Bee Positive!

By Gaynor.

Firstly, I have to say, beeswax wraps have transformed my crag lunches. Secondly, I am not being paid in any way to endorse, review or promote them. But they really are great!

We were given a multi-pack of beeswax wraps for Christmas, and for a couple of weeks they sat in the draw as we wondered what to do with them. We considered them a novelty gift, a quirky gimmick. Then one day as I was making some sandwiches to take to the climbing wall, I went to get the cling film and saw the wraps lying there, still in their packet. For some reason, the sight of them broke through my usual habits and routines, and I thought I may as well give them a go.

I retrieved a bright yellow wrap from the packet and unfolded it, the multi-coloured fruit design slowly revealing itself. It didn’t look very big, it was barely wider than my sandwich! But I am an expert at wrapping presents with left over paper that is too small, and a bit of lateral thinking had me aligning the sandwich on the diagonal, and hey presto, the sandwich disappeared under an abundance of pineapples. Another surprise was how well the edges of the wraps stuck together. There wasn’t much overlap on the top but they stuck and held, supported by my nice neat corner folds. The yellow sandwich was quickly followed by a blue sandwich giving the extra benefit of easily differentiating one from the other. Jon could now avoid the stress of accidentally picking the sandwich polluted by mayonnaise!

Three hours later, hungry and worn out, I unpacked the lunch box from my rucksack and inspected the contents. Had it coped with being bounced around in my rucksack? Would my sandwich be a deconstructed mess in the box? No. The two hunger abating parcels were still impeccably wrapped and sticking together like best friends. With a trace of Christmas anticipation we unwrapped them, and found two perfectly preserved sandwiches. Not dried out, not falling apart, no mess anywhere. I have to confess to being somewhat excited by the success of these wraps!

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Like many others, we are trying to reduce our single use plastic consumption and cling film really seems like a very un-ecofriendly substance. So after the success of the beeswax wraps on our visit to the climbing wall we decided to pack a wrap each for our 3.5 month climbing trip around Europe. And I have to say they performed magnificently. We used them almost everyday on our 103 day trip, and they lasted right up until the final week. By then the beeswax had lost most of its stickiness. Like us, it was getting a bit worn out by constant (ab)use at the crags. It was a sad moment when we consigned the wraps to the bin at the end of the trip. Three and half months of eagerly unwrapping my blue sandwich was over, signifying the end of our adventures.

But the story doesn’t end there. A new generation of beeswax wraps are about to enter our lives. We have plans to take the tent around the UK over the summer. Beeswax wraps will be with us!

ps. Since returning I have discovered that I could have refreshed the wax on our wraps and given them a whole new lease of life! Never mind, I know for next time. Our wraps came from the UK based Beeswax Wrap Company.