# Disposing of cooking oil



## realest8maven (Feb 3, 2008)

OK...you see all the shows on TV...Food Network, PBS and the rest...all these hotshot cooks making it all look easy, with the best ingredients and pots and pans that are always gleaming and perfect.

NOW...you come home from work, try to get something together for a meal, maybe have the right stuff in the frig and pantry (plastic bags of veggies, cans of tomato stuff, bread crumbs, grains, cheeses - you know - all the stuff except the one thing you forgot) and try to lay it out in some order before starting the cooking process that you are trying to hurry because you are hungry and want to pretend that you are some kind of chef.

Seeing some show where someone fried a few cactus leaves in half a pot of EVOO, one is tempted to wonder what happens to all that oil after the process.  No one has a show on TV that explains how to clean the kitchen of all that spatter and dispose of the excess oil and fat.  Please share your real world solutions, please.  

At the risk of sounding cheap, I'm not spending twelve+ dollars on a bottle of EVOO to fry a couple of spuds.

Thanks.


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## pacanis (Feb 3, 2008)

Sounds like you are describing deep frying ("half a pot"). I use EVOO for pan frying where just a coating is required, and to add flavor, but I use peanut oil in a deep fryer when I feel like frying a few cactus leaves 
I get several uses out of it before pouring it in a coffee can and tossing it in the garbage. That's when I take the time to thoroughly clean the fryer before adding fresh oil.
If I understand you correctly.... but yes, splatter sucks.


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## amber (Feb 3, 2008)

I do the same as pacanis, I use less expensive oil (canola) for frying, and only use olive oil to add flavor or when just a small amount is required.  Excess oil get poured into a can and tossed in the garbage once cooled.


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## realest8maven (Feb 3, 2008)

*oil disposal*

yeah, I was being a little flippant with the EVOO and spuds reference, but disposing of any oil is a problem - and an expense, even if canola.

Handy cans are not always around, and just cooling the oil and tossing a can into the garbage doesn't recycle anything.  Solid waste shouldn't contain foodstuff,  most food  waste  (like peels and trimmings) can go into compost bins.  The problem areas seem to be finding the best method for disposing of meat wastes, fats and oils.  

All suggestions appreciated.


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## YT2095 (Feb 3, 2008)

I heat mine up and pour it down the drain with plenty hot water and Lye chaser.

you Can filter and burn off the oil too!


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## Jikoni (Feb 3, 2008)

YT2095 said:


> I heat mine up and pour it down the drain with plenty hot water and Lye chaser.
> 
> you Can filter and burn off the oil too!




YT, two questions for you, doesn't the oil block the drain at some point? and secondly what is lye chaser? sounds like something one would have after a late night out(lol)......to me anyway!


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## YT2095 (Feb 3, 2008)

Nope, never ever had a problem with it here.

Lye is Caustic soda (NaOH sodium Hydroxide) it`s what`s used to turn fats and oils into Soap


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## Caine (Feb 3, 2008)

Do you know anyone with a biodiesel vehicle? They'd be more than happy to put your used cooking oil to good use.


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## Katie H (Feb 3, 2008)

I haven't thrown any cooking oil/fat out in years.  I save it and pour a small amount over the food I feed my outdoor kitties everyday.  It's good for them, especially in the wintertime when they need extra fuel against the cold.


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## GotGarlic (Feb 3, 2008)

We always keep an empty jar or two under the sink and pour grease off into that. When it's full, we dispose of it in the trash. We don't do much deep frying, so it's usually hamburger grease.


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## kawarthagal (Feb 3, 2008)

*we freeze it*

We freeze it in our freezer in a plastic container,and do not pour it down any drain anywhere....we put it out in the garrbage with everything else..


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## YT2095 (Feb 3, 2008)

well if you put it in a jar (and it has a metal lid) then pop a hole in the lid with a nail, and drop a cotton weave cord through it, they make Great candles 

you can cut it with paraffin (kerosene) and use it a BBQ lighter fuel too.

if it`s Solid fat, mix it with oats and seeds when hot and cast it in used Chinese take-away foil trays and feed the bird with it in winter.

it you have any Phenol add some of that and cut it with kerosene, use it a wood waterproofing.

there`s Loads of things you can do with this stuff


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## Michael in FtW (Feb 3, 2008)

I keep a 1-gallon plastic milk jug under the sink ... pour used oil into it ... when full I take it to a fast food joint down the street and leave it by the used oil tank they have outside their back door. I'm not pouring it down the sink, not adding to the landfill, and they sell their used oil - so they are making money for disposing of my used oil for me.

I win, they win, mother nature wins.


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## sattie (Feb 3, 2008)

Michael in FtW said:


> I keep a 1-gallon plastic milk jug under the sink ... pour used oil into it ... when full I take it to a fast food joint down the street and leave it by the used oil tank they have outside their back door. I'm not pouring it down the sink, not adding to the landfill, and they sell their used oil - so they are making money for disposing of my used oil for me.
> 
> I win, they win, mother nature wins.


