Tightwad: a person who does not like to spend or give money.
cheapskate, penny-pincher, scrooge, skinflint, miser
You might be a tightwad if…
You use paper bags to catch bacon grease instead of using store bought paper towels. Because really, who wants to spend money just to throw it in the trash.
Do you do this? Please tell me I’m not the only one.
~Mavis
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lilton says
I reuse paper bags (including paper pharmacy bags from our prescriptions) not as paper towels but for my compost. I keep my stash under the kitchen sink, load it up with compostable food scraps, and toss the whole thing into the composter. Reduces our trash and the need to wash out a collection bowl!
Lisa says
That’s a really good idea! We keep a little bucket just outside our back door and we transfer it to the compost pile when it fills up, but I have dreams of tidying up the back porch so it’s not so, I don’t know, utilitarian.
Meg C says
I use newspaper! We get a newspaper 2 days a week & its great for catching grease. Sometimes I wad it up to clean grease out of my cast iron cookware.
Kathy says
Lilton, that is a wonderful idea! You have taught me something new today that will benefit my compost pile and henceforth my tummy. Thank you!
CdnErin says
I never even thought of using newspaper! Or paper bags. Mind you, paper bags are RARE in Canada these days, apart from pharmacy bags.
AND, apart from the very beginning of plastic bags, we’ve never had “Paper or plastic?” as a question at the checkout, every store just switched to plastic back in the late 80’s — we DO, however, now have a 5¢ charge per plastic bag in about half of our major grocery stores, including WalMart! It encourages people to bring reusable bags, or use the bags they already have a few times before throwing them away (they get recycled here in our municipal recycling programs). SO the question at checkout is, “Would you like any bags today for 5¢ each?”.
Lisa S says
Paper bags also work great to absorb the extra grease under cooling cookies. That “Paper or Plastic?” question at the store is answered depending on if I plan to make cookies or need more trash liners. LOL! I’m right there with ya, Mavis! Waste not, want not. :o)
Susan says
This is what I do, too! 🙂 I never buy trash bags. DH likes paper towels to clean the inside windows of his vehicle and the occasional wipe off when he checks the oil. 1 roll lasts a couple YEARS!
KAte says
I do the exact same thing! I cut open a paper bag to put below my cookie cooling rack. This saves me from having to clean my table and then I toss the bag in the compost!
We also use paper bags to line our recycling container. My HH tends not to rinse his recyclables and we were getting sticky dribbles on the floor beneath our kitchen recycling container (an old milk crate) and the paper bag liner catches all the spills!
Teckla says
And those “greasy” bags make great fire starters, although you do have to be careful! My Mom used them for a number of things, including grease catchers. Use it again, use it up, wear it out, make it do. That’s how my Mom and Dad lived!
Jamie says
I love paper bags, especially with handles! I use them for all sorts of things, but would not use them to catch bacon grease. I love coffee filters for that. Think of all the groceries touching the inside of the bag, and what they touched. I would never think of putting my cooked bacon on a grocery line conveyor belt, in the bottom of a shopping cart, or have someone else touch it, then put it back on the shelf. Leaky meat packages, unwashed produce, pet foods, etc. Not sanitary, but so glad it works for you.
Susan says
I use paper bags from Chuck’s Produce ONLY! I bag my produce with plastic bags, and they bag into paper. NO conveyor belts, NO meat, NO pet food , etc. I am careful what bags I use, and would NEVER use a bag meat was put into- I only use plastic for that , anyways. You wouldn’t use just any old bag!!!!!
Paper towels and coffee filters go down a conveyor belt and are handled by humans. Rodents, germs, etc. are present in factories. Nothing is 100% sanitary.
Without knowing me personally or exactly how this is done, you assumed the worst! I am pretty OCD about cleanliness and food handling practices. 44 years in the kitchen and nobody has been sick from anything I have made 🙂
KAte says
Susan…it looks like Jamie was commenting in the main thread (responding to Mavis’ original post) not replying to your comment. Her comment was just next in line. I think you’re safe from personal judgement.
Cook on without fear!
Susan says
I apologize to Jamie 🙂
Dale says
I love the paper bags for starting fires in the wood stoves. One bag and some kindling, touch it off with the blowtorch and well-ahh! Fire going first time every time. Also great for sending extra veggies from the garden home with the relatives!
Rosaleen says
Yeah, I’m with Jamie! Paper bags have potentially been exposed to anything from E. coli to Lord knows what.. I use them to collect paper for recycling, carrying times that can be washed, etc. When I use my own reuseable bags, they get washed every-so-often, BTW. If I decided to use paper bags to absorb food grease, I might run a hot iron over them first, hoping to sanitize them.
Sharon R. says
I’ve never thought to do this, but I will in the future. Thanks for the tip! I usually use paper napkins from stores/take-out that have accumulated in my napkin holder.
Teresa Yb. says
I use paper bags or newspaper or really any paper from the recycle box. I do put one sheet of paper towel over the paper bag to put the food directly on so my food does not touch the recycled thing. I figure I am still saving several paper towels this way.
Lauralli says
This is what I do, too. I don’t want my food directly on paper bags, cartons, or newspaper. Lots of chemicals in their manufacture (there has been information in the news lately about this and popcorn bags, too). But, I do lay one layer of paper towels on those things, thereby reducing my paper towel usage. Every little bit helps! Love this series!
Cathi says
Me too! I figure it’s the perfect compromise especially with no paper bags really in my town. Just the little ones from the pharmacy and ones from the garden store.
