KAREN & THE CONSTABLES

Last night I went to a local eco group to learn about food waste and make beeswax food wraps. Apparently Scottish homes waste £1 billion/600,000 tonnes of food a year, which is ridiculous really, especially at a time when so many people rely on food banks.

The main causes of waste are buying too much, cooking too much and not recycling food waste properly (not using your wee green food caddy or adding it to your compost heap).

We all agreed that cling film is a big NO, there are plenty of alternatives that are much better for the environment, including wax wraps. But I’ve looked at wax wraps before and I think they’re quite expensive, so it was great to learn how to make my own.

– Cut a piece of cotton to around 14×14 inches

– Grate beeswax (available on Amazon) onto the reverse of the fabric (the side without the pattern) and spread it out evenly, making sure you don’t forget about the edges. It’s better to use  less than more, you can always add some later.

– Place it onto greaseproof paper, then put the lot onto a baking sheet.

– Put in oven for 2 mins at 180°C.

– When you remove it from the oven, immediately brush the cloth with a pastry brush or similar to spread any excess beeswax around before it dries. Grate more beeswax over missed or thin patches and return it to the oven if necessary.

– If you’d like to trim the edge with pinking shears, it’s much easier after it’s dry.

And that’s it! It’s a bit trial and error, as you can see the wax I used had some residue in it and left marks but next time I’ll know to use a different kind.

Let me know if you’ve tried to make your own wraps and if you have any good tips for making them!