 
Curious, who do they sell it to and for what?  I like the ideas I see in this thread for proper removal of cooking oil.... this should go in the green thread???


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## Michael in FtW (Feb 4, 2008)

I don't know who they sell it to sattie - but used cooking oil is converted to biofuels these days.


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## Maverick2272 (Feb 4, 2008)

We strain ours for re-use, and when it can't be re-used it is jarred up and taken to a recycling facility near here. I have no idea what they do with it, but they do take it. We also pay about $3.50 for a 500ml bottle of EVOO at ALDI, works fine for us and tastes good as well. I do not deep fry in it, just use it to coat the bottom of the pan with. I use peanut oil for that but since we don't fry much at all anymore I haven't bought any lately. Right now I just have EVOO and Canola oil in the house.


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## sage™ (Feb 4, 2008)

Our city says not to pour it down the drain because it will eventually end up in the Gulf. I save plastic containers and jars to throw it in the trash. I only deep fry about once a year or less.


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## suziquzie (Feb 4, 2008)

I used to re-use it but I fry so little that I decided stuff tastes better with fresh. I buy oil for frying and cooking (canola) in the giant Sam's club gallons and save the empties for used oil. 
As far as disposal, we give it to a guy up the road that has a used oil furnace in his pole barn. My husband owns a semi, so with his oil changes we end up with alot, very often. We are looking into getting a similar furnace in our pole barn, but then we will lose our used oil for black dirt trade


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## sattie (Feb 4, 2008)

Michael in FtW said:


> I don't know who they sell it to sattie - but used cooking oil is converted to biofuels these days.


 
Thanks Michael.... that sounds like a great idea... just need to find me someone that will do that!


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## CharlieD (Feb 4, 2008)

i HAVE COUPLE OF BIG JOGS SEATING IN THE GARAGE FOR FEW YEARS NOW, COULDN'T DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH THEM. nOW i'M GOING TO GO AND ASK LOCAL FAST FOOD PLACE IF I CAN DROP THEM OFF, THANKS mICHAEL..


Oops, sorry about te caps.


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## YT2095 (Feb 4, 2008)

pity you all lived so far away from me, I`d gladly take all that Oil of your hands 

I cut 50/50 with Paraffin and use it in my oil heaters in the greenhouse over winter, works great!


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## suziquzie (Feb 4, 2008)

I'd gladly trade for some greenhouse space!!! 
I grow plants my husband grows corals.


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## YT2095 (Feb 4, 2008)

you would indeed be welcome to some space in my GH, it`s home made and out performs Anything factory made on the site (there`s 72 other plots!).

sadly again, you live a little too far away for that to be a practicality


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## Jeekinz (Feb 4, 2008)

Veggie oil and some others can just be poured out in the back yard.  It's not like motor oil.


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## suziquzie (Feb 4, 2008)

?????? What was that about? 
I am so lost...


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## GadgetGeek (Feb 4, 2008)

*Every Car Dealership or Car Mechanics garage has....*



realest8maven said:


> What happens to all that oil after the process?


  (not quite a complete quote, but close)....

Every Car Dealership or Car Mechanics garage has an underground storage tank that the EPA makes them pump out when it is full..  Go to your friendly local mechanic and ask them if you can dispose of your teeny bit of oil in their oil trap...  Every restaurant (at least in the city) has to have an underground grease pit where all of their fry-oil, and such goes.. It is removed at the restaurants expense every so often, they probably wouldn't mind a couple quarts added to their tank?  The best suggestion is find a bio-diesel owner that will take it off your hands, my friend runs his two cars on fry-oil.
.


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## suziquzie (Feb 4, 2008)

Sorry Jeekins I was refererring to MeirCookBook... should always use the quote!!!! 

I'm afraid to dump it outside I always think it will attract bears.


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## Jeekinz (Feb 4, 2008)

suziquzie said:


> Sorry Jeekins I was refererring to MeirCookBook... should always use the quote!!!!
> 
> I'm afraid to dump it outside I always think it will attract bears.


 
I was just replying to the original post.


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## suziquzie (Feb 4, 2008)

Boy now I really sound like a dip......

There was a wierd post in here that has since been removed that said something about reality shows. I said in my post that I was lost, but it made it in AFTER yours saying dump it outside, rather than after the wierd one I was commenting on. It looked like I was saying your post threw me off, which it didn't, so I was apologizing. 

And now it looks like I'm a loon imagining wierd posts!!!!!


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## Katie H (Feb 4, 2008)

You didn't imagine anything, suzie.  There was an "unusual" unrelated post earlier.  All gone now.


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## suziquzie (Feb 4, 2008)

Katie E said:


> You didn't imagine anything, suzie. There was an "unusual" unrelated post earlier. All gone now.


Oh good. It's one thing if other people think I'm crazy, but once I have to start agreeing with them.......


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