How to Dispose of Bacon Grease?
Bacon, for many people, is one of the foods that have more power in the flavor, there is no other meat or fat that compares to the delicious pleasure it produces in the palates, and although many say and believe that bacon is harmful, they can not resist the provocative presence of a strip of crispy and golden bacon.
In most households preparing and frying bacon is a sign of delight at mealtime, but it becomes a cause for concern after you’ve eaten. When you tidy up the kitchen, you inevitably have to think about how to dispose of bacon grease?
Fortunately, there are ways to dispose of bacon grease and several methods to recycle it and not lose the charm that its taste and smell produce. Everything will depend on people’s different tastes and preferences and the uses they want to give it.
Why think about how to dispose of bacon grease?
Before we start talking about these methods, let’s know why efficient methods should be used to dispose of bacon grease. It is because, if this is poured into the drains of the sinks, it can cause problems of obstructions by the accumulation of sediment in the piping systems of the houses, this grease by its appearance and sticky characteristics, will adhere to the walls of these pipes, reducing the diameter of the pipe, causing that the waste that goes down the drain will get stuck obstructing the passage of other waste to form a kind of plug. As a result of the clogged pipe, you can not use the sink, which will produce bad odors, and you will have to spend extra money to repair the pipe.
But that’s not all. Studies have shown that bacon grease poured down the sink contaminates a large amount of water, with one liter of bacon grease thrown down the sink contaminating more than a thousand liters of water.
At the level of the communities where people live, if any of them throw the residues of bacon grease into the sinks, they come out of the pipes of the houses towards the collectors of the public sewage networks, generating the formation of grease balls, which increase with the constant waste of this grease in all the homes.
Obstructions are quickly formed in these collectors that obstruct the standard passage of water and obstruct the exit of gases. This further complicates the situation because all the drains of sinks and bathrooms of the community are likely to produce very unpleasant odors and collapse these public pipes, making the problem a collective one. One person can not solve that. It will require the intervention of public works entities.
Another fundamental reason for not throwing bacon grease down the sink is environmental. In recent years measures have been taken with special regulations to protect the environment. We are talking about the green planet, where water is essential.
Today, water pollution can be seen as a crime, and flushing grease waste down the sink is a significant contributor to that crime.
Methods of how to dispose of bacon grease
By using proper methods to dispose of bacon grease, you are contributing to the health of your household, the health of the community, and the environment. Let’s look at some great methods of how to dispose of bacon grease.
Dispose of bacon grease by placing it in the garbage
One way not to throw bacon grease down the sink is to throw it in the trash, but it should be done following some recommendations.
Once you have finished preparing the food, you should wait for the bacon grease to cool down and dispose of it when the fat temperature is room temperature. This will avoid the risk of a burn when handling it if it is still hot. If you pour the hot grease into a glass jar, it will break and increase the risk of getting burned. It will burn you, but the bag where it will be poured will suffer the effects of the high temperature and will be destroyed, causing a disaster in the kitchen.
The prudent thing is to wait at least two hours after cooking to handle the fat. This time will depend on the volume of the fat. In any case, it does not matter how long you have to wait. The important thing is that the fat has a manageable temperature level. It is time to empty it into a bag, jar, or another container that can be covered to place it in the trash without spilling.
In an extreme case of urgency, use a cup previously coated on the inside with aluminum foil, and then carefully pour the hot bacon grease over the cup, and take the cup to the freezer. Once it is frozen, remove the frozen bacon grease inside the foil.
How to dispose of bacon grease from the pan
- Remove the bacon grease from the skillet where it was used. The way to remove it will depend on the amount of fat in the skillet.
- If the amount is small, you can use absorbent paper, passing it over the entire surface of the pan, use the necessary form to remove the most significant amount of grease from the pan, and place the oil-soaked papers in a bag, seal it and place it in the trash.
- For a more significant amount of oil in the pan, the ideal is to empty it into a disposable container with a lid, place it in the trash, and then repeat the previous step to remove the remains of grease from the pan with absorbent paper.
- Considering the containers where the bacon grease has been placed in the trash, these containers must be disposable. When you do not have disposable containers, place the bacon grease in a cup and put it in the freezer to harden. Until you have disposable containers to dispose of it by placing them in the trash, do not place them in the garbage without a container because you will be contributing to polluting the environment in the same way.
Try to keep enough disposable containers with lids. This way, you will avoid taking up space in the refrigerator that can be useful for storing other foods.
Recycle bacon grease in the preparation of other foods.
This is another way How to dispose of bacon grease. It is an efficient and beneficial procedure. It consists of the following:
Prepare an appropriate container with a lid, a very effective mechanism used by large food chains globally is to save the leftover fat of the day, but first, they are given a filtering treatment. Of course, these companies have special machines for cleaning these fats and leave them in a position to reuse them the next day.
These machines are not available at home, but a similar procedure can be carried out, although not so sophisticated, but effective.
Before emptying the bacon grease into the container, place a coffee filter over the container, pour the excess grease and wait for it to drain. You will see how the solid remains present in the grease will be trapped in the filter. If you observe that the grease in the container is not completely clean, repeat the procedure using a new filter, you can also replace the filter with a cloth mesh to save on the use of filters.
As in the previous cases, these filters should be placed in disposable bags or containers with lids and placed in the trash.
Then use the method of cleaning the pan well with absorbent paper to remove the grease residues and dispose of the documents in the same way.
- Once you have the bacon grease in the container, cover it and label it to identify it for later use.
- Place the container with the bacon grease covered and labeled in the freezer.
- This fat can be kept in the freezer for up to one month without risk of damage.
- One of the advantages of this method is that when preparing different types of sauces. You can give that unique bacon flavor by adding this stored fat, i.e., tortillas with authentic bacon flavor, fried vegetables in bacon fat, enhancing the flavor of other meats, stewed beans, and many utilities where you want to improve the taste of bacon.
- As a general precaution, remember that bacon fat should be handled at a low temperature to avoid the risk of burns.
Preparing Bacon in the Oven
How to dispose of bacon grease is primarily solved with this method.
- As with most oven preparations, the oven should be preheated, and prepare a baking sheet by covering it with aluminum foil.
- Place the bacon to be prepared on the foil-lined baking sheet.
- Put the tray with the bacon in the oven and set the temperature according to the crispness you want the bacon. The time it will remain in the oven depends on how cooked you want it. It can be from 10 to 20 minutes.
- After this time, remove the tray from the oven, and place the bacon on a plate with absorbent paper.
- The little amount of fat generated in this way of cooking the bacon will remain on the aluminum foil. Once it cools, fold it and place it in a bag and the absorbent paper where you put the bacon. Seal the bag and place it in the trash.
You will notice that you will save time getting rid of the bacon grease with this method.
