Don't Throw Away Your Leftover Butter Wrappers. Try Doing This Instead

We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but you probably throw away a lot more things than you think. The average American produces almost 5 pounds of trash every single day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency — meaning that in a single year, you may be throwing out almost a ton of stuff. These staggering numbers show why it's so important to squeeze every last drop of use out of each item before we throw it out. Even small items like butter wrappers, which can seem pretty useless once you've used all the butter inside, can be repurposed for a wide variety of different uses.

Butter wrappers may be small, but they're certainly mighty. Being pliable and pre-greased makes them a natural fit for lubricating cooking pans or utensils with their leftover butter, or acting as a wrapper for items that may otherwise be too sticky to easily store. This greased quality also makes them a perfect fit for separating items from each other, especially those with a tendency to adhere together. Plus, butter wrappers have some unique moistening capacities that can see them giving new life to your food. Instead of throwing them out and adding even more to your waste production, try using them in these ingenious ways.

Place your butter wrappers on top of your pudding to prevent skin from forming

When homemade pudding is fresh, it's heaven — but it can quickly turn into something a little less appealing. As your pudding sits and sets, it can develop an unpleasant, tacky skin on its top surface. This skin occurs when the water inside your pudding evaporates as it sits, leaving a coagulated layer of milk proteins on the surface. You can eat it, but its texture isn't exactly appealing to a lot of people.

Luckily, there's a butter wrapper hack that can keep your pudding from developing that chewy skin. All you have to do is flatten the greased side of your butter wrapper on top of your pudding as it cools. This will create a barrier between the pudding and the air, preventing the water inside it from evaporating and keeping your pudding skinless and smooth. Of course, you'll want to place the wrapper on top of the pudding as quickly as possible once you've finished cooking it, but be sure not to do so while it's at boiling point — you'll just burn your fingers. Wait until it's cooled down a little before flattening the wrapper on top.

Grease your cookware with old butter wrappers

Greasing pans and baking sheets before you cook in them is fairly standard practice, and most people do it by spritzing a little cooking spray on them and rubbing them with a paper towel. Well, don't forget that your butter wrappers can do exactly the same job, with some extra flavor. Greasing your cookware with old butter wrappers isn't a new trick, and many chefs have been doing it for years — but it's easy to forget about it, and use up your oil unnecessarily. Using your butter wrappers to grease your cooking dishes will give your food an extra-rich, buttery flavor, and capably keep it from sticking. Plus, they're flexible enough to get into every nook and cranny.

As well as this, remember that you don't need to time it so that you're just finishing your butter before you make your baked items. When you finish a butter wrapper, just store it for later use. If you don't need them yet, it's best to store butter wrappers in the freezer, by folding them up and popping them in a ziplock bag. Alternatively, if you're going to use them fairly quickly, just keep them in your refrigerator until you're ready to use them.

When microwaving butter, use the wrapper to prevent splatter

Anyone who's ever microwaved butter will know what a risky game it is. You put your butter in for just a few seconds too long, and you end up with it sizzling and splattering, coating the inside of your microwave with overcooked dots of fat. However, despite its riskiness, though, there are times when you just can't avoid the fact that you need to microwave it. It's always best to just leave the butter to come to room temperature or melt it in a double boiler, but sometimes you just don't remember to do that in advance, and need some melted butter quickly.

For those times, use a butter wrapper for mess-free microwaving. Just pop your butter in a microwave-proof bowl and put the butter wrapper over it. The wrapper will act as a splatter guard for the butter, preventing it from going everywhere. Plus, as a little bonus, the microwave heat will melt any of the butter left on the wrapper, meaning that you get every last drop of it. Just a warning, though: You should never microwave butter wrappers that have metal in them, as these can catch fire in your appliance.

Use your butter wrapper to keep bread moist

If you're struggling to keep your bread moist, you're not alone. It feels like sliced bread decides to go stale the moment you turn your back, and you can easily find yourself having to throw out the whole loaf. However, help is at hand in the form of a butter wrapper trick to keep your bread soft. This nifty hack, which was used over on Instagram by @joyosity, simply involves popping your used butter wrapper on the end of your sliced loaf, flattening it so that the greased side sticks to the exposed dough.

Butter wrappers keep bread moist through a combination of creating a barrier between the air and the bread itself, preventing the moisture loss that makes the stale bread go tough, and the leftover fat which can keep the bread soft and supple. This fat also helps the butter wrapper adhere to the bread, creating a solid seal. It's worth remembering that if you're going to do this, you'll need to be okay with your next slice of bread having a buttery tinge. We're pretty sure no one's going to complain about that, though.

