This is the best way to dispose of bacon grease
Have you fried up some bacon bits? Fried strips of bacon until crispy and crunchy? Delicious, but now you’re left with a frying pan full of bacon grease. What do you do with it? Warning: don’t pour it down the drain!
Nobody in their right mind would pour frying oil down the drain. You immediately know what kind of misery you’re letting yourself in for: blocked drains, poking around in the sink with a drain snake, unscrewing the P-trap—in short: trouble. But if frying oil can’t go down the drain, why would you pour the bacon grease from bacon or lardons down the sink? It causes exactly the same problems.
Don’t flush it down the toilet
You’ll notice a blocked sink immediately: the water stops draining, and even struggling with the plunger has no effect. Get a bucket, clear everything out of your kitchen cabinet and unscrew the P-trap; then you may be able to solve the blockage yourself. Poking around with a drain snake is another option, and if that doesn’t help, there are always those highly chemical cleaning products that unblock the pipes with clouds of smoke and gurgling sounds—dangerous stuff.
If the blockage is further down the line, your dishwasher may go haywire, your washing machine may no longer be able to drain its rinse water, shower water may bubble back up, or toilet water may stop draining. And that’s nothing short of a complete household disaster.
Into the trash
Okay, you want to prevent that. How? Never flush oil or grease down that sink again—that’s step one. And for the smart ones among you: the toilet isn’t a good idea either. Pour the cooking fat, while it’s still liquid, into an empty milk carton or a plastic takeaway container. Wait until the fat has cooled and is more or less solid again, then throw it in the gray bin. Alternative solution: place a few sheets of paper towel in your frying pan to absorb the grease. You can throw the paper towel in the trash too. Plan three: fry bacon in the oven (for perfectly crispy bacon strips!) on aluminum foil. Once the oven has cooled a little, crumple the greasy aluminum foil into a ball and—hop—into the trash.
Eat it
Alternative solution: don’t throw away the bacon grease, eat it instead. You can still cook with it. Store it in the refrigerator and spread it on a chicken before it goes into the oven, fry your potatoes in it, or mix a little into the vinaigrette for a salad. Divine!
Baking soda is amazing
Is everything blocked anyway? Before reaching for the plunger, drain snake or chemicals, you can try flushing your sink with baking soda, vinegar and hot water. Dissolve a handful of baking soda in a cup of water and pour it down the drain. Then pour a cup of cleaning vinegar after it. You’ll hear it immediately: it starts fizzing and bubbling—it works! Leave the drain alone for fifteen minutes, then pour a kettle of boiling water down it.
Also read:
- Kitchen frustration: that dirty baking sheet yet again
- 8 remarkable food facts that are useful to know—for your own safety
- Things that should never go down the sink
