Easy DIY Egg Carton Fire Starters
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Easy DIY Egg Carton Fire Starters
Have you ever made these easy DIY egg carton fire starters before? If not, you should! These are perfect for any home with a fireplace, either indoors or outdoors. They make amazing gifts as well.
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I love these easy DIY egg carton fire starters because they are so simple to make, and practically free! It is so easy to repurpose things we would normally throw away to use in making the fire starters.
I am all about free, low-cost, and repurposing, as well as cutting down on waste. It is a total win-win for me.
Easy DIY Egg Carton Fire Starter Supplies
Egg cartons, I have to buy mine because I’m constantly making these as gifts and giving them away.
Wax, use remnants from candles, crayons, or melt your own wax.
Flammable, dryer lint, shredded paper, newspaper, broken pasta, or any combination to fill the egg carton.
Cookie sheet and parchment paper for easy cleanup.
Easy DIY Egg Carton Fire Starter Directions
I always start my easy DIY egg carton fire starters with the cookie sheet and parchment paper. Line the cookie sheet and place the egg cartons on top. Some of the wax may leak through the egg carton. The cookie sheet and parchment paper make for super easy cleanup if that happens by containing the mess.
Next I melt the wax. If you are using new wax or leftover crayons, you’ll want this butter melter for the project. Place the melter in a pan with hot water and let the wax slowly melt. Never place wax directly over the heat.
The double boiler method also works, where you put a mixing bowl over a pan of boiling water and let the steam heat up the wax.
If you are using remnants from an old candle, place the jar inside the pan of hot water and let it slowly melt.
Fill the egg cartons
Stuff your egg cartons with the flammable. I save dryer lint and keep it in a Ziplock bag on the dryer for this exact reason! Or when it is time to empty my shredder, grab a handful of it instead of throwing it away. I’m a mix and match kind of person when it comes to the flammable. Use whatever you have on hand, or a combination. I prefer a combination.
Old broken pasta is also perfect for this. Everybody has remnants in the bottom of a box that are broken and never used. Dry pasta makes an excellent firestarter, and can even be used as an ultra-long match if needed.
Give the pasta a try one of these days and see what happens! Go into your kitchen and light a spaghetti noodle on fire. Do it safely, over an empty sink, with the water running. But seriously, give it a try and see how flammable it is.
Any combination of these ultra-flammable items will work perfectly instead of throwing them away! Start saving them and you’ll have more than you need in no time at all, and it was all free.
Time to add the wax!
Now it is time to pour the wax into the egg carton. As I said earlier, some of it will leak through the carton. This is totally normal, and nothing to worry about. Just make sure it is easy to clean up the potential mess.
Let the wax cool and solidify, and you’re done!
Now that you know how easy it is, go eat some eggs for breakfast and start the load of laundry you’ve been putting off!
Notes
If you would like to add a candle wick or match into each pod, it is really easy to do. With the candle wicks, I start with that before stuffing the egg carton pods with my flammable. Then place the flammable around the wick.
If using a match, place it strike-end up in the middle of each egg carton pod as the wax is starting to solidify. That way the match does not fall down into the pod.
If you are giving these as a gift, I would definitely make it a point to add in a match or candle wick. That way even a novice fire-starter doesn’t have an issue getting it going. I make candles all the time, so I always have wicks on hand, and partial pieces I’ve cut off when making them. This again will cut down on waste, and I love that. But the candle wicks or matches are completely optional. If you don’t have them, don’t worry about it.
Discussion
Have you ever made these easy DIY egg carton fire starters before? Tell me about your experience in the comments! For more survival posts, click here.
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10 Comments
Elizabeth Ervin
Wow these are incredible DIY egg carton fire starter tips. I love the dryer lint and pasta noodle tips!
Melanie williams
You always think of very creative ideas. this is such a good one and something we will deffo try out and would not have thought of doing. thank you so much x
Luna S
I’ve seen these before and I would love to make them, they look so helpful!
Seriah Sargenton
I’ve never seen this before but it looks like so much fun! Definitely something to try this Fall.
Stephanie Renee
This is really some great information. I’ve never even thought to use it this way. I’m going to try the pasta noodle idea later, and see how flammable it is. I actually love this. I’ve been keeping out dryer lint since my husband recently made a firepit in the backyard. He was reading up on materials to use that are easily flammable, and that was top on the list. Thank you for sharing this DIY easy egg carton fire starter.
Britt K
I have been making these for a while now and LOVE how much easier they make everything when we’re at the campsite. I got lucky, a local cafe had ordered a mass load of eggs with the big commercial egg trays which are the same material but no lid, just a ton of the egg cups and it was PERFECT for making these lol This reminds me, I need to make some more before I head out camping late September – lots of campfires during fall camping trips!
Heather
I love a craft project that recycles! I would have never thought to use dried pasta at the bottom either. My brother loves the outdoors and has been looking for cheaper ways to spend outside on a budget. Definitely passing this along!
The Prepping Wife
I am a huge fan of craft projects that recycle too, Heather! Glad you enjoyed reading this and learned something new in the process.
Diana Davies
I saw someone else doing something similar, but she folded the top corners of the individual egg cups over and tied a string around them instead of adding a wick. I suppose if you did that, it would help to wax the string. Her way was more fiddly. I think I’ll have a go at these.
I’ve been saving toilet paper tubes, and stuffing them with more tubes and dryer lint with the plan of making fuel with them too. Have you ever tried that?
In Girl Scouts back in the 60s, we saved tuna cans, rolled corrugated cardboard into them as tightly as possible and poured wax over the cardboard, leaving some sticking out above the wax to light it. We could use them to start a big fire, or like Sterno to cook on.
ellegracedeveson
I’ve never heard of this before, it’s so interesting. Great tips on what to do and I love the fact your recycling also. I’ll defo be giving this a go. Thank you so much for sharing Xo