Sunday, January 25, 2009

Cease The Grease

If you happen to be driving through Dallas, you will see billboards with a turkey, a water pipe, and the words "Cease the Grease." Do not have any idea what the turkey is all about. Maybe they went up close to Thanksgiving. Anyway, this advertising campaign is meant to educate people against pouring cooking oil and grease down the drain where it clogs the pipes. We had this happen to us, not pretty. I have been composting our cooking oil with nary a problem. Still, most composting information advises against this. So I thought, what else can someone do with grease and oil if they are afraid to compost it. The Internet revealed a few very good ideas.

1. Mix left over animal fat (say from hamburgers or Crisco) with any combination of seeds, uncooked oatmeal, corn meal, and flour. Pour the mixture into a container and place it in the freezer until it firms up. You have made homemade suet for the birds.

2. Use old cooking oil instead of lighter fluid. I think this is an awesome idea. Just poor it over your wood or charcoal and light. Problem oil solved and food doesn't taste like lighter fluid.

3. Wet a newspaper or used paper towel with cooking oil and use this to help start the fire in your fireplace.

4. Find a local restaurant and see if they will let you add your oil and grease to their old oil and grease, which is then recycled into other products like makeup and sometimes bio fuels.

5. My dad pours it over the dog food. Oil gone in a flash. Before you light up my comments to tell me this is bad, I know it can be bad. If your animal is overweight, DO NOT DO THIS. Our animals are kept at a healthy weight and food scraps and occasional oil on food does no harm. Dear Ole Dad is a veterinarian, I trust him. The dog food companies would have you believe that only dog food is healthy for dogs. They are just trying to sell you dog food. Dogs eat anything, they always have.

Any other suggestions for the "green" disposal of oil and grease?

14 comments:

  1. I guess I don't cook often enough to have to worry about it! Every once in awhile I brown ground beef for bean stew. But it never makes enough grease that I can't just towel it out with one quick swipe.
    Brenda

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  2. Brenda, you are probably healthier for it.

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  3. My dad also gives the bacon grease etc to the dogs. I don't have any other ideas for use. Good question though(-: I will be looking forward to some ideas too!

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  4. Cindee, We don't have that much grease so it is not a problem. Any grease I have in the future, I will make into the suet. The cooking oil will continue to be composted.

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  5. I stopped frying foods a while ago so that stopped being an issue for us. I've had the same thing happen with my pipes and that's when my plumber put me on the straight & narrow. :) Thanks for the great suggestions though, I love the suet idea.

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  6. Raquel, We probably have something fried about once a week. That is why composting the cooking oil isn't a problem. There just isn't that much of it. Same goes with ground beef and bacon grease. It doesn't come up very often, but I do need a place to get rid when we do have them and I don't really want to put animal products in the compost pile. Suet is the answer.

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  7. Debbi - good tips! Love the suet - seed idea. I put a tiny bit of bacon grease into my trash today - because I have been listening to the ad campaign as well! Wish I'd thought to make a suet ball of it. Next time. LOVE the comment that dogs eat anything - they always have. Yes, they do. Dakota at a 1/2 loaf of bread thawing down IN the sink last week and she eats acorns (great). Tanner used to eat tomatoes until I fenced off the garden. And, then he eats p---. Point well taken! Having had a dog at the emergency vet for 11 days with pancreatitis, I'm too paranoid to do that, but I'm sure they love it!

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  8. Diana, the pancreatitis thing is scary. I am pretty sure it is due to drastic changes in food and way too much fat. Abby does not get grease or oil. She does get some food scraps, but I compost almost everything.

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  9. These are great ideas! I like the suet idea for the birds and I never thought about putting it in with the compost...maybe I will. I use a copmostumbler, it should still work?

    It's refreshing to see this sort of recycle thinking.

    Thanks for sharing these ideas!

    Karrita

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  10. Thanks Karrita. If the compost tumbler has plenty of stuff in it, composting cooking oil should be just fine.

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  11. I'm saving mine to make soaps and lotions and stuff. Who knows when I'll actually get around to making it, but once it's filtered and solidified in the fridge I don't worry about it too much.

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  12. Grease and anything down the drain is a huge issue in NC. All our stormwater drains have warnings on them.

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  13. Anna, it does make a wacked out mess doesn't it.

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