Part 2 of 2
By Kellene Bishop
What oils and fats should you be including in your long-term pantry? How can you include quality oils affordably? How can you best store oils and fats? Which oils and fats are the healthiest and the most versatile in the kitchen?
Today we continue our exploration into this topic as Part 2 of yesterday’s article. I suppose I could have included it all in one article but I wanted to do some of my favorite fats/oils justice and not abbreviate or eliminate key information all for the sake of saving space.
LARD
Many mistakenly believe that lard is a heart attack waiting to happen. Well, if you purchase the main brands, you’d be right because they contain canola oil and other hydrogenated oils which are the culprits of heart disease. Otherwise though, you can render and preserve your own lard and so long as it’s kept sealed in a cool, dark environment, you’ll be able to rely on it being good for years and years. Here’s more information on rendering and preserving lard.
COCONUT OIL
We can’t have a discussion of shelf-stable oils and fats without bringing up one of my favorite solutions—coconut oil. As you know there are a variety of products made from each coconut. It’s water, meat, and husk are all viable products consumed worldwide, but ultimately it’s the oil in the coconut that has so many benefits. (Not surprising when you understand where medicinal quality essential oils come from) It’s a very stable fat and can withstand high heat so this means that it will also have a nice, long shelf-life. This fabulous oil used to be prevalent in the restaurant industry but alas, it didn’t have as good of a public relations agent as the canola oil industry. I have to shake my head in disbelief when I see restaurants proudly posting a sign that they don’t use any palm oils or coconut oils in their cooking. Geesh! What a deceptive web was crafted when canola oil businesses and government set out to portray coconut oil as the bad guy that it never was. Well, after years of these lies, coconut oil has been exonerated from its trumped up charges which falsely cast it into a life imprisonment. Nowadays, more and more nutritionists and medical experts are stepping up and wholeheartedly befriending coconut oil and other palm oils as a very healthy solution for their fat needs for cooking, baking, and nutritional intake. Unfortunately, since it isn’t underwritten by the USDA or subsidized by the U.S. and Canadian government like canola oil is, it’s found to be rather expensive in comparison. I have read several times that one of the ways to judge a good coconut oil is by price—“the more expensive it is, the better”. Nonsense! What’s to prevent a company from simply charging more for their product just to give it the air of being a better quality? Such half-logic might work for politicians, but it’s nonsense to me. You can get good quality coconut oil without paying an arm and a leg—though I will say that I’ve found the really cheap coconut oils to be downright nasty tasting. The good news though is that Costco recently began carrying coconut oil making it significantly more affordable than other similar quality brands. On average, a 16 ounce jar of coconut oil runs about $15, whereas the gallon of coconut oil at Costco is twenty-something dollars—a much better buy. And remember, Costco has a satisfaction guarantee on all of their products for one year; so if you purchase it and don’t love it, no harm, no foul, you get your money back.
Regardless of all of this, I’m confident that once you get the facts on coconut oil, free from the influence of a multi-billion dollar marketing campaign, I suspect that you’ll see that the myriad of benefits far outweighs the cost difference. To this end, I highly recommend the book written by Dr. Bruce Fife called “The Coconut Oil Miracle”. He’s very passionate about decriminalizing coconut oil to the point that he founded a Coconut Research Center where you can get more information. http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/index.htm (No, I can’t say that with a straight face. It just sounds funny, like it’s saving the coconuts from extinction or abuse.)
Obviously, any great product has its not-so-great imitations. So let’s be sure that you select the right coconut oil for your preferences.
First of all, stay away from any coconut oil that’s labeled as RBD. It should be expected by now that if a food manufacturer has to use initials to describe something, it’s probably not good. RBD means refined, bleached, and deodorized. Yum. Doesn’t that sound appetizing and health? I’ve heard from some readers saying that they can’t stand coconut oil because it makes everything taste like coconut. But the reality is, when you have a coconut oil that has a mild, fresh, coconut flavor and aroma, it’s actually a good thing because it means you’re not using a highly refined, aka RBD, coconut oil. While there will be some noticeable aroma and taste of coconut, it should be VERY mild and most certainly taste “fresh”. This will be achieved if a cold-press extraction is used and young coconuts are the resource. Some companies use old, sun-dried or smoked coconuts for their oil. If you taste “roasted coconut” or smoky flavors, this is not the coconut oil you want—at least not if you want the inherent health benefits of the coconut oil. I guarantee you will not like the aesthetic or taste results under those circumstances. Also, you should know that unacceptable extraction processes will actually enhance the coconut smell and taste. That’s not what you want because that product will turn rancid sooner, rather than later due to the extreme heat. Next, you want virgin coconut oil. While virgin is a somewhat relative term and used loosely in the coconut oil industry, I’ve not found a single coconut oil product that was good that DIDN’T have the “virgin” labeling.
