Ok, so maybe that just doesn’t make you jump to your feet and run to make these – but hold on for a minute! What if I told you that you could make Homemade Fire Starters with stuff you throw away in your trash? I know you are thinking “come on….trash??”
A couple of years ago, we started making our own fire starters. First, we were running out of them; and, second, we hated paying the high prices for the chemical ones.
We bought the electric heating element fire starter for our Big Green Egg, but since we grill in all kinds of weather, we decided that running the electrical cord in the snow and rain might not be the smartest thing we would ever do. I don’t know about you, but a little bit of bad weather wasn’t going to slow down our grilling!
Ok, now that I convinced you to make your own (which only takes about 15 minutes by the way!!!), what are the next steps?
📎 Collect Supplies
Start by saving your dryer lint. No joke.
Gather a couple of the cardboard egg cartons that you were going to toss in the trash. If you normally buy the styrofoam cartons, just switch it for cardboard for a few weeks. We buy the eggs in the cardboard containers, so it’s just trash/recycling to us.
The only thing we had to buy was unscented wax. Here is the link to the one I bought, but you do not need 10lbs!!! I also use this wax to make batik fabric, so I just use the leftovers for the firestarters.
- This is a good container blend with a 121-125 melt point that is blended with 2% of our Universal Soy Wax Additive
- You can also blend this with the 416 Soy wax to create beautiful tarts
I had an old, beat-up pan that I dedicated to my wax melting. Do not spend much money on this. My local thrift store sells used pans for a dollar or two. It is a lot easier to use a dedicated pan that trying to clean the wax out of your nice kitchen ones.
🔥 Instructions
Step 1: Place the cardboard egg cartons on a foil (or Wax paper) covered cookie sheet. The foil is going to catch any excess wax that will spread from the bottom of the egg carton. Trust me, it is much easier to throw away a piece of foil than it is to clean up melted wax on your wife’s cookie sheets (don’t ask me how I know that!)
Step 2: Place a little ball of dryer lint inside each egg container.
Step 3: Melt 1-1 ½ cups of wax in the pan with the stove top burner turned too low. Slowly melt the wax and carefully pour it into the egg carton. You’ll want to cover the dryer lint, but you do not need to fill up the egg carton. A little will go a long ways!
Step 4: Once the wax completely hardens, cut the cardboard egg carton apart and store them in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. We use these homemade fire starters for grilling and we bring a few for camping as well.
Super easy. Super fun. And super useful.
Related Articles
Best Accessories for Your Kamado Grill – These must-have accessories will take your Kamado Grilling experience to a whole new level. It’s amazing how a small change to your grill makes such a huge difference!
How to Prevent Your Kamado Grill from Freezing Shut – I am embarrassed to admit that the lid of my Big Green Egg froze shut during an ice storm. I learned some valuable lessons on how to grill even though the weather isn’t cooperating.
Best Wireless Meat Thermometers – So, this isn’t a tool to improve your grill, but it is the first tool you should buy to improve your grilling experience! This has made the biggest difference for almost all of my recipes.
Ingredients
- 1 Egg carton carboard only
- 1/4 lb Wax unscented
- 1 handful Dryer Lint
Instructions
- Collect all of your supplies.
Prepare the Egg Cartons
- Add a sheet of wax paper on your cookie sheet. This will make cleanup easier (and stop your wife from getting upset that you were using her good sheet pans – trust me!)
- Add balls of lint the size of a golf ball in each egg section of the egg carton.
Melt the Wax
- Melt wax over low heat in an old pot.
- Pour wax over egg carton being careful to not overflow.
- Allow the wax to harden at room temperature and cut apart.
- Store in a gallon sized Ziploc bag.
Notes
