# keeping bacon grease - how long?



## eastkygal (Feb 19, 2006)

Okay mamas... I'm a southern cook just like all my mothers before me, so I use my bacon grease. Now, my great grandmother and grandmother kept a coffee cup on the stove filled with bacon grease that she would just use whenever. As far as I'm aware, the cup was rarely emptied, and was used often after days of just sitting there. I've heard of other women keeping it in a coffee can in the cabinet or under the sink.
So, how long is it safe to keep this bacon grease unrefrigerated before using it? Forever????


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## kjbrown92 (Dec 13, 2007)

I keep mine in the fridge. We used it for over a month this summer, and then I got rid of it when I was cleaning out the fridge for fall. I should start keeping it again.


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## *Jessica* (Jun 10, 2004)

I keep mine in a wide-mouth pint-sized mason jar in the fridge. It seems to keep for a couple of months just fine that way.


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

I keep it in the fridge too and I'd guess it would last for months. I know a lot of people used to or still do keep it on the couter or stove but to me it seems risky. I've kept it out for a few hours and then used it that day but even then I wasn't sure if I should. I'm sure it's fine, I just get weird about anything being left out.


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## Alyantavid (Sep 10, 2004)

I keep mine in the fridge too and its been in there awhile.


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## superstella (Aug 25, 2006)

I always keep a coffee cup full in the fridge as well, and it stays for a while... every so often I start a new cup and finish off the old one so it doesn't get too old (and I can't really rotate because the old is on the bottom of the cup...) but I'd say it lasts at least 6 months in the fridge.

I just don't feel comfortable with mine on the counter for too long, maybe a day but that's about it. Not to mention my cat would probably try to be in it, he loves bacon and bacon grease.


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## CharlieBrown (Jan 20, 2004)

I keep mine in the frig for 1-2 months, then get a "fresh" batch.


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## tanyalynn (Jun 5, 2005)

Rendered fat, rather than drippings, I keep at room temp--my tallow was at room temp in a pint-size mason jar for months, but bacon drippings I'd keep in the frig. Not sure for how long--I never have enough to keep for any length of time.


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## kay4 (Nov 30, 2004)

I've been keeping mine in the cabinet.














Sounds like i need to move it to the fridge


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## tboroson (Nov 19, 2002)

My grandmother, too, kept hers in a coffee can beside the stove - not only unrefrigerated, but in a particularly warm spot. And of course, she'd keep pouring new in and scooping off the top, so I'm sure the stuff on the bottom had been there since rocks were soft.

I personally can't bring myself to do that







I keep it in the fridge. I don't really keep track of how old it is, though. Considering fat like that is also used as a preservative for meats (think confit), I just don't think it's going to go bad. If I have to stuff the fridge full for a party or something, the bowl of bacon fat is one of the things on the list to come out of the fridge and live on the counter for a day or two.


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## cristeen (Jan 20, 2007)

I don't refrigerate mine until I render it, actually. Just drippings as is, I keep in a jar on the counter. However, it rarely gets past 70 in our house, and now that it's "officially" winter, we'll be lucky to break 60 most days. So long as you keep it covered so flys can't lay eggs in it, bacon grease has enough salt in it that it shouldn't grow mold and it'll take ages to go rancid.


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