One cover, or a box every other day

You will see comparisons that convert a silicone cover into an equivalent number of rolls of cling film. We have published one ourselves. The honest answer is that it does not mean much: the two are not the same material doing the same job, and the conversion rests on assumptions a buyer cannot check.

Here is the comparison that does hold.

Film is a consumable. A cover is a tool.

• Film covers a pan once. It is binned when the pan is opened, and the next cover is a fresh sheet off the roll.
• A cover goes on the same pan, comes off, and goes back on. It is washed in the same rack as the pan it covers.
• Film sticks to what is dry and clean. A cover grips a rim that is wet, greasy, warm or cold.

Where a cover has to earn it

A reusable cover only beats film if it survives a commercial kitchen. Corners are where silicone covers fail, which is why ours are the part we test hardest. A cover that tears in its first month has cost you more than the film it replaced — in money and in waste.

Ask for a sample and put it on the worst pan on your line.