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Location: Monterey Bay, California -- watching the sea lions, whales and otters! :D
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AZDesertBrat: I buy the thinner paper plates but I never have anything particularly 'heavy' on them. I just now warmed up a cinnamon roll on one. Too gooey to reuse but it sure was good!
Gees, we could write a book just about paper plates!!
I actually use those little wicker holders for the paper plates -- that way I don't have to worry about the weight, and I've had the same ones for at least ten years, and you can get those at a Dollar Store, too! Yeah, you still have to wash forks and stuff, but those can be pretty fast, and for grilling ribs or things of that sort outside, you don't even need the silverware.
Sometimes I'm really surprised at the deals at the Dollar Store. Recently, I got a bunch of those solar lights that you put into the ground (I put mine into pots with plants) -- just a dollar each! They are very handy on my deck at night!
I also discovered that olives are about $7.00 a jar (at least here!), and only a buck at the Dollar Store! Wrapping paper, cards, ribbons, soaps, all kinds of goodies. I still do read the labels carefully, though, because a bargain can be a bargain, but not so much so if it's a bad product. Without the Dollar Store, I'd be spending a whole lot more. Yay, for the Dollar Store!
Gees, we could write a book just about paper plates!!
I still do read the labels carefully, though, because a bargain can be a bargain, but not so much so if it's a bad product. Without the Dollar Store, I'd be spending a whole lot more. Yay, for the Dollar Store!
I've been trying to figure out what to use instead of paper towels to remove oil residues from skillets so it doesn't go down the drain. Any suggestions?
A bit of animal grease/commercial oil residue down a drain shouldn't be a problem. You can keep a small cloth dishrag on hand for wiping it out after you drain the oil. Or a piece of brown paper bag.
Bigger quantities can be frozen in small yogurt containers --- on trash day, pop out the frozen clump of oil/grease into the trash and put the empty yogurt container back in the freezer for reuse. Used organic oils can go into a compost heap, they are biodegradable.
Paper products are so expensive and wasteful I avoid them at all costs (except, of course, TP!)
A bit of animal grease/commercial oil residue down a drain shouldn't be a problem. You can keep a small cloth dishrag on hand for wiping it out after you drain the oil. Or a piece of brown paper bag.
Bigger quantities can be frozen in small yogurt containers --- on trash day, pop out the frozen clump of oil/grease into the trash and put the empty yogurt container back in the freezer for reuse. Used organic oils can go into a compost heap, they are biodegradable.
Paper products are so expensive and wasteful I avoid them at all costs (except, of course, TP!)
Well, a little grease here and a little grease there, adds up to a big problem:
I though you would find these pictures fascinating.
Now just for your little house, it can become a bigger problem soon, because the sewer lines are smaller and over the years, it can accumulate.
In the US, in all municipalities, restaurants and other grease making business must install grease traps that catch most of the oils and grease before they enter the public sewers. The traps are required to be cleaned regularly. It is also prohibited to pour grease down the sewers. I can tell you from experience, that grease traps are not a sight to be seen; and if they are not cleaned and backup--yuck!
I wonder about the heavy use of fried foods, sausages and bacon in the domestic homes, especially in the South. Can you imagine those sewers lines--it probably looks like the cholesterol clogged arteries of the residents.
Now for the frugal tip. If you read old cookbooks, like I do, you will find, that fat is valuable for cooking and baking. You waste nothing. Fat is especially valued because fat is higher in calories than any other food, and of course flavor. It is only today that we count calories to exclude them--in times past, calories were counted to be included. When enough food is hard to find-fat is an important food.
You were told by the seasoned cooks to save all fat, buy the fattest meat, preserve items in fat, tenderize meat with fat by barding and larding. Let us not forget a chore of the well trained housekeeper--making soap.
So, instead of going down the drain, all you skinny sparse woman should eat more fat. Brillat-Savarin, the oft celebrated gourmand of history, said in the The Physiology of Taste (1825):
"...But thinness is a horrible calamity for women: beauty to them is more than life itself, and it consists above all of the roundness of their forms and graceful curvings of their outlines...that a scrawny woman, no matter how pretty she may look, loses something of her charm with every fastening she undoes.... we cannot see why they should be any more difficult to fatten than young hens..."