Believe it or not, for some manufacturers of coconut oil, mold is considered an acceptable component as they claim that it’s harmless because the heat was suitably high to render it harmless and should just be scraped off. Do I really have to say how ludicrous such a position is? Next…
Unfortunately I’ve discovered that not all labels disclose RBD. So I’d be sure to double check on how the manufacturer refines its product before investing in it. When the coconut oil is solid (as it should be at room temperature) it should be a nice, bright, white color. (The practice of bleaching is only necessary as a result of using high temperatures and smoking. So in order to restore the coconut oil to its proper color, a bleaching process is used.) When it melts it should be clear, completely clear, not opaque and void of any particles. A refined coconut oil extraction includes the use of chemicals, heat, smoking, and other solvents to refine the oil which results in a somewhat tasteless and odorless oil while also extracting key health benefits. Not all oils are equally as refined as others but if its refined, it definitely depleted it’s health benefits and thus its shelf-life. You also want to avoid any coconut oils that have been hydrogenated or even partially hydrogenated or that contain any hydrogenated ingredients. Such brands will have a useless shelf-life and be void of any of the health benefits—so you might as well spend less money on shortening instead. (Sometimes coconut oil manufacturers will cut in the inexpensive canola oil to create more volume—isn’t that nice? Not.)
Ultimately, you want a “virgin”, cold-pressed coconut oil. Virgin, in this case meaning that it was extracted using a minimal amount of contact with the oil. Most manufacturer’s will put out a virgin coconut oil under one label, and then go back and use heat and solvents to extract the remaining coconut oil that’s leftover and sell it under another label. I’d suggest avoiding the cost of purchasing organic coconut oil as coconuts aren’t subjected to the same chemical torture as our other produce and protein products are.
O.K. Now you’re a pro when it comes to coconut oil. See additional details on the benefits of coconut oil and its multi-purpose applications here:
Soy Lecithin
I’m not a big fan of soy, period, but I do stock up on soy lecithin oil because I use it to make breads instead of vegetable oils. It will easily store for 10-20 years in a cool, dry place, and 6 containers of it will provide me with enough oil to make 4 loaves a week, for a year, for less than $50. I like to purchase it in the squeeze bottles since it’s so thick and sticky, that way I just squeeze it out directly into my bread dough. The only other oils or fats that I have on hand are peanut oil, safflower oil, and of course my soy lecithin oil. Lecithin provides one of the missing amino acids that wheat doesn’t have (linoleic acid) and it’s found in all living organisms. It’s a lipid/fat that also contains choline, phosphorus and inositol, a part of the vitamin B complex.
OTHER OILS
The only other traditional oils that I keep on hand are peanut oil and some safflower oil so that I handle anything else that these other fat resources can’t. Peanut oil has a high smoke point and a great nutritional profile as it also contains mono-unsaturated fats, oleic acid, and antioxidants which is part of the reason that I find it endures a longer shelf-life than its many counterparts—and also it’s probably why I don’t mind using it to deep-fry my turkey with it at Thanksgiving! Yum!
A lot of folks confuse safflower oil as sunflower oil. While it is extracted from seeds, it’s a much lighter flavor. It also lasts on the cool, dark shelf longer than its liquid oil counterparts AND has been the subject of many studies over the last 10 years as it relates to battling high-cholesterol and heart disease. You can cold-pack both the safflower oil and the peanut oil in jars if you’d like to be that much more certain of their shelf-life—as they typically come in plastic bottles, BUT, even with the plastic bottles I’ve not had a problem with my peanut and safflower oils lasting 5 years so long as I keep them in a cool, dark environment.
NATURALLY OCCURING FATS AND OILS
Contrary to what the USDA and Extension Services suggest nowadays, I DON’T trim the fat off of my meat products when I can them and I wholeheartedly embrace canning delicious broths without skimming the fat. Believe it or not there are actually highly respected experts in the medical and nutrition industries that haven’t fallen for the multi-billion dollar hype of drug manufacturer—claiming that fat causes heart disease. In fact, if you cut through all of the money motivations that influence what’s now taught as “the gospel truth” at our medical schools you’d find a very rational, logical source of facts which encourages consumers to partake of an unlimited amount of non-hydrogenated fats. These fats are necessary to ward off dementia, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, cholesterol, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, and a host of other illnesses which so heavily plague our society. As such, each of us should conscientiously ensure that our pantry takes into consideration these healthy fats that we need. And besides, the flavor created by these fats, as opposed to “fat free” is so much more enjoyable. Calories aren’t the enemy today but they certainly won’t be the enemy if we ever have to perform 100 times more manual labor in a crisis scenario some time in the future.
