The Clever Way To Store Bacon Grease Is With An Egg Carton

Bacon grease is a cooking staple that's often referred to as "liquid gold" because it can impart incredible flavor to a wide variety of dishes. From adding a smoky taste to your grilled cheese sandwich to flakey scones, the options are endless. All the savory and sweet elements of this fatty pork are infused into the grease it produces, which is why you should stop throwing it out and instead start saving your egg cartons. This common storage solution starts with a clean plastic or Styrofoam egg carton, so just wash it out and it will be ready for use. 

You'll also want to allow your rendered bacon fat to cool, but not solidify, after making those strips for breakfast. Once it has, you can pour bacon drippings into the Styrofoam egg carton and place it in the freezer. Sadly, those egg containers made out of paper will not hold up as well when you pour warm grease into them and they are more difficult to sanitize. Once the grease has hardened, you can pop them out of the egg compartments and store these hunks of seasoned grease in a Ziplock bag. But don't store these little cups of bacon fat at room temperature.

While your mom and grandmother may have stored their bacon grease in a jar on the counter, according to Vincent's Meat Market, you do not want to store this grease at room temperature. That au natural storage approach will cause your bacon fat to go rancid much quicker than if you turn to our favorite large appliance, the refrigerator. 

Bacon grease will last longer if you store it in the fridge or the freezer. In fact, if you keep your bacon fat in the fridge, its quality will remain intact for up to three months. But if you keep those little cups of bacon fat in the freezer, it has an even longer shelf life. This means when you are ready to cook that roast, bake those biscuits, or sauté those vegetables, you can pop one of these grease cubes out to create a smoky, salty flavor-inducing bite. 

But there is one more point of consideration when it comes to bacon grease. Should you strain it? While not everyone does, straining to remove those bits of bacon meat will not only preserve the longevity of your grease so it doesn't sour, it leaves you with pure bacon fat. To do so, simply break out a coffee filter and place it over a jar. Then just pour the grease into the filter and it will catch all those lovely bits and you'll be left with an incredible-tasting flavor that won't go bad for months.