Corinne says
I love this “You might be a tightwad if…” series! Little things can give me new ideas. I use paper napkins for grease right now but I’ll think about recycling something to use instead. And just use fewer napkins-good point that I might not want that recycled bag to touch my food…
Angie says
I use paper bags for the bacon grease too! 😉
Sarah in California says
Hadn’t thought about paper bags. We use cloth napkins so, when we get paper napkins with takeout, I save them for grease draining. If those are not available, I use newspaper. If it’s good enough for the Brits and their fish & chips, it’s good enough for me. I’ve also cut the man’s old t-shirts into squares to use for wiping up messes. I haven’t bought paper towels in several years.
Rachel says
I will from now on. Thanks for the tip. Newspapers work too.
Tami says
I use the weekly grocery store ads for this.
Deborah from FL says
Does anyone collect the grease to save for re-use? Seems more thrifty than tossing it. Just my two cents. 🙂
Lisa S says
I do. The grease left in the pan from bacon is great mixed with some greens from the garden or drizzled over beans of all kinds or to kick up the flavor of gravy. I also use it when I make homemade pet treats for the kitties and dog. I keep a little container in the freezer and use or add to, as needed.
Mavis Butterfield says
Of course!
Kathy says
Isn’t bacon grease one of the main food groups? I live in the South and I guarantee it is down here. I never waste my bacon grease. It gets put in a special container I have just for bacon grease and refrigerated. I use it to season food and sometimes I use some just to make some good gravy for biscuits.
Annie says
Bacon grease is precious stuff! We always save it in jars and use it to fry cabbage in, or brussel sprouts, eggs, or whatever else. We are all eating a low carb high fat diet, which is no sugar, no grains, low carb veggies and fruit, and healthy meats and fats, nuts and seeds, so bacon grease is definitely used here and not wasted or thrown out!
Bren says
My husband loves paper bags for starting the fire in the wood stove. We save bacon grease too.
Mavis Butterfield says
Bacon grease rules!!!
Renay says
…and to cool cookies on!
Tammy says
I use cereal boxes. Tear them open and the inside is very absorbent.
Jennifer says
EW!!!!!!!!!! And then do you eat it???
I can’t imagine that paper bags/newspaper ads are particularly clean…
We reuse/recycle our bags all the time…but not for something like this
Judith says
I drain the bacon on cooling racks. The kind used to cool baked goods. I just put the individual racks on cookie sheet pans. Then after we’re done , I just wash the cooling racks and pans after every use. I reuse what few paper bags we get to hold compostable scraps, and throw them into the compost.
Beth Anne says
I use paper towels when I cook potatoes in the microwave. I left them air dry and re-sue. Eventually they get re-used to drain bacon on.
Warning – don’t read if bugs freak you out! FYI ladies – roaches love the glue in paper bags. When I worked in a grocery store the room where we stored the paper bags was basically a roach motel, it draws them to it and as you know they run all over, get in the seems, etc. I keep mine stored out on our porch and hope the Michigan cod winter kills the little suckers! Also another reason not to lick envelopes, paper plants have an issue with them as well. The other day on another blog someone posted about picking up bed bugs from library books and many people were freaking out. It NEVER occurred to me but the possibility makes sense. Oy vey bugs are every where!
Elise says
LOL Mavis. This series is fantastic!
Here, near San Francisco, the towns and cities have passed “bag ban” laws, and stores have to not offer single-use plastic bags (which end up in the ocean and then into that 200 square mile of floating plastic garbage in the eastern Pacific), and have to charge for paper grocery bags. Most towns are 10 cents, but I found a town near by that charges just 5 cents, so that’s where I go when I’m low on “garbage” bags :). It’s convenient to where I work, I just have to remember to go every so often (I forgot, and tonight is garbage night – Time to go spend 50 cents on 10 more “garbage bags” 🙂 )
Needless to say, a paper towel is MUCH less $ than 10 cents for draining bacon 🙂 but that’s particular to our area 🙂 (so far)
Tisha says
In my very dusty clime, I would not use paper bags for bacon grease. However, I do put them on a splatter screen to let the grease drain off and the splatter screen can go in the dishwasher. Any napkins from our limited eating out can be used for blotting off a bit of extra, if needed.
Practical Parsimony says
My mother used paper bags for draining bacon. It seems right to me. I do use the inside. I also use pharmacy and fast food bags. However, using newspaper just seems nasty to me.
I use limited paper plates, but I will drain bacon on a paper plate if I just used the paper plate for a sandwich. I throw the paper plate free of crumbs into the refrigerator. This is sort of an old, old news use to me.
Jennifer says
We quit using paper towels about 10 years ago and only use cloth napkins, kitchen towels, etc, now. It was a tricky transition, but we don’t miss paper towels at all anymore. We also live in the SF area of California, so we pay for disposable paper bags. We rarely get them with our groceries though, as the standard practice is to byo bags. So I save what paper bags we do have for bathroom trash (which grosses me out.) For bacon, splatter screens are a perfect substitute for paper towels. I highly recommend the change. No trash created, and then paper bags are left for better uses. I’m no trash martyr, but seriously guys, reusing something instead of making it instant trash or compost is thriftier, better for the first environment, and cuts down on the waste created by factories who produce these single-use things. If you have extra paper bags laying around, do what you can to use them over an over as bags or covers for kids books or something. Try out reusable bags at the grocery store instead! Oh, and I love bacon, and I save bacon grease but I should do it more.