Hidden Feature On Foil & Plastic Wrap Boxes?
Today’s feature is from Complete Organizing Solutions with Do You Fight With Aluminum Foil? There’s something hiding (in plain sight) on your foil and plastic wrap boxes that you might not be aware of (I sure wasn’t!):
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.
Push the tabs in to lock the rolls in place so they don’t bounce out of the box while you’re using it. Such a handy little feature yet hardly noticed!
As soon as I read this I checked my boxes right away–nothing. But I just had no-name Canadian brand stuff on hand, maybe we didn’t have it here? I checked with a friend in the U.S., they were on her boxes (she hadn’t noticed them either). I then checked at Walmart here–slim pickings on the shelves btw–and yup, it’s a 50/50 mix but those tabs are definitely on the ends. There were only one or two brands of wax and parchment paper on the shelf, none had the tabs. Any luck on your end?
Make sure to check out the site above, plenty more goodies to enjoy! Another suggestion from Tanna (the blogger who shared this tip): If your boxes don’t have the push in tabs, try cutting a few slits to push the ends in yourself for a DIY foil box hack!
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( 15 )
02 Jun 2008 at 1:40 pm
It really pays to read the boxes doesn’t it?
I’ve never seen that either.
Thanks!
This will sure come in handy.
02 Jun 2008 at 3:22 pm
I shared this with friends and we all had the, “Well, duh!” response. It would have been nice for the company to advertise this helpful addition to boxes!
02 Jun 2008 at 3:45 pm
I don’t use foil but back when I was still a kid, my mom did and I don’t recall having noticed that tab feature. We had a number of slips too so if she did notice I would remember.
02 Jun 2008 at 4:02 pm
Those have been there for years, they are a great idea!
02 Jun 2008 at 5:43 pm
Never noticed the end tabs either. Geez you’d think manufacturers would advertise such a thing instead of “new improved (meaning box color, new redesign or size). Sounds like their advertising dept. is focusing on wrong thing.
02 Jun 2008 at 5:58 pm
I actually just discovered them the other day! I accidentally pressed one in and had this WHOAAA moment. Actually, I think I had noticed them before, but never really understood the point of them (my parents never pushed them in, to my knowledge), but now I’m all about them.
02 Jun 2008 at 6:08 pm
I just checked mine….what a bummer…. we don’t have that feature on Aussie boxes!
02 Jun 2008 at 6:48 pm
Inever noticed those tabs before.
What a clever idea and by the way I live in Quebec, Canada and Alcan aluminum foil doesn’t have those and neither does the parchment paper.
04 Jun 2008 at 3:44 am
Claire, I read this on another site a week or two ago so last time I was in Coles I looked at the boxes and some do have them. So they are in Aus (just not on the boxes in my drawer).
04 Jun 2008 at 3:35 pm
All I can say is . . duhhhhhhh!
05 Jun 2008 at 8:38 pm
I am an American living in China, and even Chinese brands of saran wrap have the tabs. They are constructed pretty strongly and I got my finger stuck punching them in. I don’t know about tinfoil because it’s too expensive here. How could I live 27 years and not hear about this?
06 Jun 2008 at 2:20 am
I live In Queensland, Australia and have just checked my boxes and they are on a generic brand of plastic wrap, but not on the foil. Thanks for the tip, as I’ve never noticed the tabs before.
15 Jul 2008 at 9:24 pm
[...] too long ago I found out that aluminium foil and cling wrap boxes have locks, which involves pushing in the tab on both [...]
16 Jul 2008 at 5:24 pm
Wow. I just subscribed to this site because I found a lot of interesting reads, but this one was SO exciting, I actually went right to my kitchen to check out my bozes. My cheap-o dollar store foil has the tabs, but my expensive parchment paper does not. I can’t believe I never noticed those tabs! The foil is ALWAYS jumping out of the box! THANKS!
05 Aug 2008 at 5:51 am
I searched my cubbard and actually found 2 OLD boxes of Saran wrap that did NOT have the tabs. I don’t have any idea how old they are -I have lived in this house 15 years. Some colored Saran wrap from Christmas 07 has them. Does anyone know what year this started?