How do you dispose of oil from tinned fish?

[adrianmolesmole]

My friend pours his straight in the bin (!?), but I've always poured mine in a bowl mixed with fairy liquid to break it up and then pour it down the sink. Is there a proper way?!

Dumb question I know, but it's a slow night..

@Housing101

Only ever put it down the sink.

Once left it out and the cat had it. And she was then sick on the new carpet.

Perhaps having read this thread and seen that you’re contributing to the serious problem of fatbergs in our drains you might consider saving a empty screw top jar for disposing of oil?

It’s really really easy to do. Shouldn’t cause you any hardship or difficulty at all.

I only get it in brine or spring water so no help

Is it not too salty for pets? I only buy the spring water kind and it goes down the drain as no pets.

this is very concerning.
the number of probably otherwise intelligent responsible people who put it in the drains.
what did your mothers do. surely they would not have done this. this should be taught at schools, how to run a house.
i thought this was common knowledge.
it's not that difficult to dispose of properly.
to those who have been doing this, please don't. now that you know. it adversely affects all of us if the drains are backing up.

On the dog food

@TheUnquestionedAnswer

Is it not too salty for pets? I only buy the spring water kind and it goes down the drain as no pets.

Salt isn't oil-soluble.

and likewise with WC; only flush human waste and a moderate amount of toilet paper. flush twice if necessary to use more paper. nothing else at all to go in WC.
this is how disease spreads. we all need our drains to function.

I only buy tinned fish in olive oil, and I don't bother too much about draining the oil from the fish. So the fish & oil goes onto pizza, Salade Niçoise, fish stew, sardines on toast or sandwiches etc etc.
Occasionally I make croutons for fish soup/stew with the fishy oil.
What little oil remains in the tin is either well wrapped up before going in the bin, or drained into a screw top "waste fat" jar to be eventually binned.

I never put any fats down the sink drain. Removing fat from water is one of the most costly problems for water boards, so I like to think that I'm doing my bit to keep the water rates down!

Onlymeandthedognow why not just give the fish together with the oil to your dog, and save yourself the job you hate of dealing with the oil? As you can see lots of people do give the oil to their pets. Just a thought.

Please don't pour it down the drain or sink.

You can stuff some kitchen roll (doesn't need to be clean) in the tin to soak it up, then put it in the bin. you can do the same with bacon fat and oven fat.

or (if you have barbies or bonfires)

you can use the oily paper to start them. I use to keep it in the barbies with the lid on until a fox took the lid off and ate it.

You can also mix it into dry cereal and put it out for birds and foxes, though rats will come from all around once they know you have a rat-table.

Baffled by the number of people that think it's ok to just pour down the sink

I eat it. Just dip bread in and eat it.

You’d have to have dozens of different jars for each different oil though. I have oil from olives, from the fried egg pan, from the grill pan - all in the same jar.

Is this serious? Oil from jars of olives, artichokes, grilled zucchini or whatever is perfectly good to eat. Around here it just gets tossed into the pan with additional olive oil when I'm frying onions, tomatoes and peppers to make a tomato sauce.

I have a jar for fat that goes to landfill.

I did look up making fatballs for birds but the answer is no.

Do not chuck down the sink or the bog it blocks the drains/ sewers.

@AdaColeman

German Shepherds have ‘sensitive’ tums... if she has too much oil, it re-appears in the form of hideous exploding poo (sorry, tmi) hence why it needs draining x

@TheSandman

You’d have to have dozens of different jars for each different oil though. I have oil from olives, from the fried egg pan, from the grill pan - all in the same jar.

Is this serious? Oil from jars of olives, artichokes, grilled zucchini or whatever is perfectly good to eat. Around here it just gets tossed into the pan with additional olive oil when I'm frying onions, tomatoes and peppers to make a tomato sauce.

You misread my post. I didn’t say oil from olives etc wasn’t good enough to eat.

I said that because I put all excess oil from cooking and preparing food into one the one jar, including oil from frying eggs, I would have to keep any oil I wanted to add to my food in separate jars.

Obviously if you’re happy to add random oils to your tomato sauce, it would work fine for you.

We take oil to the dump, I wonder what they do with it there, and if it’s any different to us putting in our bin at home.

I'm another one who uses the oil, its really tasty and such a waste to throw it away.

I said that because I put all excess oil from cooking and preparing food into one the one jar, including oil from frying eggs, I would have to keep any oil I wanted to add to my food in separate jars.

How much stuff in oil do you eat? Any oil from jars of antipasto or whatever get used within a couple of days. I don't store it. Just use it.

And 'oil from frying eggs'? When I do a fry up for the family (there are 5 of us) I'll get five eggs done in one pan with about a tablespoon full of oil. There is no waste. Are you deep frying them?

Not looking for a fight; just curious.

And while I'm at it.

If you want to get a label off something, and soaking in water doesn't work, try using vegetable oil. A lot of self-adhesive labels come off very easily if you soak them in veg oil. Sometimes you have to soak them for a couple of days. If the label doesn't peel straight off (which it does more often than not) the glue turns jellylike and is easier to scrape off. I hate having bits of old label on my jars when I make jam and marmalade and discovering this has made cleaning the things a lot easier.

Any oil I DO have to get rid of goes on the compost heap.

I pour any used oil onto sliced bread crust/ends (I used to grate them for breadcrumbs and freeze them but quite honestly cba to do that anymore). They're handy to mop up the oil straight from a frying pan and straight into the kitchen bin.

But my cat would murder me if I'd bought tuna in anything other than spring water

In the food waste

Zero waste!! This is perfectly edible and usually a very healthy fat!! The oil preserves the healthy fats in the fish in a way that the spring water does not. Olive oil is best. If making tuna mayonnaise, you are otherwise pouring oil away to then add more oil in a different form. Or if having the fish with salad, make a salad dressing with it. If your dogs eat it, give them the oil as well!!!

When I do a fry up for the family (there are 5 of us) I'll get five eggs done in one pan with about a tablespoon full of oil. There is no waste. Are you deep frying them?

How do you cook them? Because I used way more oil for 2 eggs but don’t turn them over to cook the tops I slosh like over the top to cook as it’s nicer. You couldn’t do that with one tablespoon in a big frying pan and 5 eggs.

But then I keep the oil in a jar and use it for anything else.

The only way fried eggs are superior to poached or another method is if they're fried in bacon fat, or possibly butter. So you leave the pan to cool and scrape it out before washing.

@PickAChew

The oil is probably more likely to soften the fatberg, being liquid at room temperature.

I buy fish in water, anyhow, but generally wrap oil or fat in old packaging or pour it onto absorbent waste eg stale bread, in the bin.

Erm water in the sewer is not ‘room temperature’ this time of year it’ll be less than 5 degrees..