Eco-Friendly DIY: Vegan Wax Foodwrap

Do you ever think about how much plastic wrap you've gone through in your entire life? It's too much. We live in such a throwaway world and anyway we can reuse, reduce, or recycle matters. Environmental impacts aside, do you really want to wrap your food in plastic if you have a choice? With ingredients like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and Bisphenol-A (BPA), should it really be used for your FOOD? When I saw people making their own reusable and all-natural food wrap, I just had to try it! So I present to you the end of disposable plastic wrap: Vegan Food Wrap.

Another bonus of making your own food wrap is you get to choose your own fabric! These sheets of food wrap look so beautiful, you could make a stack and gift them or wrap your holiday candy in it with a length of ribbon or twine and gift it that way! The picture above shows a wrap with a buttons sewn on, which is great for wrapping sandwiches.

To make this Vegan Food Wrap, you will need: a double boiler, a paintbrush, oven safe tray, Pine Resin, Candelilla Wax, Jojoba Oil, and a clothes hanger with clips. You can find all of these ingredients online or in health food stores. All of my ingredients came in either a pellet or powder form, so I didn't need to worry about grating it. Use some of your older bowls and trays for this, as the wax may be difficult to clean off of it. You could designate cheap/old equipment for food wrap making - I found an old pot, a glass bowl  (to use as the"double boiler"), oven drip pan, and a cheap unused paintbrush at a thrift store for this project.

I experimented a lot with these food wraps, even trying carnauba wax. The wraps made with Carnauba Wax did not come out sticky enough to create a seal on containers. I also found that the more Pine Resin you use, the stickier the food wrap is (and more fragrant). After many trials the best ratio was equal parts 1 tablespoon Candelilla Wax and 1 tablespoon Pine Resin to 1 teaspoon of Jojoba Oil. Here is the method that I found worked best:

1.     Melt all of the ingredients in a double boiler. Mine was a glass bowl over a pot.

2.     Lay out a cut square of pre-washed fabric on the oven safe tray. You can decide what size of fabric you'd like to use. One of the best parts of making your own food wrap is that you get to decide the size and color of your fabric!

3.     Using a paintbrush, spread the now liquid wax mixture evenly over the fabric until saturated.

4.     Place the tray with the saturated fabric in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. After 5 minutes, you will need to remove it from the oven to even out the wax by running the paintbrush over it again. Be quick with this step so that the wax remains liquid enough to spread with the paintbrush. Return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes.

5.     Once you remove the tray from the oven IMMEDIATELY remove the fabric and hang it to dry. If you leave the wrap to sit for too long, it will dry on the tray and you  will not be able to remove it. The fabric will dry within minutes.

Using equal parts of  Pine Resin and Candellila Wax , the food wrap will have a very fragrant pine scent. The smell will fade over time and after a few washes. To wash the food wrap run it under warm water (too hot and it will melt) with some gentle dish soap (like Dawn) and then let it air dry. If the wax starts cracking and wearing thin in some places you can put it in the oven at 200 degrees for a few minutes and the wax will redistribute.

Happy Crafting!