What cling film really costs a kitchen — and it isn't the roll

Ask a head chef what cling film costs and you get the price of a box. That number is small, and spread across every pan it covers it comes down to a few fils a cover. If film were only a line on an invoice, nobody would think about it twice.

The cost sits somewhere else, and every kitchen already knows where.

Where film actually costs you

• It will not grip a wet or greasy rim — which is the state of every pan coming off service — so it gets pressed down twice, or the rim gets wiped first, or the pan goes in uncovered.
• It lifts in a hot box and in transport, and what left covered arrives uncovered.
• It pulls off the roll at an angle, and the second pull is the one that works.
• The moment a pan is opened the film is binned and a fresh sheet goes on — the same pan, covered three or four times a day.
• Every one of those sheets leaves the kitchen in a bin bag.

What a reusable cover changes

GNSeal is the same motion — cover the pan, press, walk away — except the cover grips the rim instead of sticking to it. Open the pan, put the same cover back on. It goes to the wash in the same rack as the pan and comes back with it.

Be careful with payback arithmetic

If you are switching to save money on film alone, be honest about the sums. Film is cheap per cover, so a reusable cover has to be used hundreds of times before it has paid back the film it replaced. It will, if it lasts — but that saving is slow, and it is not the reason to switch.

The reason to switch is handling: a cover that works on a wet rim, goes back on after the pan is opened, and does not lift in a hot box.

Judge it on a dirty pan at the end of a service, not on a clean one in a photograph. If it grips there, it will grip anywhere in your kitchen.