Dispose of it? I eat it! I save bacon grease, chicken or duck fat left after roasting, etc. and then use them when sauteeing aromatics for other dishes. You get a burst of smoky/meaty flavor without any meat. And just for fun, I fry my eggs in bacon fat.

I actually asked this in the tortilla thread -- I've been using reserved bacon fat in place of lard in a refried bean recipe, and that's worked well. Can I also use it in place of lard in the tortilla recipe?

P.S. But if you're disposing of oil or any other grease, just pour it into some container or a bag and put it in the trash. Definitely don't try flushing it or dumping in the sink -- you'll be dealing with clogs forever.

This always bothers me, but I put it in a sealed container and place it in the trash.
I don't know what else to do with it and gratefully don't have to dispose of grease often.

If I'm not going to save it, I usually pour it into a paper bowl, stick in the freezer for a bit so it solidifies quickly, and then throw it in the trash.

If you need to get rid of some fat (as opposed to storing it and using it for other purposes), you can use an old milk jug/carton and just pour it in. Before tossing in the trash, make sure you tape the lid closed so that it doesn't come open in your trash bag/can.

I have a can with a lid under the sink. I pour the grease in there and when it is full, I throw it in the garbage. I'm going to start saving my bacon grease to cook with from now on.

I pour grease into a can, keep the can in the freezer to keep the grease solid, and repeat until the can is full and I can dispose of it.

Depending on what it is, I'll either save it for later use, or compost it one it's cooled/solidified.

I save bacon grease and duck fat. Other kinds of grease get composted (I'm lucky to live in an area that takes all organic matter in the compost--- everything from bones to oily pizza boxes).

Okay, every time you use that photo, I think it's ice cream, and then I get totally grossed out when I read the article and realize what it actually is. As a vegetarian, I would not want to eat a giant spoonful of that!

I use some for cooking but save the majority of it to use in soap making. Also I use either paper towels or paper bags to drain fat from cooking (bacon, deep frying) and use them as fire starters in the fireplace. These also work well on the grill.

I really don't get a lot of grease but back in my family always had a crisco tub that was reused for bacon grease or chicken frying grease. This would go to my grandma who strained out the particles and used it to make soap.

In my rural situation, I use it to feed outdoor animals. Mixed with the cracked corn that I feed the birds makes a high energy feed for them that is especially welcome in the winter. Also, I just this morning cleaned out the fridge and mixed all the eatables with some left over fryer oil and put in a pan for the raccoons and other nocturnal critters. They must like it because it is always gone the next morning.

Don't know what it does to their lipids... perhaps I will have to give them statins to reduce their cholesterol.

empresscallipygos, I have used retained bacon grease to make tortillas and it did work. The tortillas were a bit tough, but that may have had more to do with the cook.

phoxx-
Or get a tiny defibrillator!

My mom used to keep a glass jar under the sink and would always pour any grease in there. It was kinda cool to see all the layers!

I don't end up with left over grease very often (I'm not much of a meat eater when I'm doing the cooking!), so I'll just pour it into whatever container I have available (which is usually a pop tin.. not the best option since the opening is small, but better than nothing) and let it solidify before tossing it! Good idea using the freezer to firm it up quickly.. I never thought of that, as obvious as it seems now!

fats that solidify like bacon I usually save to use (or if need be, let cool and dump in trash) and liquids for frying and things, i get a big bottle of it, use it, let it cool, and pour it back in with a funnel to reuse. (If you have a fryer, obviously it just stays in there) once it gets used enough for me to want to get fresh, I throw the bottle in the trash.

Any auto repair place or oil change place (possibly fast food places too, but not sure on that one) has a dumpster in the back specifically for used oil products so they can be disposed of properly. Many people I know go to their oil place and ask to put it in their dumpster and they happily oblige. I believe they are required to let you use them if you change your own oil in your car and need to dispose of the oil (obviously shouldn't be dumping 5qts of used motor oil in your trash)

My Dallas Whole Foods accepted grease and cooking oil after the holidays. You could always check with your local Whole Foods and see if they have a similar program. A couple of San Francisco Whole Foods accept grease and oil year round (http://www.sfgreasecycle.org/residents.shtml).

