Paper and Bags

As well as requiring cooking utensils and equipment, you'll be hard pressed to operate in a kitchen without the essential bags and wraps we use everyday to cover foods, wrap foods, cook foods in, store leftovers, line cake tins and baking trays and ovens, seal ingredients, prevent skins forming on sauces and mop up messes we make from time to time.

Here are some of the essential items you'll need in a kitchen, in additional to your ingredients and basic equipment.


Baking Paper/Parchment
Also referred to as silicone paper, baking parchment is a non-stick paper used to line tins or trays to prevent cake or biscuit mixtures from sticking to the tin. Unlike greaseproof paper, baking parchment does not need to be greased before use.




Plastic/Cling Wrap
Plastic wrap is a thin plastic film typically used for sealing food items in containers to keep them fresh. Plastic wrap, typically sold on rolls in boxes with a cutting edge, clings to many smooth surfaces and can remains tight over the opening of a container with no adhesive or other devices. Common plastic wrap is roughly 0.01 mm thick.

Plastic wrap is known as cling-film in the United Kingdom and cling wrap in Australia. Commonly known brands include Glad, Multix and Hercules. In Australia and New Zealand, Glad wrap is the leading brand, known well enough to make its manufacturer concerned about its name becoming a genericized trademark.

Aluminium Foil
Aluminium foil (sometimes known as alfoil) is aluminium prepared in thin sheets, with a thickness less than 0.2mm. As a result of this, the foil is extremely pliable, and can be bent or wrapped around objects with ease.

Foil made from a thin leaf of tin was commercially available before its aluminium counterpart. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, tin foil was in common use, and some people continue to refer to the new product by the old name. Tin foil is much stiffer than aluminium foil. It tends to give a slight tin taste to the food wrapped in it, which is one major reason it has largely been supplanted by aluminium and other materials for wrapping food.

Aluminium foil has a shiny side and a matte side. The shiny side is produced when the aluminium is rolled during the final pass. It is nearly impossible to produce rollers with a gap fine enough to cope with the foil gauge, therefore, for the final pass, two sheets are rolled at the same time, doubling the thickness of the gauge at entry to the rollers. When the sheets are later separated, the inside surface is dull, and the outside surface is shiny. This difference in the finish has led to the perception that favouring a side has an effect when cooking. While many believe that the shiny side's reflective properties keep heat out when wrapped on the exterior and keep heat in when facing exterior, the actual difference is imperceptible without instrumentation. The reflectivity of bright aluminium foil is 88% while dull embossed foil is about 80%.

Aluminium foil is also used for barbecuing more delicate foods such as mushrooms and vegetables; food is wrapped in foil then placed on the grill, preventing loss of moisture that may result in a less appealing texture.

Freezer Bags
A freezer bag is a clear plastic bag that is specially formulated to prevent freezer burn to meats and other foods that are stored in the freezer, making it easier to store foods for a longer period of time.

While cheap freezer bags do not work as well as the thicker and slightly more expensive name brand freezer bags, they function nicely for storing foods that will be used in a couple of days.

Freezer bags are also a great way to store leftovers that can be used later for soups and in casseroles. Rather than throwing out leftover vegetables, keep a gallon-sized bag in the freezer.

Available in small medium and large sizes, freezer bags make it possible to store all sorts of foods and get the most our of the food budget. With less waste and the ability to keep a wider variety of foods on hand for cooking, freezer bags are truly a great addition to any kitchen.

Paper Towels
Paper towels are made from wood or recycled paper. It serves the same general purposes as conventional towels, such as drying hands, wiping windows, dusting, and cleaning up spills. Because paper towels are disposable, they are often chosen to avoid the contamination of germs.

They are sometimes bleached during the production process to make the color whiter. It is not uncommon for rolls of paper towels to include intricate colored images on each square (such as flowers or teddy bears). Resin is often added to strengthen the product. Patterns of shapes such as circles or diamonds are often imprinted into the paper towels to help it hold moisture. Most rolls are manufactured with two layers of thin paper, but different types can have more or fewer layers.

In 1879, a school teacher in Philadelphia, named Rick Johnson, gave students individual paper squares, so that the single towel in the bathroom would not be infected with germs. When Arthur Scott, head of the Scott Paper Company, heard about it he decided to try and sell a load of paper that had been made too thick to use as toilet paper. After learning about a teacher who had cut pieces of soft paper for her student to use to wipe their nose, he cut the paper into small sheets and sold them as disposable towels. Later, he renamed them as Sani-Towel. In 1931, he first introduced the paper towel for the kitchen and created a whole new grocery category.

Food Storage and Garbage Bags
There are many versions of food storage bags and garbage bags for the home. Many now a days employ the ziplock system which enables resealing of the bag and thus reusing. They come in all shapes and sizes, can be use in the freezer, fridge and pantry and some are even microwave proof.







Disposable Gloves
Many people feel that wearing gloves prevents the transmission of foodborne related pathogens. However, wearing gloves is not a substitute for appropriate, effective, thorough and frequent hand-washing. Hands must be carefully washed with soap and warm water, then dried before and after gloves are worn. Gloves are suitable for food prep work and covering non-infected hand abrasions, etc. Natural rubber latex gloves have been reported to cause allergic reactions in some individuals. Consider this when deciding whether single-use latex gloves will be used during food preparation.

Rules of Glove Use

• Do not reuse gloves.
• Use only single-use gloves, stored and dispensed to prevent contamination.
• Ensure gloves are intact, without tears or imperfections.
• Provide gloves that fit properly.
• Gloves must be changed whenever an activity or workstation change occurs, or whenever they become contaminated.
• Hands are to be washed and dried before putting on new gloves.
• Gloves should be replaced after sneezing, coughing, or touching of the hair or face.