I've recently bought a deep fat fryer, and it's about time that I changed the oil. The question is how to I dispose of it? I know I can't put it down the sink but I'm not sure what to do with it, and how to get rid of it.
I'm kind of confused with that as well. I don't own a big deep fryer but when I was growing up I remember my mom pouring the used oil in a large coffee can and disposing of it that way. I guess that's ok right? Not 100% but it seems to be the only real way to get rid of it. It is a large amount and I'm sure it's not good for your sink. When oli gets cold it gets hard and yuck so I wouldn't want that in my drains. If I'm frying a pound or so of beef and I need to get rid of the excess fat I will usually turn on the faucet and run the water really hot and then pour the excess down the drain because it's only a little. I let it run for a minute to make sure it goes down and doesn't stick. Hope this helps! Danyel
The best way to do so is to dump the oil in a plastic bag( assuming that there's a lot of oil) and then put that bag in your main trash bag. After that, clean up the remaining oil with a paper towel and that should really limit the amount of oil that ends up down the drain. The same goes for the oil after frying some ground beef. Clean the extra oil left in the pan with a paper towel. You can actually drain a lot of the fat out of the beef too by laying a paper towel on a plate, dumping the beef on the paper towel, and it will soak up a lot of the fat.
My husband and I have a small deep fryer we use on occasion. My husband takes and puts 3 squirts of dawn original dish liquid into the oil as well as hot water and mix it up. He then keeps the hot water running in the sink while he dumps the fryer oil down the drain. After the fryer is empty, he keeps the water running for another minute. He then goes on about his business. We've never had any stopped drains doing this either.
It's best to never pour oil down your drain. You never know where it could end up and cause problems later. Once it is cooled I pour it into an empty juice or milk container. If there's not one available I'll use a zip bag.
I have never owned a deep fryer, and I don't think I will ever need one. But I have friends who use one, and they dispose of the oil in their garden. They have an area near their compost heap where they have dug a hole, and that's where they dispose of the oil. Recently, they told me about a new strategy they have, saving the oil in a big container and taking it to the facility where they convert such oil into bio-diesel.
Dora, those are great ideas. If I used oil for deep frying more often I'd look at taking it somewhere to be converted into fuel. Now I only use large amounts of oil a couple of times a year so I probably wouldn't have enough.
