Did anyone else know this? I sure didn't...

[Clarkafella]

Saw this on another forum and thought that it was worth sharing. Being that this is Chowhound, I suppose that most on here already knew this, but maybe I'm not the only dummy!

Quote:
"I've been using aluminum foil for more years than I care to remember.
Great stuff, but sometimes it can be a pain. You know, like when you are
in the middle of doing something and you try to pull some foil out and
the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the
box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.
Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to throw out
an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at
the end of the box. And written on the end it said, "Press here to lock
end". Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in
place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked
at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked
at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too! I can't count the number of
times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover
something up."

[roze]

Holy crap. How have I missed that my entire life.

[gryphonskeeper]

Rose, I looked and found it too, showed it to my mother, who then had this blank stare on her face.... and said "All this time" ......... why did they never show this on a commercial?

[kobetobiko]

I have known this and used it, but it only worked sometime. The "lock" sometimes will lock the roll too tight and prevent the foils / wrap from rolling out. You can't lock it too tight but then the roll may end up coming out from the box.

[dolores]

Clarakafella -- you made us look!

Kirkland doesn't have it on either the wrap or the foil.

Interesting idea, thanks for the tip.

[Clarkafella]

They have them on my plastic wrap and my aluminum foil (both Kroger brands). On the foil, no mention is made about the tabs- which leads me to believe that they have been on the boxes for so long that they figure that everyone already knows about 'em!

You might want to examine the box ends closely- these things are hard to see if they aren't marked!

[Miss Needle]

You are definitely correct about that, kobe. After reading this thread, I decided to lock my roll in and couldn't get the foil to come out. I think I'm going to stick to my old ways -- I never had a problem with it before. If it ain't broke ...

[thecountryrose]

OMG!!! I just had to go look to and on my Kroger brand of plastic wrap, it does say it on the front of the box about the lock tabs. I also had to just waste a piece of wrap and it does work. Mine just has push in tabs out of the same cardboard that the box is, so there is no way that you can "lock" the tabs to tight. The lock is just cardboard.

[diablo]

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle. I guess you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! I had absolutely no idea...thanks for the tip, Clarkafella.

[Fuser]

How about that (shaking head in amazement) ... My parchment and wax papers, however, don't have the handy dandy little locks.

[caviar_and_chitlins]

O.M.G. I also can't believe that I've never seen this before, so off to the pantry I went. I found what Fuser found- they are on the foil and plastic, but not the parchment or wax papers.

That, my friend, is an excellent tip. Thank you.

[hannaone]

You made me look also.
Reynolds foil - Press here to lock tabs.
Kirkland Plastic wrap has the lock but doesn't say anything, just perforated cardboard on each end.

[Liz K]

Wow, new to me!

[berkleybabe]

Jeez Louise, I had no idea of this..forever! So here's my question. Why don't they just lock it at the factory?

[thew]

i second and third the holy crap!!!!

how long have those been there?

[jfood]

it's been around to jfood's knowledge at least 12 months. His BIL turned him on to it.

Here's another AHA moment. Jfood buys the Kirkland plastic wrap (the one in the yellow-blue box). Last month when he bought it, the box had a new addition, one of the two-sided cutters. Now jfood pulls on the wrap (it stays out on the strip nicely as well) and then slides the dingey-thingey across the wrap and zip, it's cut. No more serrated edge to cut his finger and no more pulling the roll out and try to find the "start".

[kobetobiko]

I have known this for a few years, so this is definitely not new.

[enbell]

Pretty sure I got up halfway through your paragraph, went to stab the sides of my box, then returned to finish reading the rest of your post and the following comments. Oh, and on my way back to my computer I shook my head in shame ;) In case there is another ah-ha moment to be had, is there a 'right way' to tear saran wrap? I never seem to tear a nice smoothe sheet. It usually clumps or only tears part way.

[Cheese Boy]

The best way to tear Saran wrap is to unroll the amount you need, and then close the lid tight onto the top of the box. Your Saran wrap will be right up against the side of the box, right up against the serrated edge ready for cutting. Hold the box tightly shut (the Saran wrap will have adhered to that adhesive strip thingy under the serrated flap -- you'll see it has once you open the box up again), and just tear the Saran wrap in an upward swift motion for a clean cut. This will work every time as long as you keep the box flap *tightly* shut as you tear and you keep the serrated edge facing *away* from you.

[valerie]

Another one who just went to look and sure enough, I "locked" my Reynolds foil. I didn't want to pull the foil out and waste it, so now I'm curious to see if it really stay in place.

Thanks for the tip!

And separately, not sure if this really works since I don't actually do it, but a friend's mother swears that keeping Saran wrap in the freezer makes it easier to handle.

[Cheese Boy]

Here's another neat feature a lot of people don't know about on boxes of aluminum foil. It's the locking feature(s) that keep the box lid shut instead of flapping uncontrollably all over the place. Located an inch or so directly beneath the "blade" on the box, there are just two perforations that need to be undone. Undo them carefully otherwise they won't work well. After those perforations are both *carefully* loosened and pulled *slightly* outward, you will have created two locking "tabs". Close the boxtop and secure the boxtop edge inside both of them. You'll see that the box's lid stays shut effortlessly.

[flourgirl]

Great tip! I had no idea! I also checked my parchment and wax paper rolls and sure enough no locking tabs.

[Linda VH]

WELL DANG!!! Who knew indeed! Thanks (I got up and went and looked too lol)

[Catskillgirl]

I can't believe I never noticed this. Thank you so much! It should save me lots of frustration in the future.

Who knew, indeed???

[BobB]

Yeah, I knew about these. But as my wife likes to tell me, I'm a noticer, I'm always pointing things out to her that she just looked right past.

[meatn3]

Thank you! I too had no idea...just goes to show what happens when we think we are familiar with a product!

[Cheflambo]

Well, yes indeed.,... this is surely my spitball of wisdom for the day. I, too, went to the kitchen to check this out and found it on both my Reynolds Wrap and Glad Wrap. But how far in are you supposed to push those tabs? I tries this on the aluminum foil and the roll still comes out of the box.

[Afternoon Tea]

What a coincidence; found the push-in tabs a couple of days prior!!!! Had the same reaction as others, "how come I didn't know that," but maybe I did, but just forgot. Also the trick of storing saranwrap in the freezer; it does unwrap easier.

[hellpaso]

i am stunned!!! just went to check. locks on the foil, press & seal, and on the store brand parchment paper. none on the storebrand wax paper. thank you for telling us about this!! maybe it's always been this way, i surely never noticed.

[juliewong]

Holy Cow! you learn something new everyday - that is amazing.. Just goes to show that you can look at something a hundred times and never really see it.

[scuzzo]

THANK YOU!!!! Can't believe I've never seen it either! You rock.

[nofunlatte]

I can't believe I didn't know this (and now I can't wait to tell my friends!)

BTW, my waxed paper DID come with the locking tabs (Marsh brand, a midwestern store brand).

[CindyJ]

See... you learn something new every day -- at least, I do!

[Stillwater Girl]

I got this tip in an email forward at work a few weeks ago! The first thing I did when I got home that day was pull out my saran wrap to look. I don't even think I set my car keys down before looking. I've told a few friends and my mom about this one and they were both amazed that they had never noticed that.

[wayne keyser]

I buy foil in sheets from a restaurant supply store. I get huge rolls of plastic wrap there too. The grocery-store prices for teeny boxes are usurious.