Baking at home is a thrifty way to make your dollars stretch and have a better understanding of what is in your food.
I've been baking for most of my life, and I learned from my mom a little tip that she learned from her mom and on farther back.... Mom was a child during the Depression and WW. 2 years. During that time lard and animal fats weren't cheap at the corner store, and other meat ingredients were expensive as well so it had to stretch. Grandma Pickrell (a widow when Mom turned 8) lived in town and took in boarders to earn a living and raise her girls and son, so she didn't have space for cows and chickens and so on.
Something simple Mom learned and passed down was to save bacon grease. It only took once of accidentally tossing leftover grease to remember never to dump it without Mom's permission . She used it to make bacon biscuits, pancakes, and anything else that used shortening or lard. She did this all the way up til she passed in 2003 at 69.
Collecting, storing, and using bacon grease is easy. Fry your bacon. Keep a glass jar or something similar that can handle high heat on your stove top as you cook. This will heat the glass and reduce risk of shattering later when you've finished cooking your bacon, drain the leftover grease into the jar. Let it cool to where you can handle it, then put on a lid, stash it in the refrigerator . The grease will solidify in cold. When you are ready to use it, simply use it as you would shortening in a recipe . You get the bacon flavor and animal fat instead of a factory processed shortening. You also are getting every bit of use from the original piece of meat you purchased or processed yourself.
It's a simple idea, one that has been passed down from generation to generation .
Give it a try! You might like it!
Mrs. A