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 07-21-2010 at 07:37 PM..
I use a little olive oil to sautee. There is always some left in the bottom of the skillet that won't pour out. I have a septic tank not a sewer and I don't want to block it with congealed grease, nor the pipes between my kitchen and the septic tank.
In town, the city is always asking people not to put any grease into the sewers. For one thing it attracts big sewer roaches.
I'm still not sure what my options are. Using any kind of paper seems very "ungreen" to me, but I can't think of an alternative. Larger amounts of grease like from a whole chicken can be put into a container and thrown out, but this is just a sheen of oil.
Sop the fat up with bread--a natural renewal wipe. Best to eat the bread to use all the resources, or if you must throw it out; you have now used no paper. Have you not read the last part of my post? Enjoy!
Restaurant routinely and historically used sliced bread as an absorbent for bacon and other fried foods.You feed it to the pigs; and then you eat the pigs. This was the way before paper towels, when cloth was more valuable than bread.
I buy stale white bread, which is very absorbent. I use it to absorb all the fat from fried cutlets. Then I feed the bread to the women, I keep in my basement--to fatten them up for marriage to lucky fellows.
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 07-21-2010 at 10:26 PM..
I though you would find these pictures fascinating.
Now just for your little house, it can become a bigger problem soon, because the sewer lines are smaller and over the years, it can accumulate.
In the US, in all municipalities, restaurants and other grease making business must install grease traps that catch most of the oils and grease before they enter the public sewers. The traps are required to be cleaned regularly. It is also prohibited to pour grease down the sewers. I can tell you from experience, that grease traps are not a sight to be seen; and if they are not cleaned and backup--yuck!
I wonder about the heavy use of fried foods, sausages and bacon in the domestic homes, especially in the South. Can you imagine those sewers lines--it probably looks like the cholesterol clogged arteries of the residents.
Now for the frugal tip. If you read old cookbooks, like I do, you will find, that fat is valuable for cooking and baking. You waste nothing. Fat is especially valued because fat is higher in calories than any other food, and of course flavor. It is only today that we count calories to exclude them--in times past, calories were counted to be included. When enough food is hard to find-fat is an important food.
You were told by the seasoned cooks to save all fat, buy the fattest meat, preserve items in fat, tenderize meat with fat by barding and larding. Let us not forget a chore of the well trained housekeeper--making soap.
So, instead of going down the drain, all you skinny sparse woman should eat more fat. Brillat-Savarin, the oft celebrated gourmand of history, said in the The Physiology of Taste (1825):
"...But thinness is a horrible calamity for women: beauty to them is more than life itself, and it consists above all of the roundness of their forms and graceful curvings of their outlines...that a scrawny woman, no matter how pretty she may look, loses something of her charm with every fastening she undoes.... we cannot see why they should be any more difficult to fatten than young hens..."
Livecontent
All very interesting....but there are saturated fats and unsaturated fats, and you know which one we should be consuming! Bacon grease shouldn't be a problem cuz imo we shouldn't be eating it! (freeze and discard with trash if you do use it). Unsaturated natural oils can be fed to the compost. You can also sprinkle rolled oats (a natural sponge for oil) into the oil sheen in a pan, they will soak up. Then the oily oats into the compost or regular trash. They should be cleaning up the BP oil spill with millions of gallons of oats.
All very interesting....but there are saturated fats and unsaturated fats, and you know which one we should be consuming! Bacon grease shouldn't be a problem cuz imo we shouldn't be eating it! (freeze and discard with trash if you do use it). Unsaturated natural oils can be fed to the compost. You can also sprinkle rolled oats (a natural sponge for oil) into the oil sheen in a pan, they will soak up. Then the oily oats into the compost or regular trash. They should be cleaning up the BP oil spill with millions of gallons of oats.
Actually Bread Crumbs work much better as an absorbent. Oats take much more time to absorb.
Years, ago in a kitchen, a cook spilled a large container of oil. I immediately got a large bag of bread crumbs and poured them on the spill--absorbed quickly and it was easily to sweep; then a quick mop and everything was good.
