The devil and the deep fat fryer

[Alex K]

We love beetroot / parsnip / carrot crisps and hate paying for them at packaged-crisp prices. So we bought a deep-fat fryer and now, a few weeks into the enterprise (and mercy!, those blue potatoes at Sainsburys fried up a treat), we have our first three-litre jug of molasses-coloured "used frying oil".

I should feel very wicked if I poured it into the drains, or onto someone unsuspecting's allotment.

Is there an East Dulwich Diesel Charity Drop-Off?

What does one do with this stuff?

[louisiana]

Put it in your petrol tank?

[Alex K]

If we were diesellers (dieselers?), fa-shure. But we queue for the petrol pumps like everyone else.

[womanofdulwich]

just keep using it?

If you have a deepfat fryer dont you just keep using it and topping it up? or if never again can't you use it tablespoon at time to fry your onions etc in?

or maybe you use it to soak dried bread in to feed to the birds ( not an expert though)?

[Alex K]

I like the bread idea. Waddling little steatorrheic robins!

[HAL9000]

Organic fats and oils are biodegradable - it's the inorganic stuff like motor oil that constitutes a pollution hazard.

It's fairly easy to transform used frying oil into a diesel-like bio fuel - although hardly worth the effort for three litres.

Whatever you do - don't put it in to a petrol tank - it could destroy the engine.

[dulwichmum]

Couldn't you just drink it sweetie? You have probably consumed so much of it already...

*faints*

[louisiana]

HAL9000 Wrote:

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> Organic fats and oils are biodegradable -

Indeed, but the prime reason for blocked drains, so best not to do that.

>

> It's fairly easy to transform used frying oil into

> a diesel-like bio fuel - although hardly worth the

> effort for three litres.

>

> Whatever you do - don't put it in to a petrol tank

> - it could destroy the engine.

Twas a joke :)

[Alex K]

@dulwichmum: Oh dear. A friend who did a gap year on the Inuit Health Service somewhere circumpolar told me that the hardest thing to enjoy on home visits was "Eskimo ice cream". Dried blueberries and a dollop of -- Crisco. According to several Inuit matrons, "In the old times, it used to be seal blubber, but now we just get it out of the tin!"

But this gets me no closer to learning how to dispose of used deep fat fryer oil. **sigh**

[Marmora Man]

There are companies that collect used deep fat fryer oil from Fish & Chip shops to turn into biofuel. 3 litres obviously too small for them to consider - but you might ask at your local chippy if you can gift your used oil to them?

[Brendan]

Can you not strain it through a muslin and reuse it?

[elloriac]

Try these people? http://www.envirogroup.co.uk/Envirogroup_used_Vegetable_oil_collection.html

"Waste vegetable oil collection, waste cooking oil collection in the UK and specifically in Kent, Hampshire, Berkshire and the London areas."

and also:

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200084/recycling_and_waste/1365/a_to_z_of_waste_and_recycling/4

Cooking oil

Cooking oil can be taken to your household waste reuse and recycling centre to be recycled to create bio fuel for vehicles.

If you pour cooking oil down the drain it could cause blockages.

If you have a very small amount, you should leave it to solidify and then scrape it into your household refuse bin.

If you have large quantities of used cooking oil there are specialist companies that will collect it for reuse or convert it into bio-fuel. Pelican Food Services will collect it for free, if you have at least 100 litres. Call 01299 827444.

[Jeremy]

Cooking oil doesn't solidify, does it?

[Alex K]

Brendan, thanks for that suggestion. We've strained it several times. It's approaching the colour of Coca-Cola and... well, it's just OLD. Time for a new jug.

Marmora Man, you are BRILLIANT. What a good idea!

And, Elloriac, if your suggestions don't work out, I'll try MM's. Thank you all.

[ianr]

Jeremy Wrote:

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> Cooking oil doesn't solidify, does it?

It does if you bubble hydrogen through it. ;-)