At the Davis Food Co-op, there are many designs of kitchen towels! Or buy some pretty fabric and make some yourself! Stick to 100% cotton or linen to ensure that they are commercially compostable once they’ve run their course. 

Making your own Rags

Materials:

• Old Cotton Shirts
• and/or Old kitchen towels
• Good scissors
• Needle or sewing machine and thread (optional)

Hold onto your old 100% cotton T-shirts and cut them into rags! Old kitchen towels that are stained also make great rags! Start by cutting off the sleeves and cutting out any seams. The best rags are 6-8 inch squares. Start by making the larger rags, and use the sleeves and odd spots to make small rags. Do not worry about making every rag a square, these are not for show and any shape will do! The small rags are great for small messes and for cast iron care!

Cut your kitchen towel into 2 or 4 rectangles, depending on how big you want them. it is nice to have a variety of sizes! Use your needle and thread or sewing machine to hem the edges. Fold ¼ inch of each side in and use a simple stitch to hold it in place. A zig-zag stitch will work the best to stop strings and runners from coming loose. 

Tips:

• Keep a separate bag for dirty rags. The rags are often covered in oil from a cast iron, dust from the bathroom, and various kitchen messes that you do not want staining your clothes! Once your stack is running low, it is time to wash them all including the bag! 
• The great thing about using cotton, if you ever clean something that seems to gross to keep the rags, toss them in your city compost bin! 

Why this Makes a Difference

More than 13 billion pounds of paper towels are used each year in the USA. At the Davis Food Co-op alone, 4,491 units (single rolls or multipacks) of paper towels were sold in 2019. Rags are a great way to limit or completely stop your need for paper towels!

Beeswax wraps are a great way to eliminate or limit plastic use in the kitchen. They make great bowl covers and can even replace ziplock bags! We have some premade in our Kitchen section of the Co-op and at the end of this blog, you can learn how to refresh them and keep them usable!

Wash your wraps with cold water. Using soap and a sponge will cause them to deteriorate faster, so only use if necessary. Often times, rinsing your wrap is enough! Do not use hot water or a scrub brush, it will cause the wax to come off the cloth.

Materials:

• Cotton fabric
• Beeswax pellets or block
  

Three methods:

1. Oven and Cookie sheet 
2. Paintbrush and Pot or Crockpot
3. Parchment Paper and Iron

Cut your fabric into various sizes; 6” X 6”, 8” X 8”, or any special sizes you may need, I have a special 12” X 16” wrap for my 9” X 13” pyrex dish.

Oven and Cookie Sheet method

1. If you are using a block, use a cheese grater or knife to finely chop
2. Preheat oven to 300F
3. Place a wrap or two, however many will fit without touching on your sheet and sprinkle some of the beeswax pellets on top. (see photo)
4. Place in the oven for 30-50 seconds, until the pellets have all melted then remove from the oven. 
5. Do not let the wraps cool on the pan. Carefully pick them up by the corners and place on a cooling rack (cookie cooking rack or collapsable clothes rack workes well).
6. Once cooled (which only takes about a minute!) inspect to see if you added enough wax. The wrap should be coated lightly on both sides, with no bare spots.
7. I think it is helpful to crumple them in a ball a few times and flatten back out before first use. 

Paint Brush and Pot method

Beeswax cools very quickly, this method does not work well in the winter! The wax cools too quickly on the brush. Do this method in a warm place.

1. Place the pellets or block in a double boil pot set up or a crockpot. 
2. Once melted, use a paintbrush to lightly coat both sides of the wrap. 
3. Once cooled (which only takes about a minute!) inspect to see if you added enough wax. The wrap should be coated lightly on both sides, with no bare spots.
4. I think it is helpful to crumple them in a ball a few times and flatten back out before first use. 

Parchment Paper and Iron method

1. If you are using a block, use a cheese grater or knife to finely chop
2. Place a piece of fabric on a piece of parchment paper, sprinkle some pellets on top and then top with another piece of parchment. 
3. Iron on low for 15-20 seconds or until all the pellets have melted.
4. Let them cool for a few seconds then place on a cooling rack (cookie cooking rack or collapsable clothes rack workes well).
5. Once cooled (which only takes about a minute!) inspect to see if you added enough wax. The wrap should be coated lightly on both sides, with no bare spots.
6. I think it is helpful to crumple them in a ball a few times and flatten back out before first use. 

How to Keep your (handmade or store-bought) wraps coated and sticky!

After a while, your wrap will gradually become less stick and have less beeswax coating. You can simply recoat it! The oven or parchment paper and iron methods work the best for re-coating!

Written by Madison Suoja, Education and Outreach Specialist