Yesterday I showed you how I baked my bacon in the oven (here it is if you missed it the first time around) at the end of that blog post I said to check back tomorrow and I’ll show you what to do with all the bacon fat!
Well today we are going to use all of that leftover fat and make bird feeders! This project is fast, easy, and there’s virtually no cleanup. It’s also a great project to do with kids.
All you need is your leftover bacon fat, one cup of birdseed, a 1 to 2 cup-sized plastic takeout container (you can use virtually anything for this as long as it’s flexible), a spatula, and a scrap of ribbon or similar material. Let’s get to it!
Directions:
With your liquid bacon fat still on the parchment and in the pan, measure one cup of birdseed and pour it onto the bacon grease covered parchment.
Use a spatula to mix the birdseed into the grease and scrape all of the grease on the parchment onto the birdseed. It doesn’t matter what type of birdseed you use for this project. I used what I usually fill my birdfeeders with which is called “fancy wild bird mix.” I think they call it fancy just because it has sunflower seeds in it :)
Once your birdseed is completely coated with the bacon fat, use your spatula to scoop about half of the fat coated birdseed into the bottom of your plastic container. Try to make this layer flat.
Next take your ribbon and lay one end of it across the birdseed. Use your hand to hold the ribbon as I am in the photo above, with the other end of the ribbon hanging over the lip of the container. You want to use a piece of ribbon that is at least 8 inches long. We are embedding the ribbon into the birdseed and will use the other end of the ribbon for hanging.
Now use your spatula to scoop the remaining fat-covered birdseed into the container over the ribbon.
Use your spatula to gently press down on the birdseed to make it compact in the container.
Put the container with the birdseed and ribbon in the refrigerator. Forget about it for a few hours and then when you go back you will see that the bacon fat has solidified and turned white as shown in the photo.
Very carefully pop the birdseed disc out of the bottom of your container, being careful not to break it. Do not remove the birdseed disc unless it is completely solidified.
That’s all there is to it! Now use the ribbon to hang your suet birdfeeder outside somewhere and watch the birds go to town.
You can make this any time of year but you do not want to hang it outdoors in warm or especially hot weather because it will melt in the heat and sun. If it is off-season you can make them and pop them in your freezer and save them for the birds for next winter!
You can wash and reuse the container as well.
Please note: you must use a solid fat for this project you cannot use liquid oil etc. You also must use the solid fat while it is in a liquid form. Once your bacon fat solidifies all you have to do is pop it into a warm oven for a minute or two to warm it up and make the fat liquid again and then you can use it for this project.
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Laura