Separate your frozen food with butter wrappers

Freezing batches of meat or seafood can be pretty darn annoying. Most of us have had the experience of sticking some burgers or steaks in the freezer and then trying to prise them apart a few days later when we just want one, only to find that they're completely stuck together. To avoid this, you need something that will separate them, and leftover butter wrappers are perfect for the job. Butter wrappers are generally non-stick on both sides, not just the greased edge, so you can slot them between your food as an easy separator. Plus, you'll get the benefit of one side of your meat getting a little extra flavor through the added butter.

If you have especially large butter wrappers, you can also use both sides at once. Just fold the wrapper over one of your items, and then pop the next one on top: The outside edge will work to separate them both. Then, fold your next butter wrapper over another item, and place that one on top of that item, using the bottom side to separate them. This trick traditionally uses parchment paper, plastic wrap, or aluminum foil, but why not use an option that cuts down on your waste?

Replace parchment paper with butter wrappers for your baking

Lining your baking sheets with parchment paper can make your cooking experience so much smoother: No dough stuck to the bottom at the end, no stress about your favorite cooking utensils being ruined, and certainly no hours of clean-up afterward. However, what do you do if you don't have any parchment paper in your pantry? You use old butter wrappers. They generally have the exact same non-stick quality as parchment paper, making the two pretty much interchangeable. Just cut them to the size you need, line your sheets, and off you go.

@ana_calderone

Replying to @georgiabyers okay not perfect, but this is pretty genius #bakinghack

♬ original sound – mama.kerrr

The side you choose to put down on your pan or against your bake is up to you. If you want to give your food a little more buttery flavor, put the butter side against your batter. If you're worried about your butter wrapper sticking to your dish, then put the greased side down first. Generally, though, we'd advise aiming for grease on both sides, so you ensure that there's absolutely no stickage anywhere.

Use your wrappers to butter corn

Buttering corn is kinda annoying, folks. The round shape of the cobs makes it a little tricky to get proper coverage unless you have a brush to hand, and if you don't, you kinda just have to hope that your butter pats get into as many corners as possible. You can take the guesswork out of things by using butter wrappers. Just rub your leftover butter wrapper over your corn, and it'll add flavor to every single kernel without introducing too much mess into the equation.

@mrshappyhomemaker

I've been keeping my butter wrappers in ziplock bag in the freezer after I've used the butter. When we have corn on the cob, I take one out to butter my corn with. It works perfectly! Tried to demonstrate with one hand while I was filming so this was the best I could do lol #kitchentip #kitchenhacks #wastenotwantnot #corn #butter #kitchenideas

♬ Whole Lotta Little – Emily Ann Roberts

Your butter wrappers can also do double-duty here as storage items. If it's going to be a little while until you cook your corn cobs, wrap each one in a leftover butter wrapper and then pop them in the fridge until you're ready to use them. Just bear in mind that butter can burn pretty quickly, so you won't want them smothered in it before cooking, if you're then going to throw them onto a super-high grill. It's generally best to add most of your butter at the end, as a flavoring fat instead of a cooking one.

Butter wrappers are a great way to shape Rice Krispie Treats

Have you been able to shape Rice Krispie Treats without making an almighty mess? No? We didn't think so. These snacks are delicious, but they sure are hard work: Their tacky, slightly awkward consistency means that you can get through multiple spatulas trying to press them into the bottom of a pan to shape them. Well, you can save on the washing up by using a butter wrapper. Once you've tipped the marshmallow mixture for your Rice Krispie Treats into the pan, take a butter wrapper and use that to press it all down before leaving it to cool.

This trick is particularly cool as it allows you to immediately repurpose the wrapper from the butter that you've put in your recipe. Just keep it to one side until you're ready to shape the treats. The leftover butter on the wrapper will stop the treats from sticking to it, letting you make them more compact, which will in turn make them chewier and more satisfying. If, for some reason, you've thrown out your butter wrapper between using it in your recipe and shaping the treats, you can always use a piece of parchment paper instead.

Wrap caramels with your butter wrappers

Making homemade caramels is one of the funnest (and tastiest) things you can do in your kitchen. You know what's not so fun, though? Trying to wrap them. It's no secret that caramel is pretty sticky, and if you don't pick your wrapper right, you'll end up with most of it stuck to whatever container you've picked. The kicker, though, is that most people only make caramels once or twice a year, so they don't usually have a ready supply of candy wrappers to hand.

