Stretching My Food $$ - Bacon

 

Whenever I find bacon on sale I stock up and put it away in my freezer.  Whenever I find my bacon fat jar getting low I know it is time to thaw a package and cook it up.  With bacon nothing goes to waste.  I use it all.  I will fry up an entire package at one time and the rendered fat is saved in a mason jar I keep in my refrigerator to use as cooking fat when I make certain recipes.  The strips of bacon are then used to make meals, such as a brunch or breakfast recipe, a BLT sandwich or crumbled up into pieces to add flavor to a salad or top a baked potato.

 

There are so many ways to incorporate bacon or the rendered fat and take your meals up a notch.  I prefer to use bacon fat whenever I make pork fried rice and cooked bacon is also delicious in place of the diced ham or chicken in that recipe.  It is the perfect fat for frying potatoes especially for breakfast hash.  I use it whenever I make country gravy or sausage gravy to put over homemade biscuits.

 

I will often used crumbled bacon to dress up a chef salad or a couple strips as part of a Cobb salad.  Although it is very delicious, it doesn’t take a lot of bacon to add a flavorful punch to pretty much any meal so I do tend to get a lot of mileage out of just one package.  What is your favorite way to enjoy bacon?  Do you save and use the fat?