through yet.
As for “opaque”, when fish is cooked through, all the translucence will be gone.
Hope that helps. =)
Thank you so much, Gail! I will try this the next time I am bold enough to venture out and try some fish!
I never thought of lining my upper cabinets. Mine are deep and this will be so helpful. I always have “cut rite” waxed paper in my pantry. Thanks Mama!!