So if you're in a pinch, you can reach for your leftover butter wrappers. Butter wrappers have a similar consistency to regular candy wrappers and are engineered to be non-stick. Plus, that little slick of leftover butter will act as a barrier between the wrapper and the caramel, allowing you to release it easily (and it'll also give your caramels some extra flavor, too). Crucially, though, we'd generally only recommend using butter wrappers if you're not going to give your caramels out as a gift. It can kinda ruin their appearance, you see.

Grease your measuring cups with leftover butter wrappers

If you're not greasing your measuring cups yet, it's time to start. This one simple step is invaluable when you're working with sticky liquids like molasses or honey, or with thick pastes like miso or gochujiang. By greasing your cups, you ensure that whatever you've put in them releases easily, preventing the need for any awkward clean-up afterward. Plus, you ensure that you actually get the full amount you put in your cup in your recipe, and don't leave half of it behind, stuck to the cup itself.

Your butter wrappers are the perfect way to grease measuring cups. Just take a wrapper and rub it all over the inside of the cup, coating it with leftover butter. You don't need a huge amount to create a good coating of fat, and it's a great way to use up all those leftover scraps. It's a good idea to make sure your wrappers are at room temperature before doing this, as this will make the butter soft enough to spread easily. If you don't have any butter wrappers to hand, you can also do this trick by dabbing some paper towels with some flavorless cooking oil and rubbing it onto your cups.

Use your wrappers to season a cast iron skillet

Seasoning your cast iron skillets is a must to both create and maintain a nonstick finish on the metal. Incredibly, you can use your butter wrappers to help with this. It's a great way to use up every last scrap of your butter on the wrapper, using it to do a job that you likely don't want to waste too much of your standard butter on. Just rub your pan all over with the butter wrapper, ensuring you get the fat onto every part of the metal. Then, place it in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around an hour, before taking it out and allowing it to cool.

A word of warning here: Butter has a lower smoke point than many other fats, and if you heat your pan to too high a temperature, you'll fill your kitchen with acrid fumes. That's why you have to keep your oven's temperature fairly low when doing this — with vegetable oil, you can season a pan at temperatures as high as 450 degrees Fahrenheit. If you want, you can top up your butter with a little vegetable oil, which has a higher smoke point. If you're doing this, though, you'll need to make sure the oils are well-combined on the pan's surface.

Light your grill with a butter wrapper

This is one for all those outdoor cooking aficionados. One day, you might find yourself in a situation where you're out in the wilds, trying desperately to find a way to light your campfire, and coming up short on any fire starters. All you have is the butter wrapper that you used to flavor one of your side dishes. What do you do? Well, you use that butter wrapper to light your coals. 

Butter wrappers are surprisingly good fire starters, being made of flammable waxy paper, and offer a way to light your grill that doesn't involve having to buy cotton wool balls or other equipment. Just place your butter wrapper where you want to start your fire, set one corner of it alight, and wait for the flames to start. Be careful while you're doing this, as butter wrappers with foil in them can catch fire very quickly. Importantly, too, you'll want to make sure that your butter wrapper is as dry as possible before you do this. Butter contains a fairly high proportion of water, and if you have too much on there it could get in the way of it lighting it.

Wrap your resting meat in butter wrappers for extra flavor

Most people know that resting meat is essential after cooking, to give your food the best flavor possible. However, the resting process itself, in which the meat juices redistribute to make each bite tastier and juicier, isn't the only way to infuse more flavor into your food. If you place your meat inside leftover butter wrappers, you can give it a buttery infusion as it rests.

Popping your meat in butter wrappers allows you to create, in effect, a very simple resting butter. This extra touch is a great way to give your meats way more flavor, and is generally made of butter that's been infused with herbs, spices, or aromatic additions like chopped garlic. You can improv a resting butter out of butter wrappers by sprinkling said herbs or garlic onto your meat and then quickly sealing it with the wrapper: The meat will warm through your fresh ingredients, allowing them to release their flavor and aroma, as the butter adds further flavor through its fat. Using a foil-lined butter wrapper is ideal here, as it'll insulate your meat more effectively.

Cover your leftovers with your wrappers

What do you do when you need to cover your leftovers, but can't find any plastic wrap anywhere? You reach for your butter wrappers. Leftover butter wrappers are a great choice for wrapping up leftovers, as they're designed not to let moisture in or out. Plus, they're just as pliable as materials like parchment or wax paper — and if you press them down onto your leftovers themselves, you'll get a little hit of buttery taste for your trouble.

You can use butter wrappers to cover leftovers in a bowl, but if you want a pro hack from us: You can also use them to transport sandwiches or wraps. Not only will they keep them safe, but they'll also give your bread a gentle buttery taste. If you're using them to pack your sandwiches, though, you'll want to make sure there's not too much butter left on them. If it melts into the bread, it can make it soggy.