Storing proper fats and oils isn’t just about having the right item to cook and bake with; it’s also a matter of vital nutrition that we need to take seriously if we want our bodies to operate properly. Long before these self-appointed experts of food preservation came along, loving mothers who wanted to provide what’s best for their family canned high fat content products at the encouragement, in fact, of the jar manufacturers, esteemed chefs, home economics instructors, and other experts.
All that being said, there are a couple of cautions that I need to highlight when it comes to preserving these types of products. If you have any fat remaining on the rim of the jars then you run the risk of them not sealing properly, so be sure that you are careful when filling the jars and that you are thorough when cleaning off the rims. I find a very hot washcloth works well or you can dip a paper towel in some vinegar. Also, you must provide a full inch of headroom when canning any product with fat. During the canning process, the air needs to expel from the jars. If the jars are too full, then air and some of the liquid contents will expel, which runs the risk of leaving a residue of fat on the rims. This can completely compromise the seal by preventing the jars to seal at or worse, in my opinion, gradually loosen the seal. This is why I typically watch my beautiful home-canned goods for a couple of weeks before putting them in my long-term pantry. I want to make sure the seal is fixed and doesn’t loosen later. There’s not much more discouraging than to do all of the work of canning only to be confronted with mold or the horrific smell of chicken broth gone bad. But so long as you exercise these two bits of caution of having the proper headspace and thoroughly wipe off the rims before you put the lids on, you should be able to safely avoid these problems.
In summary, ensuring you have the proper fats and oils will make or break the success of any kitchen, but don’t stress about it. I’ve provided you with some clear cut guidelines here that I believe actually give me a lot of leeway regardless of a person’s dietary health concerns or palate preferences. Also, don’t fuss and go overboard on storing these items properly. Just remember COOL, DRY (humidity can corrode or rust your lids), and DARK. Under a bed, at the back of a closet, in the basement, or in kitchen cupboards stored away from heat sources will be fine.
Inevitably there will be some of you I may have put in a bit of a predicament by this article—who own some of the oils that I’ve advised against—but don’t worry. You don’t have to throw them out or serve them to your family with a guilty conscience. You can use those oils as fuel for your oil lamps and chances are, though what you have on hand may not be ideal, it was probably much less expensive than what you can get lantern oil nowadays. It will burn “dirtier” than the highly refined lamp oil, but it will still work nonetheless.
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For any questions or comments on this article, please leave a comment on the blog site so that everyone can benefit! © 2013 Of COURSE this post is Copyright Protected by Preparedness Pro/Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. NO portion of this article may be reposted, printed, copied, disbursed, etc. without first receiving written permission by the author. (Then again, laws are only as good as the people who keep them.) Preparedness Pro/Kellene Bishop will pursue all violations of these rights just as vigorously as she does any of her other freedoms, liberties, and protections.
Since I discovered coconut oil, I haven’t used anything else.
I also use it for other things besides cooking.
since this is copyrighted, I would like to ask your permission to keep a copy of this entire article on my personal computer. It may not be necessary to ask, but I wouldn’t want to mess with a good thing.
Yes, you can. You just cant’ distribute it for any purpose. Thanks!
Kellene, I cannot thank you enough for all of your valuable information. I have a couple of questions: 1) In yesterdays comments you said “fat expelling during the pressure cooking process can compromise the seal”. How do you avoid this? 2) I read somewhere that when pressure canning the water level should not go over the jars. Why is this? My husband mis-read the manual for my canner & I canned several times with water well over the top of the jars. Do you think I have a problem?
By following the 2 suggestions I mentioned. 1) leaving appropriate headspace and 2) wiping them clean with a hot cloth or a vinegar soaked paper towel before putting the lids on.
Your pressure canner is a canner, not a stock pot. Water MAY go over the jars but it’s not an end of the world scenario. I canned improperly a couple of times like that. But your goal is to simply put enough water in the canner so that you create a steam pressure. That means that you’ll only need 2 to 3 inches of water to do so.
Kellene would you use either ‘Now Liquid Lecithin’ or the ‘Feran Liquid Lecithin’?
