What are your best tips for getting cheap/free animal fats?

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#1

Continuing the discussion from Paleo Diet vs. Permaculture Diet vs. Feralculture Diet:

Coconut oil is trendy in #grocerystorepaleo circles, but it’s pretty devastating on a multiple levels (sociopolitical, ecological, etc.). It’s safe to say that coconut oil, and even whole coconut, wasn’t evolutionarily significant for most humans.

With that in mind, what tips and tricks do you have for sourcing whole, evolutionarily appropriate animal fats (i.e., besides butter), whether for purposes of ketogenic dieting or a more robust paleo approach?

I’ve had success with local butchers in the past, and if I’d stayed up on it, would probably have had as much access to bovine and porcine fat as I could handle. All I did for that was call them. I suspect there are some of you who have trickier tricks.

#2

I eat local grass fed butter like a fiend. It’s not cheap really, but for primal ketosis it’s absolutely amazing and I’ll put the ecological consequences of it up against palm all day, every day.

Aside from that, the easiest/cheapest (sometimes free) method to get a lot of fat is to find local butchers and taxidermists who dress bear. Most bear hunters just want the hides, which is grotesque and downright horrid, but it means there is a literal ton of bear fat that will waste and it is historically and widely one of the greatest fat/oil sources used. Some butchers will just fill a bucket or two for you, some might ask for $10, others might not care at all. They’re not using it.

The other cheap option is local grass-fed beef/lamb and pastured pork farms. Those farmers are trying to get the most per animal possible and the lion’s share of them haven’t tapped into the emerging lard and stock economy. Buying straight back fat or suet for $1/lb is fairly easy, but where I’m at I can buy quarts of rendered suet for $3.50 and lard for $5.
If anyone needs help tracking or sourcing that stuff I have a pathetically large amount of experience with it and can easily help out, just ask.

You can get fat from any animal though. I’ve had soap made from deer fat and groundhogs are mostly fat. Those are or can be free as well.

#3

One thing to avoid: paleo branded lard companies. A lot aren’t doing a bad thing, but the mark up on that stuff is just insane.

#4

Yeah, buy the fat from a pastured pork supplier and render it yourself.

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#5

I was going to mention Bear fat at Taxidermists and Butchers as well. Two Falls ago I helped render a small freezer full of Bear fat. The friend who got all the fat just called around to every Butcher she could find in the area and was willing to drive far to get it.

I’ll post a quick fat rendering tutorial soon. It’s pretty simple but small mistakes can mean rancid fat (one quick tip is every red piece in the fat pictured above needs to come out). I’m going to post one because I’ve seen people charger $60-$100 for fat rendering classes and I really don’t like shit like that. It’s not that hard.

Edit: Here’s the tutorial.

#6

Another source that people might not think of is fish processors. When I lived in Olympia Washington a tribal fisherman gave me buckets of fish bones, organs, and heads. Sometimes I buried it for compost but other times I made bone broth. There was a thick layer of fat each time I made broth.

#7

That’s a solid idea that would never come to mind out my way. I will say that a friend of mine has made a fucking killer salmon skin backed bow as well.

#9

Yeah, definitely, “fish trimmings” is what some markets call them. Pennies on the dollar; the best tasting part of the fish. Potentially dangerous with the bones.

#10

Getting to know hunting guides is another thing. In Alaska, non-resident hunters are required to hunt with a guide for big-game. Many of the clients are “trophy hunters”, and not particularly interested in eating what they kill. Regulations sometimes only require use of the hide or meat, but not both. In these instances, guides in one’s local area may prefer giving the meat/fat/organs to humans over leaving it in the woods. It’s my impression that some guides are very serious about environment and animals, and consider their role as one of protecting Alaska from careless sport hunting.

#11

Just a note: palm oil and coconut oil are very different things, with coconut being both healthier and less destructive in production.

#12

fat is a huge part of the diet of my partner and i, and anyone who wishes to come stay here and be fed for a time. based on our lifestyle choices, cheap or free is very good. here are some of the ways i obtain fat outside of the land where we dwell.

  1. trade or buy in bulk. find a farm that raises pastured pork and work out some trades, or buy in bulk. i can buy fatback from a local guy at $2 a lb if i buy 15 or more lbs. that is pretty cheap, and rendering the fatback into lard is really easy, plus you get delicious “cracklins” as a part of this process. trading is also an option with this particular farmer. he loves trading sweet potatoes for fatback, and we have found sweet potatoes to be one of the few domesticated annual crops that we enjoy growing (for now).

  2. scavenge from processors. if you have a local deer processor they will give you all the trimmings from the processing if you call and ask. we told them we wanted the bones to make bone broth, and they told us to come pick them up. to our surprise each bag of bones comes with meat trimmings that can provide for many meals. there is generally some fat trimmings as well, but not a whole lot, as deer tend to be lean. i have found it worth my time though to render venison tallow on occasion when an animal has a lot of fat trimmings in the bag. they tend to cut off most of it as “trash”.

  3. find a local that raises grass fed beef. this works if the person does not sell to market, but raises beef for their family. it also only works if they are scared of fat, as most modern humans are. i know a person that raises grass fed beef for her friends and family, and she has the processor toss out the fat trimmings, which is protocol, generally. i now have her save it for me. sometimes this may cost some extra money, but very little, and 70 lbs of fat can come from one bull.

if i have more thoughts of gathering fat i shall return :slight_smile:

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