Then, I could use the breadcrumbs in the meatloaf Maybe in times before health codes, that was done
You talk about a natural sponge for oil--if you have eggplant handy
I do not eat bacon. I have not bought the product for decades. It make no sense to spend money on just fat and at those high prices. It is consider fat, not meat, under dietary exchange guidelines. I do not buy hamburgers or any product with bacon. All those products have increased the price of bacon, beyond what it is worth. Any food preparation that requires bacon, I just, do without, or more likely use lean ham as a better product, for flavor. I do not need the fat. If this was a hundred years ago, and I was a starving manual laborer, then bacon would be a big part of my diet. For frugality, most ham or smoked picnic is much cheaper than bacon.
My same purchasing ideas goes for chicken wings--a waste of money when lean boneless chicken is cheaper. Ribs, another useless product--why buy expensive fatty bones, when I can again buy lean boneless meat, cheaper. I buy lean ground meat and many times I just grind my own with leaner cheaper cuts.Buy less meat fat, you have less to dispose. Better yet, eat more vegetables, legumes, lentils and use vegetable based fats, especially olive oil.
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 07-22-2010 at 11:22 AM..
I use a little olive oil to sautee. There is always some left in the bottom of the skillet that won't pour out. I have a septic tank not a sewer and I don't want to block it with congealed grease, nor the pipes between my kitchen and the septic tank.
In town, the city is always asking people not to put any grease into the sewers. For one thing it attracts big sewer roaches.
I'm still not sure what my options are. Using any kind of paper seems very "ungreen" to me, but I can't think of an alternative. Larger amounts of grease like from a whole chicken can be put into a container and thrown out, but this is just a sheen of oil.
This could have been written by me I also have a septic tank and am fanatic about not having any grease go down my drain because it will clog up, especially in Oregon when the night temps go down and in the winter when it's very cold.
Every time I use a paper towel for any reason, I save it in a plastic bag and then re-use them to wipe down pans which were used to saute food, before washing them. Kinda wasteful of the paper towels ? but saves me from having to call the plumber
Location: Monterey Bay, California -- watching the sea lions, whales and otters! :D
1,918 posts, read 6,785,113 times
Reputation: 2708
Quote:
ConeyIsBabe: I also have a septic tank and am fanatic about not having any grease go down my drain because it will clog up, especially in Oregon when the night temps go down and in the winter when it's very cold.
Every time I use a paper towel for any reason, I save it in a plastic bag and then re-use them to wipe down pans which were used to saute food, before washing them. Kinda wasteful of the paper towels ? but saves me from having to call the plumber.
I hear you! I, too, had a septic system all the time that I lived in the mountains. Although I do not have one now, I still don't feel comfortable pouring anything greasy into a sink. My space is very small here, so I have a little spot out back that I pour any greasy stuff -- although, fortunately, it's not much. I am sure they would not appreciate a huge compost heap here!
I have a little jar for grease, too, and I think that's a habit that goes way back to my grandmother. Most things I make -- like those pork ribs if I have people over for a BBQ, I always parboil anyway, so most of the grease is in the pot -- I just let it cool and can easily scoop it out. The same with cooking chicken soup -- I take the skin off first, but there's still a little grease on top, and that is also easily scooped up. I don't use bacon or beef (unless someone brings their own steak), so I'm not stuck with a lot of grease, and I also don't deep fry.
It sounds like many of our eating habits are similar in that we eat more healthy foods, and minimize the greasy, fatty stuff. I am not a fanatic by any means, and I eat balanced meals. I enjoy cooking, so I mostly cook all my own foods. Every once in awhile I might want a steak and buy one. I am not a vegetarian -- I tried that years ago and just could not make that transition. I was involved in macrobiotics for some time, although they also use meat, especially poultry and fish (although many people think it is a vegetarian diet), and I still use many recipes learned during that time.
It sounds like those on this thread are pretty careful about their food and cooking habits -- which is nice to hear.
I figure that in a modern world, we are going to confront some of the difficulties of living in such a world. It does sound like that this group is unique!
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I also have a septic tank and am fanatic about not having any grease go down my drain because it will clog up, especially in Oregon when the night temps go down and in the winter when it's very cold.
