Thrifty life hacks which are good for the environment excite me because they save money and waste and are simple, quick and easy to implement.

Reusing parchment butter wrappers instead of using new parchment baking paper is one thrifty life hack you should know about. You can use the butter wrappers just like you would use baking paper, to:

  • line cake and muffin pans,
  • separate layers of food like patties in the freezer, and as a bonus
  • use the small bits of remaining butter to grease pans.

Just fold the wrappers and keep them in a jar or container in the fridge until you’re ready to use them.

Butter wrapped in parchment paper.

By reusing the wrapper you’re not introducing new rubbish into the waste stream. You might be thinking that’s not a problem for me because I compost my baking paper (so it doesn’t go to landfill), but think about all the resources that went into making the baking paper that you’re now conserving by not using it.

Anecdotally, reusing butter wrappers seems to have been a popular practice before butter appeared on the shelves in plastic tubs and composite material wrappers because people often say to me that this is something their mothers used to do. I certainly don’t know too many people who do it now and this might be partly due to changing dietary information.

If you buy butter wrapped in a composite material like foil and paper laminate and don’t want to switch brands, you may be able to reuse them in place of foil for baked potatoes or basting roast meats. These wrappers are not recyclable or compostable, though.

Finally, we probably don’t need to use parchment paper as often as we do. I find glass and stainless steel cookware clean really well and we can use butter or oil to grease pans followed by a sprinkling of flour to create a non-stick surface.

On another note

Did you know you can leave comments on my blog using your social media accounts? To enable social media logins, click anywhere in the comment form on a post, then click on “Change” (next to the “Log Out” prompt).

This will open the comment form in full and allow you to reply using your social media accounts.

When you click on the icon for Facebook, Google+, or Twitter, a new window will appear from that service asking you to log in and approve.

It is possible to be logged in to different services at the same time, in which case you will be able to choose which identity to use when posting a comment by simply clicking the appropriate icon in the comment area.

Hope this makes commenting easier for some of you and I look forward to hearing from you some more.

21 thoughts

  2. Tammy

    My mother would have loved you . Mum used butter wrappers all the time . kept every one for that purpose.

    Alex Arbuthnot AM

    Mobile 0419968168

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  3. Hallo Tammy I’m contacting you regarding your talk to the BBSN on Thursday 27th this month. Your talk is for 7.30, but we plan to meet for dinner at the Yarragon pub beforehand at 6 pm. Would you like to join us, and if so we will pay for your meal. Steve Walsh, who is coordinating our program is preparing some publicity material about you to advertise the talk, so I directed him to your website. If you do have a few paragraphs already prepared, if you could send them to me I could pass them on. regards, Wendy

    >

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  5. Pingback: Our Plastic Free, Zero Waste Family Home – Gippsland Unwrapped

  7. This is crazy! I literally wondered today as I was unwrapping a block of butter, what you do with butter wrappers, or if you buy butter in a different way! This is a great idea and I didn’t realise they were compostable either. Thanks to people like you I dragged out my two compost tumblers recently (they’ve been sitting unused for at least 5 years) and have been churning out great compost for the first time in my life. I’m a million miles from zero waste, but this month I noticed we literally had half of the waste we normally produce in our garbage bin. Thank you for sharing all of your tips in a very approachable way.

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    1. Love this! Thank you so much for your kind words 🙏🏻. You aren’t a million miles from zero waste. 😉 You’re composting, reusing, recycling, and thinking more mindfully about the things you consume, and that’s what this is all about so we can drive change at the manufacturer and government levels. I’m very happy to have received your message. Thank you 😊

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  8. Pingback: 6 January – plastic and butter – 100 Mile Diet – the Cambridge version

  9. Hi Tammy!

    I absolutely adore your website!! Thanks for all the inspiration and education!! 😀

    Just a quick question, how can I tell if a butter wrapper is compostable?
    Is normal baking paper compostable? If some are and some aren’t, how can I tell?

    Thank you!!
    Sophie xx

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    1. Hi Sophie, Good questions. I was told by Coles that the butter wrappers were true parchment paper which is compostable. Here is another brand which claims compostability http://www.goinggreensolutions.com.au/eco-lunch-packaging-baking-paper-in-sheets-24-sheets-12-5inx16in.html , but the compostability of other brands is an area I found myself going round in circles with on the internet each time I found conflicting information. Instead of trying to figure it out, I have just stopped using baking paper but sometimes still use the Coles butter wrappers which then get composted.
      I’m afraid I don’t have a better answer for you!
      Tammy

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  10. Hi Tammy, this is such a great idea. I make my own butter for sandwiches, toast etc, but still buy the paper-wrapped bulk butter for baking. I have been recycling or composting the wrappers but can’t wait to try giving them another life (or several!) before then. Thanks for the tip! Cheers, Sally at One Family, One Planet blog.

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  12. Pingback: Agreena 3 in 1 Wrap Review – Gippsland Unwrapped

  13. Yes, I always used my butter paper to line cake tins as I learned from my mother. Until the butter switched to that silly foil and paper mix, which sometimes also seems to have a plastic layer in the middle. Woolworths home brand butter is wrapped in paper, but comes from New Zealand so I won’t buy that. Aldi also uses the composite wrap. Happily I don’t bake many cakes any more on account of the whole sugar thing, and have a reusable silicon sheet to line baking trays for crackers, bread rolls etc. Have to just keep adapting to the times and doing the best we can!

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  14. Pingback: Butter wrappers as baking paper – One Family, One Planet

  15. Printed Butter Paper is also known as bakery paper or greaseproof paper and sulfate paper. It is an essential element of the food and packaging industry. Butter/Printed butter papers also help protect the hygiene of food products. printed butter paperIt is a widely used booster in various users of it.Butter/Printed Papers are used as a liner inside of the packaging boxes and lining of bakery sweets and other eatable items and also used as wrap outside to many deliverable products, which keep product safe, hygienic, and moist proof.

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