I use Pantry Secrets’ oil here’s the link http://www.pantrysecrets.com/store/index.php/liquid-soy-lecithin.html
So do you recommend the coconut from Costco’s?
Love your articles by the way!
Yup.
oils that come in plastic bottles. do I transfer to glass bottles? or what do you recommend as a way to store it?
The Soy Lecithin you can store in it’s container. The others I would definitely transfer them into glass jars. (Mason makes a 1/2 gallon wide mouth jar that I use.)
We’re done with Costco because where your money goes, matters. (Deleted by Administrator). Do you have another recommendation for bulk? We’ve been buying by the small jar.
Nope, I don’t have an alternative source, and because I have a policy of not spreading or sharing unfounded information, I’m going to have to delete the link that you shared as I don’t want to give the impression that I condone that particular link. Until I get more facts, I have a whole lot more questions about those who are writing this stuff about Costco and they are innocent in my book until proven guilty. I know what it’s like having crap shared about me on the internet by anonymous cowards which then gets spun into fact though it’s completely false. And as such, I won’t play into it. There’s an obvious agenda to me in this information being shared about Costco and I don’t believe it’s in the interest of the public, rather some competitors that are getting trounced by Costco.
Where do you purchase the soy lecithin?
Great article. Thanks for all the ideas!
I get the Pantry Secrets brand (pantrysecrets.com)
What about grape seed oils?
They are a good oil as are my walnut oil and sesame oils but I haven’t been able to ensure a long shelf-life with them. They are just too fragile that way.
Hi Kellene!
Thanks for the article! I just joined your email list and am eagerly expecting your posts. We also have Doomsday Preppers on tv here in Finland and your episode was just on a few weeks ago.
I also have found coconut oil recently, thanks to my colleague, who uses it for almost anything, for example cooking and to moisturize her skin.
I also want to ask you some tough questions:
I’ve heard bad things about soy lecithin. I just read a book by a Swedish author Mats-Eric Nilsson that says soy lecithin isn’t that good for our health because it’s so refined and chemically processed. I don’t mean to tell you’re wrong, but to ask you to tell me more about the facts behind your choice of using soy lecithin, so I could make my own mind about it.
I also want to ask you about olive oil, what are your thoughts about it?
Thank you for the great website, I’ve found many useful guidelines and pointers there, for example making my own dog food (our 10-year-old dogo argentino male just LOVES it) and preserving eggs with mineral oil!
It’s no more processed than some of the other oils on here, however, as I said, I’m not a fan of soy–it’s just not ideal for the body. But since I actually use so much LESS of the soy lecithin oil than I would with any other oil AND it’s shelf-stable (10-20 years) unlike some of the other oils, I use it or the lecithin granules. For a 5 large loaves bread recipe I can get a better impact by using the soy lecithin than if I were to use regular oil, even though I’m using so much less and it provides the last remaining amino acid that I need for a complete protein in my whole wheat bread.
Olive oil is covered on Part 1 article.
by the way, I’m in the process of switching to using sodium silicate aka waterglass to coat my eggs with. The manufacturers of mineral oil have been changing their formulations lately, so I’m ensuring a safer, non-petroleum product option.
Thanks for this great article, Kellene!
Fat storage is so important and I feel like it is often overlooked. Low fat diets benefit no one, ever. They are the smoke screen of a corrupt government’s attempt to pass fake food off as real and nourishing.
Expeller pressed coconut oil has very little coconut flavor or scent and it is made with fresh coconut.. It is pressed out very much like olive oil is. We store both expeller pressed and virgin coconut oil. We use the expeller pressed for frying and baking and the virgin for raw applications, especially medicinal use. You also need to avoid coconut oil that has been extracted through chemical means (hexane).
Tallow is another good animal fat to store, especially if you buy a grass fed cow. The lipid profile for tallow is very similar to human skin so it is not only great for frying and other cooking, but it wonderful for moisturizing skin and soaping.
I’m glad you too have learned to enjoy coconut oil however, please be careful of relying on the term “expeller pressed”. It has a myriad of different meanings and like most things, it doesn’t necessarily mean what it says. Expeller pressed can include a process used with heat and steam to extract oils. Which is why I didn’t write it as “THE” deciding factor of choosing and its also why included the word “COLD” that needs to be present when you’re selecting a viable coconut oil.
