How Do I Pack Glass Plates?

One Plate, One Sheet of Paper

“Use plenty of packing paper” is one of the first rules of packing a kitchen. Pad the bottom of the carton.  Cushion the sides. Pad the top with more paper.

“And make sure you wrap those breakables up good!”

Of course. That means lots of paper in between all those plates and everything, right?

Nope. Not necessarily.

Packing a kitchen is a balancing act between keeping everything protected and packing it all in tight and secure. In this month’s packing tip we’ll take a look at one way to achieve that balance.

When you come across a stack of plates like the opening picture in this post how do you attack it?

Not like this, we hope! 

Do you start by folding a couple of pieces of paper over the first plate:

then put the second one on and fold a couple more pieces of paper over that and repeat for half a dozen plates?

If so, you’re in good company.

From there the process is simple. Take all the paper in between all your plates plus a few more pieces from underneath and wrap up your stack of plates.

But that’s a lot of paper to fold in one shot.

And you end up with something that looks like this.

There’s nothing particularly wrong here – your plates are certainly wrapped up. But let’s try a slightly different approach.

Instead of two pieces of paper in between plates let’s use just one.

Wrapping up our stack of six plates just like before – except now using only half as much paper – we get a bundle that looks like this.

To give those plates the protection they need wrap that bundle up in a few more sheets of paper.

And this is the result: a tighter, neater bundle that is easier to handle and will sit more securely in the carton.

We use side plates in this example. Naturally, the same method can be used when packing dinner plates and bowls. (Keep in mind that a stack of six dinner plates might be a bit much for one bundle.) When packing any of these items the key is keeping that initial bundle under control. Wrapping that bundle up in an additional three or four or five sheets of packing paper should lend enough protection without compromising the density and stability of your carton.