# What are some good ways to dispose of bacon grease when camping? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624 "2011-06-07T15:20:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/21 "2011-06-07T18:45:42Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I’d say it is an altogether better idea to not bring any bacon with you and avoid the problem of the grease entirely. Now that’s just crazy talk. Another possibility is to bake it into a pie in case someone gets hungry in the middle of the night. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/22 "2011-06-07T18:59:16Z")
Oh, you’re car camping? Then just put it in a jar and store it in your trunk double bagged in plastic. You can do the soak in paper and burn it as well. I thought you were talking about backpacking. With a car nearby most of these concerns are not an issue as you’re storing the rest of your food in the car already. As to **spark240** ’s question, burying grease is essentially feeding the animals, which in most places is strictly forbidden. It’s also against LNT guidelines, although those aren’t enforced anywhere that I know of. But except for poop the general rule should be carry in carry out. In some places poop is included. 🙂 I hang food usually 100 feet from my tent, more in serious bear country. Out west I cook at least 100 feet from my campsite as well when in bear country. In the Tetons we cooked closer to 1/4 mile from the tent but that also gave us a great place to watch sunset. Back east it’s not as big of a concern, so I might take advantage of well placed trees if they are closer. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/23 "2011-06-07T19:31:41Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Oh, you’re car camping? Then just put it in a jar and store it in your trunk double bagged in plastic. You can do the soak in paper and burn it as well. I thought you were talking about backpacking. With a car nearby most of these concerns are not an issue as you’re storing the rest of your food in the car already. Maybe the bears are strong in Yosemite, but you’d never leave food in your car over night at a campground there. The bears can sometimes rip your car apart, or at least do some significant damage trying to. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/24 "2011-06-07T19:57:31Z")
Yeah, bear awareness at Yosemite is a \*\*major \*\*issue. Visitors are handed a warning pamphlet when they drive in. Videos of bears breaking into cars are played in continuous loops on monitors where tourists check in for lodging and camping. Once they learn that cars are easy to break into, they don’t need to _see_ any food; just the smell is enough, be it bacon grease or even toothpaste. Once they’ve associated an area with food, that’s where they’re going to hang out. Heck, we’ve had juvenile bears approach us on the trail when they’ve sniffed our sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/25 "2011-06-07T19:59:57Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Yes, this. Stick the soaked paper towels in a ziploc bag until you start your next fire. If it’s the last fire of your trip, then you can just take the ziploc with you and dispose of it when you return to civilization. Yes, then eat the ziplock bag.⭕dubious: ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/26 "2011-06-07T20:11:15Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > … Once they learn that cars are easy to break into, they don’t need to _see_ any food; just the smell is enough, be it bacon grease or even toothpaste… Many, MANY years ago, my dad and I were canoeing through the boundary waters and we made camp out on a little-used site. But just to be safe, we hung our food - with some other stuff, including toothpaste - from a rope, high in a tree. The next morning, the bag was gone, clearly dragged into the woods. We laughed because we knew from then on that the bears in Canada always brush after every meal. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/27 "2011-06-07T21:59:19Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Maybe the bears are strong in Yosemite, but you’d never leave food in your car over night at a campground there. Yes, Yosemite is the exception to the rule. I don’t know of anywhere else that cars aren’t acceptable to store food although there may be places where the bears are as experienced as Yosemite. Yosemite offers bear lockers that bears haven’t yet figured out (although I thought a read an article about a Yosemite bear figuring out how break in.) In the Adirondacks the bears had figured out all hanging methods and were constantly getting hikers’ food. The rules now require all backcountry campers in the High Peaks area to use an approved bear canister. The bears in the Dacks (one called Yellow-yellow in particular) figured out how to break in to one type of canister and that model is no longer approved. Most other areas, putting food and other items with strong odors in your car is acceptable. I would guess that this includes Wisconsin. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/28 "2011-06-07T23:53:21Z")
Couldn’t you simply burn it in the fire? ---
**Author:** ![Fourtyfold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Fourtyfold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fourtyfold)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/29 "2011-06-08T14:19:57Z")
Why throw away the bacon fat? Fry some bread to use it up. Delicious! ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/30 "2011-06-08T17:10:16Z")
Most Wisconsin State Parks (that have car camping) have a trailer dump site - probably OK to put bacon grease there as well. Brian ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/31 "2011-06-08T18:56:44Z")
Bacon grease candles. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/32 "2011-06-08T19:26:25Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Some foodstuffs are more attractive to bears, racoons, etc. than others. Also, odors cling. Sealed in a container or not, the delectable odor of that bacon grease will cling to you, your clothing, and anything you had in the pack. Ain’t this the truth, and it’s not just bacon. On one camping trip, a person in the next spot over had their tent broken into by a bear. The only thing it ate: a cardboard box that had been used to transport peaches before being repurposed to hold firewood. The bear ignored the real food that was close by. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/33 "2011-06-09T08:34:18Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Bet someone $20 they won’t drink it. Problem solved! I drank it on a school trip for free. Bacon grease is goood! ---
**Author:** ![thamster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thamster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thamster)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/34 "2011-06-14T23:25:07Z")
Use that to start a morning fire. When we camp we always save a little wood from the night before. We call that the ‘morning wood’. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624/35 "2011-06-14T23:57:51Z")
If you’re car camping in a state park, there should be someplace appropriate to dispose of it. Having said that, even if you do everything right, there’s no guarantee that the people camping a few yards from you will, so just make sure you keep your tent zipped and your food somewhere safe. Black bears are marauding thieves, but only in a couple of places are they actually breaking into cars, so you’re probably going to be OK putting stuff in the car, as long as it’s not a convertible. Many state parks/national parks keep an eye on bears that get too familiar with camping areas and relocate them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-ways-to-dispose-of-bacon-grease-when-camping/584624.md?page=1)