"Food For Thought" Articles

How to Properly Dispose of Used Cooking Oil & Other Fats

• We are posting this blog to help solve a problem of knowing what to do with unwanted cooking oil and other fats. Have you ever watched in horror to see someone pour leftover grease and oil down their kitchen sink! Not only will this plug their drain but this causes problems with city waste disposal and rural septic tanks.

• The best way to solve this problem is to save empty cans or glass jars with lids to collect cooking oil and grease from cooking hamburger, bacon, chicken, deep frying and etc. It is best to let it cool a little to prevent burns, then pour your unwanted grease or oil into a can or jar and keep it in the refrigerator or freezer. (Putting the can or jar in your sink while pouring is safer and will keep unwanted grease from your counter top). 
  
• It might be helpful to label the container so family members will know what it is. You can dispose of it on garbage day. This will also help with any ant problems if it’s not in your waste basket to attract them.

• If you have large amounts to dispose of, if you can find a place locally that recycles oil that is the best option. Larger amounts of cooking oil can be recycled into biodiesel. There are places and businesses that will gladly take your oil if you search for them.

                Hope this helps, THE CHEF IN YOU team




What About Those “Dish Cloths”?

• Do you ever think about how much you use and depend on your dish cloth? Do you use it all day and save it for the next day, waiting for it to turn sour to signal that is time to send it to the laundry? Do you ever wonder if it could be the cause of “food poisoning” or just another round of the “stomach flu”? That could very well be the case. You wouldn’t think of eating food that had been setting on the counter for hours or even days! Food particles that are collected in your dish rags are living in a warm, humid environment that is perfect for breeding germs, mold and other unhealthy and undesirable creatures. Every time you wipe your table or counter tops, you are spreading those unwanted germs around even more. Changing your dish cloths often during any cooking or canning process is also very important. 
• A good rule of thumb would be to change “dish cloths”  with every meal if it has had a lot of use.  Using a piece of paper towel to clean up milk, eggs, meat and other traces of food that can cause serious problems will also help. Keeping a spray bottle of vinegar, diluted chlorine bleach, or essential oils on hand to spray the counter top, cutting board, or table top during the clean-up process is a good idea. Disinfecting wipes are also very useful and effective.

THE CHEF IN YOU