The Genius Plastic Wrap Hack For Storing Delicate Foods
If you've ever wandered around a kitchen store or scrolled through food storage containers on Amazon, you know that storing delicate foods is a problem we've been trying to solve for a long time. After all, there's nothing worse than expertly frosting a couple of cupcakes, only to ruin all that hard work with a layer of sticky plastic wrap. You don't need to spend money on a special cake container or a deviled egg carrier to store your precious cargo in the fridge, however. Your old (and inexpensive) friend, plastic wrap, is still up to the task of storing delicate foods; you just have to wrap the items strategically to create a protective air bubble.
A clever YouTuber recently posted the solution to the contentious relationship between plastic wrap and delicate, sticky foods like frosting and whipped cream. Instead of filling your kitchen drawers with containers that you'll probably forget about, you can use the wrap to seal in enough air to support the wrap so that it doesn't touch the food — no toothpicks required.
How to cover delicate food in plastic wrap
Plastic wrap is an essential kitchen tool that does a lot more than just cover up leftovers. You can use it to poach an egg, fill a piping bag, and even roll out pie dough more easily. Most of the time, though, we use it to prevent food from drying out in the refrigerator overnight. The trouble is, there's a reason why it's often referred to as "cling wrap" — it's sticky. One touch of the plastic wrap can undo a carefully decorated plate of cookies in seconds. The creator of Make Sushi 1 on YouTube, however, has a neat hack that requires no special skill. All you have to do is take a large piece of plastic film and wrap it around the edge of the plate while holding the excess up at the top. Make sure to leave a little bit of air above the plate and nowhere for it to escape at the bottom. Then, once you've made a few rotations, twist the top of the plastic wrap down to make an air pocket.
The twisted plastic does two things. First, it seals the food and air pocket inside so your food won't dry out. Second, it tightens the slack in the wrap so the plastic doesn't touch your food. When you feel the air bubble start to resist the pressure, you can stop twisting.
When you're ready to eat, just unwrap
Once you have the plastic wrap bubble safely in place, you'll find that it's surprisingly resilient in protecting your precious cargo. You can see in the video that they are able to pull the top of the plastic up and push down on it and the food inside isn't touched. The force of the air trapped inside the plastic keeps the film pushed away from the food until you're ready to eat it.
When you're ready to eat or serve your food, just undo the plastic wrap bubble in reverse. Pull up on the twisted plastic, undo the twisted part carefully by holding it up, and then unwrap it from around the edges of the plate. Be sure to hold the edges of the plastic wrap tightly away from the plate so that it doesn't accidentally touch your food while you're undoing the packaging.
Once you get the hang of it, you'll never go searching for toothpicks or special containers again. It's a solid life hack, especially if you've got a Costco-sized roll of wrap to use up. As a bonus, it just looks cool and makes it seem like you're skilled at kitchen stuff. "Being good at using cling wrap is like being forklift certified," one commenter said on the YouTube video, to which another added, "I am forklift certified and can confirm cling wrap is far more difficult to operate."