In our household when I was growing up, the plastic wrap we always had was Handi-Wrap. It was stretchy and futzy to rip on the metal teeth — the place where you ripped it would invariably spring back onto the rest of the sheet you were detaching, and cling to it, and it was a pain in the ass to get it straightened out and aimed at the intended target. But then you’d point it towards that open dish of leftovers or that handful of carrot sticks or those leftover kitchen matches, and it would stretch to fit tight and it would cling like crazy to glass, metal, plastic, stoneware, or itself.
So then I was out on my own and, well, I was one of those “failure to launch” kids, took me several tries and a lot of awkwardness before I was out on my own successfully, you know? But I reached the point where I had a kitchen of my own and went off to shop for kitchen items, and found that there was no longer any such thing as Handi-Wrap. The rest of the world seemed to be using this shit called Saran Wrap, so I went home with a roll of that.
Same annoying behavior when you try to rip loose a sheet of the stuff, but when you take the result and try to wrap it around a bowl of leftover guacamole, it doesn’t stick worth a damn to the bowl. Only thing it sticks to well is itself.
I asked around — “What happened to Handi-Wrap? It was being made by Dow Chemical, not some tiny fly-by-night company that couldn’t compete, and it was clearly the better product, where’d they go?” — and several people made vague allusions to it being found to be toxic or hazardous and got taken off the market.
Years later (I just got frustrated trying to rewrap a section of watermelon), I got curious again and went on the internet and tried to find out something about that. I haven’t had any success finding online discussions of “whatever happened to Handi-Wrap” nor any stories of it being taken off the market for any specified reason. (Found some ebay listings, if I want to buy forty year old rolls of HandiWrap for premium prices).
And I have a neat dispenser that stops that annoying thing of sticking to the roll and being hard to get started again. It came from Lakeland (a chain of British kitchenware stores in the United Kingdom) and I don’t know why, but only their own brand film works properly in it.
Cheaper supermarket brands get tangled up or refuse to cut cleanly, so I by theirs online, even though it’s a little more expensive.
I don’t know what happened to Handi-Wrap, but I agree with you that Saran Wrap doesn’t stick well. For many years now I’ve been buying plastic wrap in commercial-size boxes intended for restaurants, and that stuff clings really well. There is no particular brand I can specify because it seems to be different every time I buy it, but it’s always the same type of large box with a detachable metal cutting edge, containing a roll 11" wide and 2500 ft long! In a home kitchen a single roll lasts for years! The dispenser is huge but I just keep it on top of the microwave.
For all I know the commercial-grade stuff may still use the original PVDC formula and that’s why it clings better, but I can’t imagine it would be allowed for use in the food service industry if it was unsafe. I occasionally use it in the microwave but it’s mostly for wrapping and covering.
ETA: The link below is to the sort of thing I mean, though this one is just 2000 ft. I notice that some of the ones on Amazon specify “BPA free”, some say “PVC”, and some don’t specify anything. Unfortunately I’ve never bought any of the Amazon ones so can’t say which work well. I can say that I much prefer the serrated cutting blade like this one vs the ones with the sliding cutter.
Amazing what one can learn here! I used to use Saran Wrap, then one day it no longer worked. As the OP states, it no longer clings to anything, so is essentially useless. I thought it was me. Maybe it was a different brand I had been using (not Saran). But I was certain it was Saran. I tried a couple other brands without much success. They were thinner and also as noted, ended up in a mess after clinging to itself.
I had no idea the product makeup (formula) had been altered. As far as it being not particularly safe; I wonder how unsafe it actually was. Considering the things I’ve ingested and otherwise put my body through over the years it likely wasn’t something I’d be too overly concerned about (depending).
These days, I do have a roll of some plastic film in the drawer but more often just use tin foil, or put stuff into a plastic airtight container. Of course the downside to that is it must be washed afterwards.
