Home chefs listen up...it’s time to bring reusables into your kitchen and ditch the single use. The pandemic may be making it difficult to use reusables outside the home, but inside the home you are in the driver’s seat.
One of our favourite kitchen swaps is using a silicone baking mat to replace baking paper.
Yep, you heard us right reusable baking paper is a thing and its amazing. Not only is it a more sustainable alternative, it’s durability and versatility also make it really good value.
Why We Love Our Silicone Baking Mats
They are super easy to use, rolling out in seconds, so there’s no more fumbling around trying to cut the right size piece of baking paper for your tray and wasting half the roll in the process. Just take your perfectly sized reusable baking paper out of the drawer and fold it into the pan or tray - easy!
They’re non-stick, which means the food NEVER sticks - not even the roast veggies! Imagine not needing to carefully peel the potatoes off the baking tray trying not to lose the crispy, crunchy outside 🙌
The FDA grade silicone also makes the mats odourless (no need to relive all the veggies you’ve roasted!), food safe and heat resistant up to 220 degrees, which means you can use them for almost anything that’s going in the oven.
Silicone Baking Mats Have So Many Uses
The silicone baking mat is one of our favourite swaps because we use them EVERYDAY! As they are super versatile, we use them for so many different things - from cookies, meat and vegetables in the oven to cheese on toast under the grill.
Due to the flexible nature of silicone, the mat can also bend into a quiche dish or into a loaf tin to make banana and raspberry bread, a family favourite in our house. You save so much time and frustration when you’re not trying to cut baking paper to the right size and shape or, even worse, scrubbing bits of burnt batter off tight corners!
As there are so many different uses, we have multiple mats. We keep two baking mats for oily foods and two for baking. Some people like to think of it as sweet and savoury! Organisation ninjas - you can even colour code them according to use. Oh, yes.
Thinking you need a Silicone Baking Mat stat? Get yours now.
Not Just for Baking - Alternate Uses for Silicone Baking Mats
Other great uses for silicone baking mats in the kitchen are: for kneading bread, rolling out pastry or dough, pressing a mixture down into patties between two mats and just generally keeping your benchtop clean while preparing food (think laying out veggies for build-your-own pizzas).
While silicone baking mats are super versatile in the kitchen, they can also be really handy out of it. For example, to protect surfaces while the kids are using playdough or making craft or any other similar mess.
Don’t leave your mat at home when you go away! Add it to your camping stash or suitcase- they are so lightweight and roll up small, they won’t take up much space, and will come in very handy at your holiday location. Plus, you won’t have to buy or dispose of baking paper. So many wins!
How to Care for Silicone Baking Mats
It’s best to avoid using sharp knives on the mats - instead transfer to a cutting board to slice up your yummy goodies.
Washing up is simple too. If the mats have been used for baking, it’s a hand wash of the mat only, there’s often no need to wash the tin - no more scrubbing! #timesaving
For more oily cooking, we recommend rinsing off in hot water straight away, followed by a hand wash and towel dry. Then simply roll them up and put them back in the drawer ready for tomorrow.
Obviously, with something that goes into the oven constantly they will discolour, so over time they may not look as ‘pretty’ but, being silicone, they will still do the same awesome job for a while to come.
Of all our kitchen swaps, this is the one we can’t live without. As mentioned above, we even take the mats with us on holidays! With so many uses and being so easy to look after, they are a fantastic investment even before you consider the sustainable benefits. They will make your life easier and drastically reduce the waste footprint in your home. That’s a definite win!
Want to give Silicone Baking Mats a go? You won't look back. Promise.