It’s hard to match the convenience of plastic wrap, but we have a few tips to help you get the most out of your reusable food wraps.
When using them to store food, we recommend folding them over the food and storing them seam side down to keep them from unsticking and unraveling over time. We found that warming up the wraps in our hands made most of them—including our winner—stickier, more pliable, and easier to seal.
For cleaning, we had the best results when we laid the wraps flat in the bottom of a clean sink and scrubbed them with the soft side of a sponge and a bit of soap and lukewarm water. During our tests, we wondered if the wraps would retain strong odors, so we used them to cover and store halved onions for three days. Even after rigorous washing, we found that the onion smell lingered on the wraps. We tried applying a paste of baking soda and water and then letting the wraps sit for 15 minutes and rinsing them. This method removed odors somewhat, but not completely. However, the odors mostly faded after three to five more days. If you're worried about your wraps retaining odors for a short period of time, we recommend not using them with smellier foods.
To store them, we recommend either folding the wraps and storing them flat in a drawer or rolling them and storing them upright in a jar.
Food wraps coated with beeswax and other natural ingredients are marketed as environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic wrap. How well do they work?
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