Unwanted chicken broth can be disposed in a few different ways. You want to be careful not to let it clog your drains. I can give you some options along with other rules to follow for special food disposals.
Chicken broth as opposed to chicken stock can be dumped down a kitchen sink. Broth made from just chicken meat and water doesn’t solidify so it will not clog up plumbing Take extra precaution by running extra water and dish soap down the sink after disposing.
It is important to note the differences in chicken fat, broth, stock, drippings. That way you can determine along with common cooking oils what can or cannot be dumped down your sink drain.
Also Read: Can You Dump Soup Down The Drain?
Can You Pour Broth Down The Drain?
Broth comes from animal meats cooked in water. The term does get used interchangeably with stock. Stocks are made with animal bones and possibly other ingredients like vegetables.
The confusion I found is when you hear about chicken or beef broth. The image you see is the jar filled with a gel of animal fat. The easiest way to think about it is this.
The broth can be the liquid that separates from the stock. So its the liquid part with the fat separated out.
| Stock | Broth |
| Made with Bones | Made with just meats |
It can be a little more complicated than that. Since you can make a complete broth and then separate out the stock. But that is a simple way of understanding the differences.
The reason to note this is because each one should be handled differently when disposing. It is the fats that you have to worry about clogging up the drains.
Your household plumbing or drains may survive, but it could begin to clog sewer drains away from your home.
Broth that is thinner liquid and that pours easily can be poured down the drain. As mentioned before rinse it down with hot water and some dish-washing soap.
Dish soap/detergent has the ability to make fats water soluble. They do that with both dirt and fats. So they help tremendously with cleaning the two off hands or dishes.
The same thing will happen to your plumbing, any extra fat will be removed with the soap. Run the water for a couple minutes to wash it out and further away from your household plumbing.
How Do You Dispose of Broth?
You can always save your chicken (or other meats) broth after cooking. If you want to take the extra step of removing any fat before disposing. Which you should before dumping down the drain.
After cooking your chicken pour the remaining liquid into a jar. Place in your refrigerator overnight or several hours. The fat will rest at the bottom as it becomes solid.
Any liquid that rises to the top should be safe to rinse down your kitchen sink. Since the fats have been separated out naturally.
The fat that remains at the bottom of the jar can be used for cooking. You can use it for soups, frying foods and even baking.
Tossing the jar with the leftover broth/fat in the garbage is another option. Keep it in the fridge until closer to your trash day. As fat can really stink up a garbage bin if it leaks.
Can You Pour Soup Down The Sink?
Soup must be carefully washed down your sink. You should only do it with a garbage disposal and run cold water at the same time.
Soups can contain oils that take longer to wash down the plumbing. Also any other solid foods in the soup need to be broken down. Turn on your garbage disposal first along with cold water.
Then you can begin to pour your soup down the drain slowly. Use cold water because it turns oils and grease into more of a solid state. That way the blades will break them down easier.
Can You Pour Spoiled Milk Down The Sink?
Milk along with liquids that are common beverages are safe to pour down your sink. If your milk has spoiled and started to really become rancid. You can still pour it down the sink.
Your best option may to be just throw it away. Since the smell is going to be awful. If you plan to brave the stench and dump the milk down the drain. Use lots of water and soap afterwords.
How to Dispose of Meat Fats, Oils and Grease
Grease is the byproduct of cooking different foods. Fats will turn into grease on your pan. Oils are either pure or released from foods during cooking.
All of these can pose potentially serious problems for your plumbing. Some cities even impose fines for dumping grease down drains. Since even public street plumbing can become clogged.
Flooding or damage to public or personal drains are some of the more severe and costly problems that can result.
There are easy ways to dispose of cooking grease and oils. You just have to take a few steps to properly dispose of them.
One way is to collect the grease after cooking. This requires a container that you don’t care to throw out later. Since it will house the grease for a short period of time to let it solidify.
Empty peanut butter jars, coffee cans, soda bottles or any plastic container with a lid. These all will work as opposed to dumping hot grease into a garbage bad directly.
Grease fires only happen the oils or grease become too hot. So dumping it will not cause a fire, but it will be messy and possibly smell really bad,
Another option is to soak up the grease with a paper towel or two. Then toss the towel in the trash can.
There are specific grease pans you can buy from many stores. These are designed to store your cooked grease. They can be used to dispose later any greases or cook with them.
Since these grease cans be reheated on a stove. You can save the fat/grease and cook with them later. They also look better than some makeshift container in your fridge. If you are saving your grease then it should be refrigerated.
Oils are best soaked up with paper towels, once they have cooled down you can wipe up excess oil out your pan. You can strain out the oil to remove any food pieces. Then throw away the larger pieces along with the oil.
You may have to dump the oil into a plastic bottle and toss it out. Oil used to make turkey can be disposed in a milk carton or two. Most cooking oils will become solid at colder temperatures.
Related Questions:
Can you pour grease down the toilet?
Similar to the sink it is not a good idea to flush grease down the toilet. Because the sink drain and toilet water end up in the same plumbing eventually.
A toilet is no better at removing grease than a kitchen sink. Both are bad options for disposing of cooking oils or grease. Since the grease will eventually solidify again, possibly in your household plumbing.
General rule is that anything that shouldn’t be dumped down kitchen sink, also should not be flushed down a toilet.