13 Creative Uses for Cereal Bag Liners - Frugal Living, Recycling Plastic

If your family eats boxed dry cereals do you just toss out those plastic bags when the box is empty? Before you throw out another plastic cereal liner bag, consider saving them to reuse. More...

Here are a few creative ways you can recycle the bags...

1. Microwave hot dogs and sandwiches inside bag.

2. Open the cereal liner and use to cover a dish to prevent splatters while microwaving. Do NOT try this in the oven.

3. Use an open cereal liner to place homemade chocolate-covered candies and pretzels on to harden and cool. After the candy cools, just toss the liner for easy cleanup

4. Place no-bake cookies on an open liner to cool.

5. Fill an unopened bag with crackers or nuts and crush with a rolling pin.

6. Fill an unopened bag with seasoned bread or cracker crumbs. Use this to shake and bake meats such as fish or chicken or even vegetables.

7. Fill an unopened bag with quartered potatoes. Drizzle olive oil and dump in a packet of onion soup mix or other seasonings. Shake to coat. Place in a crockpot or in the oven to bake.

8. Place sandwiches or other foods in the bag for your lunch instead of using sandwich bags.

9. Open and use the bag when rolling out pie dough to prevent it from sticking to the counter top. Moisten the counter top before placing the liner on it to keep it from slipping. Sprinkle flour on the cereal bag and then put your dough on the liner.

10. Use an opened bag for rolling out cookie dough to keep your counter top from getting messy.

11. Use to separate hamburgers, cheese, or other meats when freezing.

12. Use when pushing down rice krispy treats in a pan to keep the marshmallow mixture from sticking to your hands.

13. If you are planning to take the cooled rice krispy treats to a picnic or party, use the cereal liner to keep the treats from sticking to each other and to make for easy removal of the treats. Cut the liner just slightly smaller than the container you’re using. Place cut liners in the container between each layer of treats. No more clumps of stuck-together rice krispy treats!

You can use cereal liners in place of wax paper in many ways (except do not try ironing or pressing leaves between cereal liners).

Do you have other uses for cereal box liners? If so, we would love to hear from you, e-mail us here!

"I used the cereal liners to cover pies. Open the bag halfway, slip the cover over the pies with the opening on the bottom and fold it over. Then label with a marker." - Nancy

"My 3 year old son loves to have an apple or orange cut up for snack time. We can use the unopened liners to put the fruit in for him to eat while he is sitting and watching his favorite TV shows. This will also help to keep the dog from getting to his treats so easily too!" - Connie

"I save tiny bits of soap that are left over from a bar of soap. When I have enough after a few months I put them in a washed out cereal liner and crush them to bits and then I wash a load of towels with this soap." - Jeanette

"Cereal box liner's are made with hdpe plastic, so I reuse mine with my vacuum food bag sealer. Saves on buying new rolls." - bytorsnowdog

"My favorite cereal bag use is for cooking corn. On return from Farmer's Market (or when I'm ready for meal prep) I trim the ears of corn just so there's a little stalk left and the tops are not ragged. Any big discolored husks go too, but I keep the inner husks and silk undisturbed. Ears go into a sink of cold water and are weighted down so they stay submerged for at least 30 minutes. 10 minutes or so before the meal is to be served 3 ears go into a cereal bag (let some water drip off) placed alternately - 2 tips up, 1 down in the middle - and I scrunch the bag top, pop it into my microwave for 6 minutes and hit start. If we all eat 2 (and we usually do) I have another bag ready to go in. (There are 3 of us.) If there's a good batch, good price and I have freezer space I buy extra and par-cook them 4 minutes, remove and let cool (will take some time) then chill them in fridge before I pop them in the freezer. They will need to sit out 2 hours or so before you finish cooking. Usually I do a 4 minute start depending on how long they sat out. You'll have to experiment - ear size, etc... Makes the best Illinois sweet corn ever; just peel back the husks, slip silks down too and wrap in paper towel or napkin and use as a handle to roll butter off the stick you keep just for this. Yum!" - Ellen C.

"I have a plastic box for my lunch sandwiches, but if I take rice, beans and meat I use plastic bowls. I put 2-3 tortillas (in cereal liners) in the microwave and then throw away." - Felipe

"I always lay a cereal box liner on the counter onto which I peel potatoes and carrots. (Why waste a paper towel?) Then I can just pick up all the peelings at once and throw them away. If the trash can happens to be too full at the moment, I just put the whole thing in the cereal box and set it by the can till it goes out that night." - Elaine F. D.

"I put them at the bottom of the kitchen garbage can, saves time cleaning the can as it catches drips. I also place the large ones at the bottom of the drawers of my refrigerator to catch spills. I also keep them in my diaper bag instead of plastic bags as a place to put dirty diapers." - Julia H. D.