Make your own reusable cotton food wraps

I gotta say I am impressed with these simple yet useful beeswax reusable cotton wraps. If you’ve never heard of these before you’re not alone, my husband had no idea what they were and I’m pretty sure he thought I was crazy when I told him what I wanted to make. You use these cloth wraps in your kitchen to replace saran wrap…genius I know! I had never used beeswax or pine resin before this DIY, I actually had no idea pine resin was a thing to buy until recently. But after seeing how easy this project was I am eager to try others that use these ingredients.

I read several different articles telling how to make them. They all basically used the same three ingredients: BEESWAX, PINE RESIN, JOJOBA OIL. Some however didn’t use the pine resin, or any resin at all, and what I read, and now agree with since I have made them myself, is that you won’t get that sticky saran wrap feel unless you use the pine resin. Technically you can just use beeswax but I wouldn’t recommend it.

If you enjoy this money saving tip be sure to check out these reusable oil bottles for the kitchen.

DIY EASY BEESWAX & RESIN SARAN WRAP

Here’s what you’ll need

• beeswax pellets

• pine resin

• jojoba oil

• 100% cotton fabric

• pinking shears

• chip brush

• sauce pan

• wide mouth half pint mason jar

• measuring spoons

• measuring cup

• aluminum foil

• cookie sheet

• cooling rack

• flexible squeegee

• preheated oven at 215 degrees

This is the recipe I used

• 1/2 c BEESWAX PELLETS

• 2 t PINE RESIN

• 1/2 t JOJOBA OIL

The first couple of wraps I made I only used 1 teaspoon of the pine resin and I did not like the way those wraps turned out. So I doubled the resin for the next batch and they turned out SO much better!

1.MELT THE INGREDIENTS

Preheat your oven to 215 degrees. Then mix 1/2 cup of beeswax pellets, 2 teaspoons of pine resin, and 1/2 teaspoon of jojoba oil. The BEST way to do this is to melt it all in a double boiler. I used an old sauce pan and a short mason jar for this. I put a small amount of water in the sauce pan because I didn’t want the jar to float and I knew since I was making a small batch it wouldn’t take much to heat of the jar to melt the beeswax. I used a thin chip brush to do all of the stirring.

2. CUT YOUR FABRIC

while my ingredients were melting I cut my fabric into pieces I thought would be good sizes for what I wanted to use them for. I cut a few small ones that would fit around the top of a jar. Several medium sized ones that would be good to wrap around food. And a couple of large ones that would fit around my larger sized mixing bowls. I used my grandma’s old pair of pinking shears on the edges of the fabric so that the edges wouldn’t fray once I start using the food wraps. Also, you want to be sure you are using 100% cotton.

3. BRUSH ON & BAKE

Line your cookie sheet with foil, shiny side down. Place a piece of your fabric on the cookie sheet. Use the chip brush to brush on the melted mixture. Then pop it in the oven for 5 minutes or so. Do not skip placing it in the over. If you just brush the wax mixture on your food wraps they will be stiff, the mixture won’t be on the fabric evenly and it will result in them not working quite right. Placing them in the oven allows the wax to melt completely into the fabric and giving you a nice even coat over the entire piece of fabric.

4. REMOVE EXCESS WAX

Remove your cookie sheet from the oven. Use a squeegee, here’s the kind I used, and squeegee the excess beeswax mixture off of the fabric. I didn’t do this for the first couple of wraps I made and I didn’t like how they turned out, for two reasons – there wasn’t enough resin AND they were WAY TOO stiff and waxy. None of the tutorials I read said to do this step though. So maybe they know something I don’t. But I do know when I went to use the first two to try them out before I made more they were kind of blah and I wasn’t impressed at all with them. After I squeegeed the excess off it made all the difference in the world! I didn’t let the excess go to waste either. I scooped it up and placed it back into the mason jar so it could melt back down.

5. REMOVE & LET DRY

Immediately take them off of the baking sheet and place them somewhere to dry. I lined a cookie drying rack with a piece of foil and then placed the finished wax wraps on there to dry. It didn’t take very long at all for them to completely dry on the drying rack.

6. USE

Once your food wraps are dry you can start using them immediately. I was so surprised at how well these turned out! I’m even thinking about making some to give as gifts to family and friends.

Like with all of my DIY posts if you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you make these at home I’d love to hear how yours turn out!

Happy crafting!