Really curious what everyone does with leftover grease from things like hamburgers, bacon, oven-baked chicken/turkey....
When I was young and naive I remember just pouring it down the sink, but as most learn that leads to problems.
I now compost every thing, but I don't put my grease in the pile, just doesn't seem like the right thing to do. Actually it just doesn't seem right to pour it anywhere in a pile, but I just hate throwing foodstuff into the trash.
So this is what I do:
I have several large trees that I mulch around, not just a little circle; I take the mulch out to around the dripline of the trees. So I take the grease out and cast it out into the mulched area, so as to not allow the entire contents to be concentrated in one area; many times I use a hose and scatter it that way -- with the nozzle set on the "Jet" high pressure mode.
Anyone see a problem with this? Also curious what everyone else does with leftover grease?
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john gault
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rainbowgardener
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I don't have any of that stuff around.
Bacon grease and chicken fat are wonderful for cooking purposes. Bacon grease can be used to make some lovely traditional salad dressings, and it's great for frying eggs and hash browns. Those are just 2 examples out of thousands of uses in cooking.
Chicken fat, also know as schmaltz, is very mild flavored and used in many recipes.
When I don't use other meat drippings to make gravies, I save them in the freezer. In the winter months, I melt the fat and mix it with cornmeal, cracked corn, and some black oil sunflower seeds. Sometimes, I mix in leftover breakfast cereals and/or a little peanut butter, even chopped fruits. I freeze the mixture into little cakes and put it for the wild birds.
Chicken fat, also know as schmaltz, is very mild flavored and used in many recipes.
When I don't use other meat drippings to make gravies, I save them in the freezer. In the winter months, I melt the fat and mix it with cornmeal, cracked corn, and some black oil sunflower seeds. Sometimes, I mix in leftover breakfast cereals and/or a little peanut butter, even chopped fruits. I freeze the mixture into little cakes and put it for the wild birds.
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toxcrusadr
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I'm with kisal, if I'm not going to use it I save it to make suet blocks for the birds.
Small amounts of anything not suitable for that, go right into the compost bucket. I've even put larger amounts (a cupful, for example) in the compost with no ill effects. Distributed through a cubic yard pile, it's not going to change the process noticeably.
Small amounts of anything not suitable for that, go right into the compost bucket. I've even put larger amounts (a cupful, for example) in the compost with no ill effects. Distributed through a cubic yard pile, it's not going to change the process noticeably.
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rot
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A lot of stuff like grease is just harder to do. Maybe too hard if you want to be casual about composting.
Grease is a harming magnet so cover really well.
Grease is going to take longer to break down. That's just the nature of fats.
I would be more conservative than the ten percent rule. Probably more like the three percent rule. Mix well.
I can get reckless with some of the whacky stuff I throw into the bin but I just don't bother with grease and oils.
to sense
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A lot of stuff like grease is just harder to do. Maybe too hard if you want to be casual about composting.
Grease is a harming magnet so cover really well.
Grease is going to take longer to break down. That's just the nature of fats.
I would be more conservative than the ten percent rule. Probably more like the three percent rule. Mix well.
I can get reckless with some of the whacky stuff I throw into the bin but I just don't bother with grease and oils.
to sense
..
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john gault
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That's why I spread it (actually spray it) on my mulched areas, because if I were to pour it, it would just stick around too long. I may be wrong here, but it's my impression that if you were to pour grease in a spot and let it gel that the bacteria/insects would not be able to bore into it like other things, say a loaf of bread. So that glob could only be worked on from the outside and would take a long time to be consumed and since it smells good, like bacon 
it would attract a lot of unwanted varmin.
I can't find any trace of the grease I spray into my mulched area (I alwasy spray it in the same general area. And I've been doing that for a long time.
Although, I can't really find anything wrong with toxcrusadr's method. If you mix it well into the compost pile seems like it would be gobbled up pretty quickly.
it would attract a lot of unwanted varmin.I can't find any trace of the grease I spray into my mulched area (I alwasy spray it in the same general area. And I've been doing that for a long time.
Although, I can't really find anything wrong with toxcrusadr's method. If you mix it well into the compost pile seems like it would be gobbled up pretty quickly.
There was a school in our area that had a garden project going and whoever was in charge of the compost didn't really know what they were doing. They added all kinds of kitchen scraps, fat drippings included along with meat scraps. It didn't take long before the area became overrun with rats. It created quite a "stink" in the area. It hit the local paper and put quite a bad name to composting. It was also the end of the kids garden project.
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john gault
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Problems are part of life. The school sounds like they're not good at problem solving, rather knee-jerk reations. Great example for the kidsbird dog wrote:There was a school in our area that had a garden project going and whoever was in charge of the compost didn't really know what they were doing. They added all kinds of kitchen scraps, fat drippings included along with meat scraps. It didn't take long before the area became overrun with rats. It created quite a "stink" in the area. It hit the local paper and put quite a bad name to composting. It was also the end of the kids garden project.
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toxcrusadr
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We had a teacher who was really into composting and gardening at one of the middle schools, and he set up a garden and a composting operation. It went really well and there were no problems with it. Once the teacher moved on they decommissioned everything because no one really took it up. Something like that needs a person to spearhead it, organize volunteers for big jobs, make sure the stuff coming is the right material, deal with problems when they crop up, etc.
Our University (U. of MO main campus) announced just last month that a pilot project has been so successful that they're going to compost all the food waste from the cafeterias now. This is a big school, 25,000 students, so it will make quite an impact. UMC has an ag school with lots of experimental farms, so they have the space to do it. Really great news.
Our University (U. of MO main campus) announced just last month that a pilot project has been so successful that they're going to compost all the food waste from the cafeterias now. This is a big school, 25,000 students, so it will make quite an impact. UMC has an ag school with lots of experimental farms, so they have the space to do it. Really great news.