Uses for Brown Paper Bags

To ripen peaches, avocados, pears, apples or tomatoes, put them in a brown paper bag. The paper helps retain the natural gases that ripen the fruit. Remember, as soon as you refrigerate the fruit or vegetables, the ripening process stops. Store mushrooms in a brown paper bag to keep them fresh.

To keep onions on hand for two or three months without sprouting, remove them from their mesh or plastic sack and put them in a brown paper bag on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.

Tie a large brown paper bag over the head of your dust mop to shake off the dirt and dust inside the house.

Drain fried foods or cool cookies on brown paper bags

Cut or tear a 10-inch strip along the back seam of a brown paper bag and slip it over your car steering wheel to keep the wheel cool and touchable during hot weather.

Remove wax from tablecloths or carpets by placing an opened brown bag on the problem and moving a warm iron over the spot-quickly. Greasy spots will appear on the bag. Move clean paper to the spot and continue until nothing appears

Kids find it satisfying to blow up old paper bags and smash them. They also like to make masks out of them. Just cut eyeholes and have them draw faces.

Use a dampened bag as an emergency pressing cloth.

Use paper bags to make big building blocks for forts, castles, towers and tunnels. Lay the bag flat on the floor or a low table. Fold the top over about 6 or 8 inches and crease the bag on the fold. Open the bag and fill it with scrunched up newspapers, putting in one sheet at a time. Fold the bag on the crease line and securely tape the bag closed.

To save the trouble of scraping snow and ice off your car’s windshield, place a ripped paper bag beneath the wipers when you park the car. Just peel it off in the morning.

Line a kitchen wastebasket or trash can with an opened up paper bag for easy disposal.