Gingham & Wax - natural, reusable food wraps

They are great on food, but they are good for other things too!

They are great on food, but they are good for other things too!

They are great on food, but they are good for other things too!

They are great on food, but they are good for other things too!

They are great on food, but they are good for other things too!

Can’t find your toiletries bag? Why not make a pocket for your toothbrush and paste?

There are only 2 weeks until Christmas Day, so we wanted to let you know of a couple of important dates.

Wednesday, 14 December - Our local Post Office says this is the cut-off date for orders to arrive before Christmas.  

Friday, 23 December - We’ll be at the Carriageworks Twilight Market from 4 - 9pm.

Saturday, 24 December 2016 - Monday, 6 February - Gingham & Wax will be on holidays and away from the wax room. Please note, no orders will be processed during this time. If you are desperate for some wraps, please email us and we will see what we can do, but no promises!

Monday, 6 February - The date we report back to work and start making our lovely beeswax wraps.

We’ve got some rather exciting news!

Gingham & Wax is going to be at Carriageworks Farmers’ Market from Saturday, 26 November. This award-winning market is held at the old Eveleigh Rail Yards at Wilson Street, Redfern in Sydney.

The market runs from 8am - 1pm every Saturday, and Gingham & Wax will be there once a month, on every fourth Saturday.

We are extremely honoured to be given this opportunity to sell Gingham & Wax alongside some of the best food grown and produced in NSW and the ACT.

When we first started making and selling our beeswax wraps, we did a very simple calculation.

35cm of plastic wrap x 365 days = 127.75 metres

Pretty scary to think that covering just one plate of leftovers once a day for a year could result in over 120 metres of plastic in landfill!

We think waxed cloth is great. It’s natural, reusable and biodegradable, and it will do all the jobs plastic wrap will do, without the waste. 

We’re also pretty pleased that it does some jobs much, much better. Try wrapping plastic cups, half a pumpkin, a baking tin or a wooden bowl with plastic wrap.

If you live in the Blue Mountains make sure you go and have a look at the Lyttleton Stores in Lawson. These three store fronts are part of the old Lawson; not the new shops on the highway, but rather the original shops on the north side. There is a produce store, a retail shop selling handmade designer products and a soon-to-open workshop space.

Make, Grow, Learn, Share is what the Lyttleton Stores are all about, and they do it with amazing grace and style.

After a month of heavy winter foods and -20 degrees celsius outside, we craved some light picnic food! It’s always such a joy to wrap everything up in gingham.

Gingham & Wax will be closed from 13th December to 17th January, as we’ll be overseas celebrating Christmas in the snow. 

If you’d like to get some wraps in the next few weeks, we’ll continue to sell them online until 12th December, and we will also be selling at the following markets:

Pretty Responsible Market - Sunday 29th November at the Springwood Sports Club, 83 Macquarie Rd in Springwood from 10:00am - 4:00pm.

Blackheath Growers Market - Sunday, 13th December at the Blackheath Community Hall, corner of the Great Western Highway & Gardiner Cres in Blackheath from 8:00 - 12:00pm.

If you are in the Blue Mountains, you can continue to buy wraps any day of the week at the Blue Mountains Food Co-op in Katoomba.

Lesson #3 - The snack pack

This lovely little package is great for nuts, cut up fruit or veggies, biscuits, crackers, muesli, popcorn, dried fruit, trail mix.... We often use them in the car, the kids love to hold their little parcel and have their snack on the run.

Lesson #2 - How to wrap your sandwich

This is our preferred way to wrap sandwiches, although we often use the same technique described in Lesson #1- How to wrap baked goods. This is a large sized wrap for a sandwich of sliced white bread and ham (one of the few sandwiches that our kids will eat!).

We like using a large wrap because you can get a good seal on both sides of the bread, and you can make it bigger or smaller depending on the size of the slices. Pinch the sides together and then roll it in to make it more compact. The last step is to seal the top of the pouch by pinching it all together, or rolling it up nice and neatly. 

Here are a few other interpretations on this technique. 

I was asked the other day if lunches could be wrapped in Gingham & Wax. Absolutely! Keep an eye on this blog over the next few weeks and you’ll find out how.

Lesson #1 - How to wrap baked goods

This is one of the main ways we wrap up muffins, bread rolls,  biscuits, cookies, slices... you name it! This is a medium wrap for a smallish muffin.

Bring the two sides in and pinch them together to seal it. We like to fold over any excess fabric to make it look nice and tidy and prevent any air from sneaking in.

These are some custom orders we had last week. They requested 2 colours rather than the usual set of three in 3 colours. I thought they were rather lovely too!

(Photo credit Ann Niddrie Photography)