When I was young, I thought my Dad was right weird, making bizarre lard moulds out of 4-pint bottles of milk. Let me explain, frying sausages, mince or a making a good old roast dinner produce a whole lot of juices - most of which is fat. Easy to pour down the sink you might think, but, what happens to them juices when they cool down? They solidify, causing havoc on your drain systems. Did you know that it costs around £20million to fix blocked pipes in the North West alone with this being one of the main causes?
The average roast dinner contains around 48g* of fat!
Dad's no longer as weird as I thought because guess who had to spend a small fortune on Mr Muscle and plumbers before Christmas? Yup, that'll be moi. I failed to pour leftover cooking fats into an open topped milk bottle! I'll be 32 years of age next month and I'm still uncovering proof to back up the fact that parent's are always right!
United Utilities want to help people learn how they can keep their own drains healthy, as many people don’t know that water companies aren’t responsible for fixing blockages on domestic properties. Insurance companies often won’t pay out if the problem was caused by fats, oils and grease. Can you imagine if Mr Muscle and a whole lotta elbow grease (excuse the pun!) hadn't have worked for my drains? Talk about an expensive Christmas.
Because of this, United Utilities have a dedicated area on their website just for this very issue, where you can find top tips like these, for keeping your drains in tip top condition:
> Before washing, pour or scrape fat and sauces (like gravy), from roasting trays, pans and plates into a heat resistant container, when cool put in the bin
*That'll be Dad's thinking!
> Small amounts of grease left in pans or on plates can be wiped away with kitchen roll and thrown into the bin.
> Use a sink strainer to capture food scraps and put them in the bin.
> For larger quantities of oils, contact your local council who’ll let you know how to dispose of them and where your local recycling centre is.
You can find much more information, advice and tips by visiting their website here.
To help raise awareness of the fat-berg crisis, because it is crisis - the North West pours 2.9 MILLION STONE of fat down our plugholes every year - we've got a Lakeland Fat Trapper to give away. A step up from the milk bottle method, this will look inconspicuous and slick in your kitchen whilst serving a real purpose.
Simply follow the Rafflecopter instructions below for your chance to win. UK only,
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck!
p://www.bbc.co.uk/food/0/20587258
This post was written in collaboration with United Utilities to raise awareness of the fat-berg crisis sweeping the North West.