"empresscallipygos, I have used retained bacon grease to make tortillas and it did work."

Oh, goodie! Thanks!

My mom would use empty yogurt containers, or other disposables, to pour the grease into, if there was a lot. I keep most of my empty containers. I usually don't cook a lot of meat but if I have a little bit of grease, I put it in the drain, with super hot water going and the disposer on. At least that's what hubby said. If it's not much, it's OK right?

I learned what I do from my dad - save a glass jar from pasta sauce or something similar and you pour the fat and grease in there and of course keep it sealed. I keep the jar in the cupboard under the sink until it's full, then I throw it away!

1. Wild animals love saturated fats, especially in the wintertime. Solid fats, especially bacon grease with its attendent burnt bits, can be mixed with birdseed to make fantastic wild-bird feeding bars.

2. Bacon grease makes great gravy! Along with just about everything else.

3. If you can't stand to smell up your kitchen by collecting grease for birdfood or tortillas, you can either pour it (still hot) into an empty can, cool until solid, then chunk it-- or my favorite, since I have a cast-iron skillet: let the grease cool in the pan, wipe it out in chunks with a paper napkin, and put it in the compost/trash bin. My mom used to pour leftover grease into empty laundry-detergent containers, the hefty plastic kind.

4. To keep my sink from being gunked up by the grease that does find its way down the drain, I occasionally do a vinegar-baking-soda flush, and grind up any juiced-out lemon halves in the garbage disposal.

I just use an old jar or jug or something. But, something with a lid that closes tightly. We have lots of racoons and stray dogs in our neighborhood that would just love to help themselves.

I keep small used jars of food products [capers, pickles, mustard, sun dried tomatoes, etc.] for just such an emergency. They're often too small for any practical re-purposing; so I just stash them until I'm faced with extra/burnt/smelly oil or grease that is too liquid for the trash can, and too stubborn for the pipes. I can even get rid of that junk before it even cools off. Then you just chuck the whole monkey into the refuse.

Later...problems!

I've thought about saving bacon grease, but can someone tell me how long it would stay fresh in the refrigerator? Does it go bad?? Thanks!!

@jmorri26 - engine oil and cooking oil are completely different products. The former is a petroleum product, and the later is not. Car repair places recycle the used engine oil, and they most definitely don't want it contaminated with bacon grease.

Dwyermm7, I don't refrigerate mine and it's fine for a couple of weeks. It may last even longer, but it gets used too fast for me to test that. But rancid fat is easy to identify.

@frum lol Come on that's just silly, everybody knows petroleum and animal/ vegetable oils are 2 different beasts. Don't know too many people frying up french fries with Pennzoil!

I season my cast iron with it!

I read somewhere that rag-and-bone men used to collect oil for soapmaking but it never occured to me to try it myself! How is it done?

I've been meaning to find out if our local biodeisel operation will take our vegetable oil when we're done with it. We save bacon & other drippings and reuse oil when possible. And my husband thinks gravy is a beverage so really there's usually not much left anyway.

When it comes to saturated fat, I just throw it away in the trash, but, when Its abt old frying oil there's no better way then hardening it up before putting it in the trash.
There is this japanese oil hardener, its a powder that you put in the oil while its still hot and wait til it cool down, so when its room temperature it will be as solid as any other shortening. and thats it, the easiest and cleanest way to get rid of those "free radicals".

I can throw mine in our green bin for curbside compostables.

After it has cooled a little, I pour it into my food scraps garbage pail. If there are enough scraps, it doesn't leak. If not, I put a paper towel in to absorb it. I believe this allows all of it to be used as compost.

I don't want to use cans, plastic containers or jars because those can be recycled, but not if they're full of grease or food.

