# How do you store bacon grease? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614 "2010-10-28T02:20:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/21 "2010-10-28T13:12:38Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Pigs will eat pork and ham if given the chance. They’re quite fond of it, or so I’ve read. FWIW, our African Grey likes turkey. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/22 "2010-10-28T13:21:40Z")
Grease is poured off into a metal can then stored in the freeze. It seems a shame to throw it away, but that is what i do. I am in favor of further separating garbage for salvage of compostable items, oils and grease. Another form of resource extraction, already in hand! ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/23 "2010-10-28T13:37:39Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Awww… poor Mom. > > We save most jelly and pickle jars just for this. There small enough that we never have to deal with large volumes of it which, if leaked, could get messy. What. You DON’T keep your mom under the sink and throw her out when she’s full? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/24 "2010-10-28T13:49:45Z")
We eat turkey bacon. The small amount of fat generated during cooking is blotted up with a paper towel. ---
**Author:** ![rayman5321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@rayman5321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayman5321)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/25 "2010-10-28T13:54:21Z")
In the trash. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/26 "2010-10-28T13:59:04Z")
1 QT Ball canning jar in the refrigerator. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/27 "2010-10-28T15:16:56Z")
Small glass jar in the fridge. The layer on the bottom is … oh dear … elderly, but everything looks/smells OK. I don’t use it as often as I’d like to. Those of you who use it daily - what for? (Probably everywhere I use butter, I suppose. We go through a lot of butter.) ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/28 "2010-10-28T15:51:03Z")
I pour my hot bacon and beef fat into glass jars, let it cool, then store it in my fridge and use it for frying other things (veg/eggs/fish in my case). ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/29 "2010-10-28T19:28:52Z")
you save beef fat? I always heard cooking in beef fat wasn’t healthy. This was from older Southern relatives that flavored almost everything in bacon fat or lard. When they cooked hamburgers the fat was thrown out. They never added it to the bacon fat jar. I’m no health expert. But, based on my childhood memories I’ve always thrown out hamburger/beef fat. Interesting difference in families. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/30 "2010-10-28T19:46:16Z")
Total WAG, **aceplace57,** but maybe it’s because bacon has so much salt and smoke and/or nitrates/ites, and beef has little to none, so bacon fat is easier to preserve than straight-up beef fat? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/31 "2010-10-28T20:05:04Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Total WAG, **aceplace57,** but maybe it’s because bacon has so much salt and smoke and/or nitrates/ites, and beef has little to none, so bacon fat is easier to preserve than straight-up beef fat? Good point. Pork is easier to preserve than beef. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/32 "2010-10-28T20:05:04Z")
I have what is probably a really stupid question . … but. . . I don’t really eat bacon, never cook it, and my family never really did either. I can understand wanting to keep some bacon grease for cooking, but why do people keep whole jars of it? Is it that you can’t throw it away or you don’t want to? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/33 "2010-10-28T20:06:16Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > I but why do people keep whole jars of it? I think it’s because you don’t want to pour it down the drain, nor have it in the wastebasket. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/34 "2010-10-28T20:09:49Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I think it’s because you don’t want to pour it down the drain, nor have it in the wastebasket. Why not? I told you, I’m just full of dumb questions. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/35 "2010-10-28T20:18:38Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Why not? > > I told you, I’m just full of dumb questions. It will clog the drain. It will make the wastebasket nasty and smell bad. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/36 "2010-10-28T20:29:28Z")
It will also, on the other hand, make potatoes and things taste extra-good. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/37 "2010-10-28T20:44:26Z")
When I was growing up, my parents would store the fat in the juice can until it was full, then toss the can in the garbage on pick-up day. It’s bad to dump it down the drain, as it can congeal and clog it up, and in addition to the smell issues, it’s also a pain to wait for it to cool before throwing it in the kitchen trash. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/38 "2010-10-28T20:47:09Z")
For people who store it under the sink, on the counter, etc. Do all of you store it for later disposal, or do some of you dispose it outside of the refrigerator, and use it later for cooking? How long does bacon grease stay edible outside the refrigerator? How about inside the refrigerator? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/39 "2010-10-28T21:02:37Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > How long does bacon grease stay edible outside the refrigerator? Until you see tiny little footprints in it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614/40 "2010-10-28T22:15:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > you save beef fat? I always heard cooking in beef fat wasn’t healthy. This was from older Southern relatives that flavored almost everything in bacon fat or lard. When they cooked hamburgers the fat was thrown out. They never added it to the bacon fat jar. > > I’m no health expert. But, based on my childhood memories I’ve always thrown out hamburger/beef fat. > > Interesting difference in families. My mother certainly never cooked with beef fat, or bacon fat for that matter. I do only because I’ve done a lot of research on nutrition and am of the opinion that meat, animal fat, and saturated fats are very healthy foods for the human body (and industrial vegetable/seed oils that oxidize upon heating are emphatically not). They compose the majority of my calories, and since I need to eat a lot of calories and I don’t have the money to cook everything in butter, I save all fats rendered from meat I cook and add them to other foods. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-store-bacon-grease/558614.md?page=3)