Upcycle and Reuse empty cereal bag liners
Have you ever thought about the waxed bags your cereal is packaged in. It’s not a large item. You could fold it up and stuff at least a 100 of them into a regular sized envelope. So, what’s the big deal? Why would anyone need to worry about keeping such a small item out of the land fields?
In America alone, there are 2.7 Billion boxes of cereal sold each year. Since the waxed paper the bags are made from are approximately 0.005 inches thick and there is two sides, if you stacked all 2.7 billion of them up, you’d end up with a stack that is 27 MILLION inches tall or 2.25 million feet tall. To me, that makes it something worth taking out of the environment.
This post is designed to give you some ideas of some of the things you can do with the bags to prevent or at least delay, putting them into a land field. Plus, they can save you money because they can take the place of many other products you may use. Some of these uses just might surprise you.
Start by turning the bags inside out and washing them to remove cereal crumbs. Allow them to air dry. Don’t worry, they are tough. You can scrub with soapy water without worrying about them tearing. Most of the time, a quick rinse is all you need.
Reusable Food Covers
A few cereal bags and a package of rubber bands and you’re all set to stop wasting money on plastic wrap. Whether you are covering food before refrigeration, or wrapping up the kid’s sandwiches, a cereal bag can do the trick. Now, getting the kids to remember to bring them home instead of tossing them at school, that might not be as easy.
No more stuck to each other treats
Have you ever made a big bag of treats, stacked them nice and neatly into a storage container, but when it came time to serve, you couldn’t get the top layer off the bottom? Use a layer of the waxed paper bag to keep the stacks from sticking.
Make drawers and shelves easier to clean
Have you ever had something leak in a drawer or cabinet? You can end up with a BIG mess that takes a lot of elbow grease to clean up. Use your cereal bags as shelf and drawer liners. If something leaks, it is much easier to clean up and if the waxed paper is ruined, just toss it and use another.
Make cookie dough in bulk!
If you have kids in school or who are active in sports, it can sometimes seem like they need some sort of treat at least once a week. Making cookies from scratch can be time consuming. So, why not make multiple batches at the same time. Divide them out into the amount you need, then wrap them with the waxed cereal liner, and stack them in the freezer.
Protect your table during craft time
Whether its you or the kids, messes happen. You can make a reusable table cover by taping multiple sheets of cereal box liners together to make a sheet as large as you need. It can catch all your droppings and protect the surface of your table.
Cat Box Liners
A couple of waxed paper liners taped together can cover the entire bottom of your cat box. It will be 1000 times easier to clean. Just toss the used litter, rinse out the box and add another homemade liner.
Emergency burgers
No matter how hard we try to be prepared for anything, something always pops up making it hard to have dinner on the table at a decent hour. Take several pounds of hamburger meat, form it into whatever size patties you normally use. Cut a square from the waxed paper bags and place a layer between each burger. Store in a reusable container or wrap the whole stack in the bags before freezing.
The burgers will be easy to get apart and can be cooked while still frozen. Cook a few minutes longer than you normally would and make sure the meat is cooked through.
Cereal Box Seed Starter
You will probably need two paper liners for this one, plus a cereal box. Remove the waxed bag from the box. Tape the top of the box in place. Lay the box flat and cut out most of the top using a box cutter or razor blade knife. Leave about ½ inch of the top in place for strength.
Split both bags on each side, leaving the bottom intact. Tape the 2 bags together on their long sides. Line the box with the paper making sure you tuck the corners in neatly. Also tape around the top edge. The bags keep the box from getting wet. Fill the box with your favorite soil mix. You can grow herbs or start seedlings to transplant later.
Reusable Food Bags
Cut a waxed bag to the length you want plus 2 to 3 inches. On one side of the bag, cut down the side the length of the extra inches you added. Then cut a straight line across from side to side. Fold the top down and crease sharply. Cut a piece of glue on Velcro type closure to seal the bag.
If you don’t need a large bag, you can cut the size you want, then sew the bottom and sides on a sewing machine or by hand. Add the Velcro like above.
Keep trash bags out of the landfills
You can save money by not buying as many trash bags. Each bag you don’t use is one less bag for the landfills. Leave your Waxed bag in the box and fill it full of anything you don’t compost before tossing. This also works with bread bags, sugar bags or any type of plastic or paper bag designed to hold food products till the consumer uses it.
Ok, I am out of ideas, your turn!
That is all I can think of right now. Can you think of any other uses? If so, please list them in the comments below so everyone can learn from them.
Sources:
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Thank you very much!
These are great tips!! You're right, they're more indestructible than waxed paper which is what I normally use when freezing food. That's a great tip I can definitely put to use!
They are almost impossible to destroy. Grandma would have loved to had 100's of them. Every winter she had to stuff newspaper between the wall slats to keep the cold win out. This stuff would have worked perfectly!
Yes! It would have been windproof!
Dang @fernowl13 you warranted two slap downs 😳 I guess joining the Slack group didn't count as being on the train....
I honestly don't know why they want people to share a banner with a link to the slack group and provide no information. Must be one of those telepathically transmitted type things. My telepathic abilities were knocked out in the wreck, so I guess I missed my message, lol. It didn't seem to be a very active place anyway.
Used as the crinkle paper/plastic in baby toys and pet toys. Of course sewn into the fabric for safety reasons.
That's a good one! I've bought toys for my pup that have something like it inside.
I use them for between pancakes for the freezer, between frozen hamburgers. You had many more ideas! Not so sure on the catbox liner though. Thanks for the great ideas!
I didn't even think about pancakes. That's a good one too!
What a great idea! I have re-used plastic bags but have never thought about re-using the wax bags inside boxes. Now I will! Anything to help recycle!
I'm following you now- look forward to future posts!
Every step we take gets us closer to cleaning up the earth!
I wonder if they could be resealed with the heat sealer on a vacuum sealer. I reuse Mylar chip bags in a similar way. Turn them inside out, clean them up. I've used them for food I've dehydrated, small first aid items, maps and other important paper work and anything that needs to stay dry in our hiking packs and bug out bags. If you leave them inside out, they just look like silver Mylar bags. If you turn them back to right side out, you can disguise things a little. They reseal very easily with the sealer on my vacuum sealer. I think I'll experiment with cereal bags.
I have no idea if it would work or not, but I would think it would because the bags are heat sealed in the box when you get it. I never thought about the chips bags, but that might be because I haven't ate chips in a LONG time.
We don’t eat them very often, because I trained my family to not like too much salt! But everyone I know does, so they save the mylar bags for me.
Great post!
Thanks for using the ecoTrain tag but please do not use it in future. We use this tag to organise the ecoTrain and it makes it hard for us when others use it.
The ecoTrain tag is meant to indicate membership in the ecotrain group and is not a topic tag for general use.
Thank you !
The ecoTrain Conductor
actually I did so after joining the group. To be honest, there is so little organized information in Slack that I have no idea what ya'll expect of people. I spent the better part of an hour reading today. I will go remove myself from the group immediately.
I guess you joined the slack chat as a guest via the link on some post, but anybody can do that, it does not mean that you are a member of the ecotrain group then, that is by invitation only.
Maybe we need to be clearer on that.
Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
Actually, the link I clicked that took me directly to an invitation page. Not sure why I would not think it was an invitation and not sure why you have members advertising the group if you are not inviting members. Are they advertising for upvotes or something? But no worry, I am gone and will not bother you again. I have deleted the banner from my computer and I will make sure to never advertise the group again.
@likedeeler, I have removed myself from the group, you do not have to worry about me anymore.
I didn't know that we can do so many things with it! Thanks for sharing!
Interesting ideas!