My mom always used Handi-Wrap. In fact, I still call any plastic wrap Handi-Wrap. Like all tissues are called Kleenex. For years, I didn’t have any luck with plastic wraps. None of them clung to anything. The only thing that it was good for was wrapping something like a sandwich, but I always use Ziploc bags (store brand, but still call them Ziplocs!) for that. The last roll of plastic wrap I bought was Walmart brand and it might say on the box that it’s commercial strength or something like that. It actually will cling to a bowl!
I’m trying to wean myself off cling film, as my wife is having a war on single-use plastic (rightly so, obviously). So my cupboards, fridge and freezer are full of tupperware instead. Bacofoil (who also make foil, obvs) seem to be the default brand here, although I think most people buy own brand.
Agree that today’s Saran-style wrap is practically useless. When I use something of the type (which is rare) I use the press and seal stuff, which is better.
First of all, if that were the case, the smell of chlorine would be unmistakable if you overheated plastic wrap in the microwave. What is actually produced through dehydrochlorination of PVC at high temperatures is not chlorine, but hydrogen chloride (HCl), which is equally pungent and very dangerous and corrosive, but it only happens at really high temperatures. According to this, significant dehydrochlorination will turn the plastic wrap brown, which I’ve never seen happen with any kind of plastic wrap in the microwave, I presume because it never gets hot enough to actually undergo dehydrochlorination.
IANAC, but AFAICT the real potential issues with heating plastic wrap in the microwave (i.e.- having it touch the food that is being heated) are probably twofold. One is the potential presence of BPA (bisphenol A) which is a known endocrine disruptor, because BPA is used in the manufacture of many PVCs. The other is the potential emission of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (Cl-PAHs) at high temperatures. Many substances in this class have known toxicity, including the potential to be carcinogenic and mutagenic. That’s the theoretical hazard, but I have no idea if ordinary microwaving will get the plastic hot enough to leach out Cl-PAHs even if the plastic composition was capable of it. In one paper I saw on the subject, the investigators used a Bunsen burner gas flame to heat the plastic to measure the emissions.
I had a professor in college who claimed his brother invented Handi Wrap while working for Dow. No royalties or anything- just his regular chemist pay. How’s that for useless information?
When I was very young I did something that pissed off my brother. He swung the box of Saran Wrap that he was holding, at me. I have a nice scar on my right hand from where those metal teeth sawed into me.
In a perfect world, my kitchen would have a commercial dispenser of plastic wrap screwed to the wall, for a perfect cut every time.
So true. One thing I learned here is that a good choice for plastic wrap is Costco’s brand (probably Kirkland, I don’t know what it says on the box). It comes in two huge rolls and one purchase lasts me for years.
I agree, and try to use plastic wrap sparingly (apparently successfully, since I bought my Costco 2-pack over 3 years ago and am only now nearing the end of it). Good old fashioned Pyrex (preferably literally old; I source mine from a local shop whose proprietor gets his from estate sales; the Pyrex sells out instantly) with glass lids is a great alternative for most foods.
My everyday experience is with laser cutters. Every manufacturer and expert in laser cutters and engravers warns that PVCs are a big no-no accompanied by the chlorine gas claim. No doubt, a kitchen microwave won’t reach the same temperatures as a laser, but a burn barrel or trash incinerator might.
Today I learned why my plastic wrap doesn’t stick like it used to. I was almost wrapping the whole bowl in plastic wrap as it seems to stick to itself. Glass bowls it seemed to work better but not great.
My mom, who passed away a few years ago, had this plastic wrap that was kind of “krinkly” with a pinkish tint that stuck to glass bowls great. Don’t remember the name and don’t know if it is still available.
This jogged my memory. I worked at a place that sometimes would shrink wrap packages. The plastic film was similar (if not the same) as handi wrap etc. The plastic would be wrapped loosely around items and then sent through a heat tunnel. This shrunk the plastic film to the items. Very neat & tidy . . .except the smell!! I worked a good distance away and if the shrink wrap worker was doing a fairly large order the stench got pretty bad.
Never thought about it again until now. I wonder if that worker is still with the program. Likely dead from some sort of lung disease or poisoning.
