I just bought those suet bird treat things...

[mcg30_40]

The bacon grease is probably going to be a little runny for the suet to stick together. The lard rehardens as well as the peanut butter does also and that is what holds the suet together. If it turned out crumbly then you need to add more lard or peanut butter. What makes making it yourself cheaper is using what you have or can find cheap...oats, oatmeal, left over cereal, etc. It's a great time to hit bent & dent stores or the clearence isle where stuff is running out of date. You can also add fruit such as raisins.

 

[redhen]

Hi mcg30, i really hate to be a pest..but i just cant get it around my head, what type of lard you mean?.....is it crisco?..what isle would it be in?....would it be with the crisco and stuff in the store?...sorry..i sound so dumb..

...i just want to buy the right thing..thanks again, Wendy

 

[mcg30_40]

You are not being a pest at all. What I buy is in a white approx one gallon bucket. It says "lard" on it. I think it should be around the other grease but I haven't bought it in a while so I'll have to look for you. Lard is just the hard form of grease. You have to melt it like you do the peanut butter in order to mix it into your suet mix, then it gets hard again as it cools.

 

[redhen]

okay..thanks so much!..

 

[curliet]

In some stores the lard might be over near the meat department. Lard is the actual fat from meat, while shortenings, such as Crisco are blended versions of vegetable oil, not really "fat" at all.

 

[leasmom]

I guess I'm gonna have to buy some lard-(I hate the smell of that stuff-yuck)-because I'm allergic to beef and pork and I don't have any of that in the house...but I like the ideal of making your own. You know what goes into it and I know I make a mix of oatmeal, cornmeal, whole wheat flour, with any type of veggies and throw it out or put it in a disposable aluminium pan and they go nuts for that or give them oatmeal and grits mixed together by itself or with veggies mixed in so this is gonna be easy to make...gotta buy one of those suet cages!!!

 

[SandraMort]

what time? I went to the butcher to get myself food and asked for a bag of beef fat scraps. I brought it home and put it, just as is, right into my crock pot with the lid off slightly to permit evaporation. Once it's all melted, I'll strain out the solid (protein) bits and feed those to the chickens. The rest will have scratch mixed in and put into (haven't decided yet) to harden. All told, it might take me five minutes and no purchases outside of my normal chicken expenses. I imagine you could use pellets, too, if you wanted.

Warning, though... rendering beef fat is stinky! You'll want to do it outdoors.


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[SandraMort]

With all the sodium in it, you might want to limit it to an occasional treat. Regular suet doesn't have added salt.
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[SandraMort]

My father in law hunts and I was planning to ask him for the scrap venison fat to render. Doesn't have to be beef and pork, just fat that gets nice and hard.

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[SandraMort]

Crisco is manmade from plant products. Lard is pork fat, usually rendered and filtered to make a pretty white flavorless fat (though the natural stuff is sooooo much better) . Your local butcher should sell fat either very inexpensively or give it away for free.

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