10 Alternatives to Cling Wrap
One of the hardest habits for me to kick in my plastic-free journey is using cling wrap. Let’s be honest, cling wrap is just so convenient and handy! However, for the short amount of time cling wrap is used, it’s pretty wasteful. It’s single use plastic that has been tireless manufactured and packaged only to be used once before throwing away. Once it’s thrown away, it never breaks down fully and can harm wildlife and even ourselves in the form of micro-plastics.
When I first started incorporating alternatives to cling wrap into my home habits, I started with a few basics - beeswax wraps & silicon wraps. These were great however if they didn’t work for a particular application, I’d immediately reach for the cling wrap. Eventually, I found more alternatives but there would always be times where I’d forget to use them!
One day, I did something that changed everything. I moved our cling wrap into our reusables drawer. That way, any time I was looking for cling wrap or an alternative, I’d have everything in the same place. From then on, I’d always opt for a reusable option, unless I couldn’t. This simple change really helped my habits stick and probably reduced my cling wrap use by up to 80-90%. My personal biggest downfall at the moment is when I need to cover really large things - large bowls where I don’t have enough covers & the other odd item which is the cut-open pumpkin, but I’ve got some ideas that I’m gonna try for those in the near future.
When it comes to alternatives to single-use cling wrap, there are plenty of options out there. Beeswax wrap, silicon wrap, boxes, pouches and more. Today, I’m sharing a comprehensive list of cling wrap alternatives to cover almost every cling wrap usage situation you could possibly think of! After lots of experimenting, I’ve got quite a few opinions and suggestions for you and hope this post inspires a little reusable-using.
Read on below, to reduce (or completely eliminate!) your cling wrap use. I’m listing everything in the order of when I first adopted using this item, so you can kind of see how everything works together for me. Enjoy!
1. Plastic OR GLASS CONTAINERS
This is our most commonly used alternative to cling wrap. When I’m meal prepping or putting leftovers away, I will always portion them in our reusable boxes. The ones we currently have at home are plastic boxes and glass boxes with plastic lids. Plastic boxes I’m not a fan of as they’re plastic but since we already had these prior to our zero waste journey, we’ll keep using them until they’ve reached their end of life (which I assume will be a really long time!).
A couple of years ago, I added glass boxes with plastic lids (from Biome) to our reusables kit. These I absolutely love because you can microwave the whole box and the glass is a lot easier to wash than plastic. Further, you can also use the glass bottom as a baking container so I often use this to bake lasagne which is such a bonus.
2. beeswax wraps
Beeswax wraps were also one of the first things I adopted. They’re stylish and fun as you can basically get them in all sorts of fabric patterns. I love beeswax wraps as they’re eco-friendly in that if they’re made of natural fibres (like cotton), then they can easily just be composted at the end of its product life. Beeswax wraps last around 1 year before the beeswax coating begins to wears off. After which you could either re-coat it yourself (but you’d need to know how to do this) or dispose of it.
I have found beeswax wraps great for wrapping the top of bowls and all, however they are not see through, which has made it troublesome in remembering what’s in my container, so I find myself not reaching for them as much. However, they’re one of the most natural & eco-friendly options out there so I want to try better at using them more.
You can find beeswax wraps on Biome here.
3. USING A PLATE
One day I had the grand idea of putting a plate on top of my bowls. I have a number of lightweight melamine plates that I have collected over the years and they make really great ‘covers’ on top of bowls. Of course, you can’t see what’s inside (unless your plate is see through!) so that did bother me sometimes. But I still love and use this method, as it’s just so easy to pop on top & easy to lift off to check what’s inside. The only thing was not all containers fit the plates I had available to use as a lid and I don’t have that many plates to begin with.
4. GLASS JARS
Something I’ve recently come to love the versatility of is glass jars. I have a number of old pasta jars and olive jars, as well as new ball mason jars I got from Biome - you can also get them in bulk at Big W. I always use jars to store smoothies or salads, but recently I realised they’re also great for storing and freezing things like pasta sauce & pumpkin soup. Jars are so versatile and I can’t wait to keep discovering what else I can use these for.
5. SILICON 'CLING WRAP’
I’ve had silicon cling wrap (both the super thin, cling wrap like ones) and the thicker ones in my reusables kit for a couple of years now and love them. They are the closest thing to actual cling wrap I’ve used and they’re sticky and easy to use and see through as well. The only thing is I haven’t figured out the best way to store them for me yet! Currently I just fold them up and put them in a drawer but it’s annoying to unstick. Hoping I’ll come up with something better soon. Silicon cling wrap is probably the closest option you can get to cling wrap. It’s basically almost the same thing but made of silicon.
6. BREAD BAGS
These are really handy if you bake your own bread at home (or if you want to buy bread from the bakery package-free). Recently when I baked my first loaf of bread at home, I found myself reaching for my bread bag to store it in. It’s great as it’s such a jumbo size and I haven’t really got any other options for storing large items like bread plastic free. You can find this bread bag here!
The below 3 things I’ve recently added to my kit and I think they’re all so useful! I’m also not sure why I hadn’t used these sooner.
7. SILICON FOOD COVERS
Ok so I’m obsessed with the idea of silicon food lids - these ones below are from Ever Eco and come in a set of 6 different sizes to suit most bowl sizes. They are similar to the silicon cling wrap sheets I have at home however with the added benefit of being more structured and hence easier to wash + easier to use as they come with tabs you can pull. This is the thing I’ve been missing all my life. The only problem I can think of is that I might need another set!
The tabs make it a lot easier than silicon cling wrap sheets, and the structure of it also makes it easier to wash (not flimsy like silicon wrap). you can use these in the microwave, freezer and fridge. it’s also oven safe up to 200deg.
8. SILICON FOOD POUCHES
Another thing I’ve been loving having at home are these silicon food pouches. Because we grow our own vegetables, when I harvest and bring our produce inside, often I don’t have any viable options to store a lot of the things. I’ve been loving silicon food pouches for storing produce. Things like my baby spinach fit great in a 1L bag, or say our broccolini that’s just come fresh out of the garden but is still waiting to be cooked. They are so great for produce, and I love how they’re structured and stand up in the fridge so you can see everything easily. You can also use them for freezing fruit too! They’re fridge, freezer, microwave and dishwasher safe - these ones below are from Ever Eco.
9. ROUND NESTING CONTAINERS
For things like berries, nuts and even leftover salads (which you might want to bring for lunch the next day!), I love these Ever Eco round nesting containers which have leak resistant lids. They’re a lot larger in size than they look (150ml, 280ml and 500ml) and the pastel lids are so damn cute. The stainless steel makes it easy to wash and when you want to store them, they nest within each other to save on space.
10. FOOD HUGGERS
I picked a set of these food huggers recently from Seed & Sprout and love how they’re perfect for covering lemon halves and onion halves - two things I always have lying around in the fridge! They basically hug around your cut fruit and veg and keep them fresh for longer. Absolutely loving this, especially how it’s small and easy to wash as well.
BONUS: NOTHING
A final alternative to cling wrap that I use is simply not covering it. My mum would frown upon hearing this as she always says the fridge will dry out your food and it’ll never taste good again. However whilst this is probably true, I’ve found that if I’m going to be reaching for it within 12 hours, and I simply haven’t got a cling-wrap free option to cover it with, then sometimes I’ll just leave food uncovered. So far, it’s been fine by me!
