I’m not really loyal to any one brand for many kitchen products. Baggies, aluminum foil, food storage bags, freezer bags, parchment paper–for all of those, I pretty much buy whatever is on sale or the brands for which I have coupons. But I am kind of picky when it comes to plastic wrap. For years I have always used Saran Wrap. Either of the two types of Saran Wrap are fine with me–I like both the Saran Premium Wrap (which is really the original Saran Wrap–they changed the name and the product package design) and the Saran Cling Plus.
I have tried other brands of plastic wrap–usually when a different brand is on sale–but none seem to work as well as the Saran Wrap does. They either don’t stretch enough, or they don’t cling very well (or the product clings too well to itself, making it nearly impossible to pull off a piece to use), or they tend to tear easily. I haven’t found another brand of plastic wrap that I like as well as Saran Wrap.
I was intrigued, though, when I saw the newest addition to the plastic wrap market–the Glad Press’n Seal Wrap. This plastic wrap was different from any other wrap ever made, or so the advertising said. Apparently, Glad Press’n Seal Wrap has a special kind of way that it seals, which means that it creates an air-tight seal when pressed against nearly any surface–and, according to the commercials, you can even use Glad Press’n Seal Wrap to make bags in which to store food.
This was certainly different than anything I had ever tried, and it sounded pretty remarkable, so I decided to buy a roll and test it out against my tried-and-true Saran Wrap. Would the Glad Press’n Seal Wrap end up being better than the Saran Wrap that I had used for years?
First, I compared the costs of the plastic wraps:
Saran Premium Wrap (100 sq ft) : $2.89
Saran Cling Plus (200 sq ft): $2.99
Glad Press’n Seal Wrap (70 sq ft): $3.99
Glad Press’n Seal Wrap (140 sq ft): $5.89
Wow–the Glad Press’n Seal Wraps are pretty pricey in comparison to the Saran Wraps, aren’t they? I wondered how that high price would break down into cost per square foot for each wrap, so I did the math to find out:
Saran Premium Wrap (100 sq ft): about 3 cents per square foot
Saran Cling Plus (200 sq ft): about 1.5 cents per square foot
Glad Press’n Seal Wrap (70 sq ft): about 5.5 cents per square foot
Glad Press’n Seal Wrap (140 sq ft): about 4 cents per square foot
Clearly the best bargain here is the Saran Cling Plus, at 1.5 cents per square foot, although the Saran Premium Wrap isn’t overly expensive. As for the Glad Press’n Seal Wraps, the best choice would be the 140 sq ft package, which averages to be about 4 cents per square foot.
Now I needed to compare how well the two wraps worked, using them both in my own kitchen for tasks that I would commonly use plastic wrap. I decided to pit the Glad Press’n Seal Wrap up against the Saran Cling Plus, rather than the Saran Premium Wrap, because that is the plastic wrap that I most commonly purchase. And, after all, I was trying to find out if the Glad Press’n Seal Wrap was a better wrap than what I normally used, right?
I often grab the roll of plastic wrap when I a using the microwave–it makes a good splatter guard when I use a piece to cover a bowl of soup or pasta, for example. So, I tried out both the Saran Cling Plus Wrap and the Glad Press’n Seal wrap for this task. Of course, it is necessary to leave a vent when using plastic wrap as a cover in the microwave. Both plastic wraps performed well at this job.
Plastic wrap is also what I use when I need to cover a bowl of food going into the refrigerator. Again, I tried both wraps. I have to say that the Glad Press’n Seal Wrap did a little better at this than my regular Saran Cling Plus because it sealed to the sides of the bowl very easily. The Saran Wrap did seal the bowl, but I had to work with it to get it to do so, smoothing it down and folding it over on itself.
I like to use plastic wrap for some foods when packing my son’s lunch for school. It is easier to wrap the Saran Wrap around a sandwich than to try to fit the sandwich into a baggie, for example. So, I tried this out with the Glad Press’n Seal Wrap as well. It did just as well as the Saran Cling Plus, no better, no worse. Both wraps work well to wrap up a sandwich.
I have also used plastic wrap to make little goodie bags–I give these out at birthday parties for favors, for Halloween treats, and for school classroom functions. I just tear off a square of the Saran Wrap, lay it on the counter, and pile the goodies in the center–candies, usually. Then I simply gather the corners of the wrap and twist it up into a little bag. I often tie them with ribbons or yarn to look festive. I decided to try this out with the Glad Press’n Seal Wrap–not a great idea. The Glad plastic wrap seals to itself too easily for this type of use, and I wasn’t able to make my cute little goodie bags with it.
I use plastic wrap for a lot of other things, of course, but after these tests I had pretty much figured out which plastic wrap I liked best–I was sticking to my Saran Cling Plus. Yes, the Glad Press’n Seal wrap has a lot of potential uses and it sticks very well to bowls, which I liked, but for me, that doesn’t justify the extra cost. It simply isn’t worth paying so much for a plastic wrap, I don’t think. And, since I can’t use the Glad Press’n Seal to make my goodie bags, I would have to buy the Saran Wrap for that anyway–and it sure doesn’t make sense to me to have two different plastic wraps taking up space in my small kitchen. So, for now anyway, I’m still going to be a loyal Saran Wrap customer.