Like most others who have commented on here, I put mine in a cup, let it solidify and then toss the grease, BUT I usually scrape the grease out of the jar. That way I'm not throwing away something that could have been recycled or reused.

@ Gustavo, that hardener also allows the grease to be used as a candle. It works pretty well too. Except it is smelly and probably should not be used indoors.

Careful when using a glass jar for this purpose - hot fat can make it shatter. Having to wait for the fat to cool usually means having to scrape it out of the cooking vessel instead of pouring it, which is an inconvenience. For this reason I prefer to keep an empty (metal) food can around.

@dwyermm7: you can keep bacon grease safely in the refrigerator for up to 6 months, and even longer in the freezer. I read that from a health safety site once, if you're curious. I can't see why not considering the salt content would act as a preservative.

I save my bacon grease and freeze it for use in risottos and when frying eggs. I've never roasted a duck before, but I'd keep the rendered fat if I did for use in roasting potatoes (excellent.) I usually buy lean meat, so I rarely have a substantial amount of leftover grease. Generally I toss it into a plastic bag and then into the trash. I'm interested in this soap-making business, though!

I rarely have any grease, but when I do, I run it from the skillet through a strainer into an empty coffee can while the fat's still hot and save it for cooking.

Often, though, it doesn't even make it past the meal that produces it. If I make bacon and pancakes, for instance, which is one of the few reasons I'd have a skillet full of grease, I cook the bacon first and then put it into the oven to stay warm, and then I use the remaining grease to do the pancakes. Since the pancakes absorb the grease they cook in, what's left over when I'm done isn't appreciable enough to hurt the sink drain.

I'm the one who asked the question - so thanks for the answers! However, rather than grease I was more interested in oil. I'm from the South, which means a lot of our recipes call for frying. I currently do what a number of you already do, wait for it to cool and pour it in the trash - but I was wondering if it can be filtered and reused?

Bacon grease, duck fat, and chicken fat all go in jars and into my fridge or freezer. @ dwyermm7 - I've used the same bacon grease jar for many, many years now, and it hasn't gone bad.

For oil, if I've fried only veggies in it, I will usually strain it through a sieve and paper towel, and reuse the oil at a later date, so long as it still smells okay. It gets stored in a jar in the cabinet. Everything else gets dumped into an old can/carton/jar and tossed directly in the trash bin.

Oh, I see. We are supposed to tell you.

Well, you can save some fats, but that is another show.

To get rid of those I do not want to save, I usually look for a decent sized container and wad up some newspaper, used paper towels or something absorbent of the sort, pour or scoop in the grease add more stuffing and put on a lid or close the box of whatever and then toss it in the trash.

You can do the same thing with noncompostible garbage.

I usually re-heat it just until liquid, then crumble a crust of bread, chuck the grease (and pan scrapings) over, mix to coat, and stick it in front of my very-grateful dog, who has been begging for a bite since I started cooking anyway! :-)

I re-use cooking fats from meat, like bacon, chicken drippings, or from cooking ground beef. I just pour them into glass jars and keep them in the fridge. I use it for sauteing veggies or fried rice, but if I end up with quite a bit of it (1/4 cup or so, like if I've made bacon twice), I use it in muffins. It adds a hint of bacon-y flavor that makes my husband swoon. We only eat meat two or three times a week, so I don't worry about the saturated fats. I have a medical condition that can cause high cholesterol, so I have to monitor it, but it's never been anything but very low. You do need some saturated fat in your diet to be healthy.

Re-use. Generations of my family have cooked with bacon grease, yes not the healthiest, but great flavor and can me used in moderation. Used to fry eggs, tsp in crockpot beans, rice, etc. I've tried just olive oil in some of the dishes and it just isn't the same without the "liquid gold".

As a landlord, I can tell you that despite my constantly reminding people not to pour any kind of grease down the drains, at least once I year I have a major problem with someone clogging a pipe with the stuff and water running down the walls into other apartments.

In my family, we have always saved containers like pasta jars to dispose of grease in the trash.