When I was a child, I used to love to make my dad’s lunch. He was a logger. I would line his lunchbox with a paper towel and write a message on it. “I love you”, “have a great day”. I would make him a couple of sandwiches, wrapped neatly in wax paper. His thermos matched his stanfield .

I think my Dad probably loved that. Opening his lunchbox to find such love.

I was talking to friends on facebook, wondering who ever used wax paper, because plastic is such a nasty byproduct of our age. A couple of years ago I bought some wax paper out of pure nostalgia. I started to replace my use of plastic wrap with wax paper.

Wrapping sandwiches. Topping refrigerated bowls of leftovers. Throw a sheet over the cutting board when slicing bread. Save the crumbs for your breading collection. The wax paper can be used in the woodstove to light the fire. Lining plates where you are prepping hamburgers for barbeque. Makes them easy and sanitary to handle. You can make an easy piping bag for cake decorating out of wax paper. As a palette liner. Are you a budding artist? Cleanup is easier if you line your palette with wax paper, also you can save mixed colours temporarily. by sandwiching them in wax paper.

Canning jars, and random other food grade jars are a great way to store dried goods, transport fresh goods and package trail mixes for lunches. They are also great for actually canning foods. It is best to store such foods in a cool, dark place, like Canada!

Crockery. Sugar and flour I keep in crockery. I have a couple of antique pieces from Medicine Hat Pottery and Turner and Beaton in Victoria. They are art pieces as well as history. Functional as well.

Parchment is a worksaver in my kitchen. Baking chicken? Line the pan with parchment and save 90% of your elbow grease in cleanup. Salmon. I wrap the salmon in parchment and it comes out moist and delicious. Baked potatoes are good this way too. Eliminate your use of aluminum foil altogether with this product.

Freezer wrap. Buy in bulk and individually wrap your meat products in proper freezer wrap like the butcher used to do. Do not forget to date and label everything.

I use butter. Fuck the latest study. But when my butter is done, I carefully fold up the packaging and preserve in the fridge to grease pans for baking bread and cookies. Also, when I proof the bread, I put the foil on top of the loaf to keep it from sticking. Top that with a warm damp towel and it works well.

Vinegar. Throw out your Windex, all you need is a bucket of hot water and vinegar. Old newpapers work really well washing glass too. This mix works well on laminate floors as well.

These are just a few ideas off the top of my head. I would love to hear yours in the comments!