SO HAPPY YOU MENTIONED THE COCONUT OIL SOLD AT COSTCO! I LOOOOOOOVE IT!! IT SMELLS HEAVENLY! TASTES SO GOOD MY DOGS START LICKING ME WHENEVER I LATHER IT ON MYSELF AFTER I SHOWER! LOL! THEN I HAVE TO RUN AWAY FROM THEM OR THEY’LL LIKE ME TO DEATH! LOL.. I LIVE IN THE CARIBBEAN NOW AND IT’S HOT AND HUMID FOR MOST OF THE YEAR AND THE OIL STAYS JUST BEAUTIFUL! THE OIL SOLD AT COSTCO IS A GREAT DEAL FOR THE AMOUNT THAT COMES IN IT! IT’S MY TOP FAVORITE!
This is a great article. Thank you for all the work and research you put into this to bring us this important information!
I’ve started buying coconut oil but didn’t realize I needed to buy the virgin oil. I think the price was about three dollars higher at the local grocery. Next time I’ll spend the three dollars and get it anyway.
I’m so grateful that you pass your knowledge along.
I have used coconut oil for years. I cook with it, make body scrubs and use it as my main lotion. I never have dry skin anymore. In fact I had basal cell cancer on my face and they had me use this awful cream that caused huge ugly scabs for 8 weeks of use, that was the dose the doctor prescribed. The day my prescription was done I started smearing coconut oil on three times a day. By the third day all the scabs and dry skin were gone. My doctor asked me how I healed so fast, she thought it was from the hydro cortisone cream she prescribed, normally it takes 1-2 weeks to fully heal. I told her I NEVER got that filled, which is true, just coconut oil and it is the one from Costco. Coconut oil can be used in your preparedness for healing wounds, yeast infections, it keeps me from having indigestion. I take 2 tbsp. a day.
Glad to hear it!
Well I just “canned” my 2 jars of lard and I wasn’t even trying! I had a bit of lard in the fridge and it just kind of got for gotten about. So I thought it better stored it in a jar that was at least air tight and off I went sanitizing 2 widemouth jars and lids and slowly melting the lard to pour in. Got that done and the jars sealed themselves!
I’m going to use this lard in the near future but I was very surprised on them sealing at such a low temp of just barely melted lard.
Happy Dance for you, Jamie!!
Fat is a vital part of a healthy diet – especially for children under the age of two. It is a building block for your brain. To little fat in a small childs diet can harm the brains devolopment. People have been taught [brainwashed ] into thinking fat is all bad. That is simlpy not true. I would encourage all of the readers to please research this on their own I have seen to many moms limiting their babies fat intake because they mistakenly believe that fat is evil. They are actually harming their babies brain devolopment. Now I am not advocating a diet of happy meals – but with the increase in obesity and the resulting propaganda war on fat people do not have the correct understanding of the role that fat has in brain devolopment.
Fat is an overlooked item in a lot of preppers planning. It can in fact be a very costly omission especially for young children
Soy lecithin oil sounds like a good solution for me, and one that I had not thought of — thanks much for the info. However, I have not been able to find where to purchase it online. Do you have any sources? Does it have to be soy lecithin oil, or would other forms forms of lecithin work, like sunflower lecithin oil? Will granulated lecithin work? Also, in baking do you use the same amount as other oil, or do you need to adjust the recipe? Looking forward to trying this out as soon as I can obtain it! Thanks again for the great ideas!
I have used lecithin granules in my bread recipes, but I would usually mix it with SOME oil for proper moisture of the bread. “Pantry Secrets.com” online and is the maker of the soy lecithin oil that I purchase. The Soy lecithin has different nutrients than would the sunflower lecithin. I was disappointed last night as I looked on Amazon and found NONE of the soy lecithin oils with the squeeze bottle package.
You do not use the same amount of oil, you use much less, as you’ll see with my “Kick Butt Bread Recipe” that’s on here.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you..!! For all your hard work, research, and sharing the info that you have found…!!!!
I learned SOOOOO much from your articles. I was weak in the “Oil and Butter area”. This has helped me to know more about what I can put in my storage. I will have to can some of these fats and butters.
– I do have a question. Someone told me that if you boil “rancid” oil, that you could use it as normal after that. That Does not sound right to me. But I am Not that knowledgable in this area. Can you tell me anything about this??
Again, Thank, you!! Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family, and everyone else.
I promise I’m not giggling AT you…I’m giggling at the notion which someone shared with you. hee hee It’s the heat and oxygen which cause an oil to go rancid. So heating it more most definitely will not help it be usable or of a better quality. But like I said in the article, you can still use it oil for your oil lamps.
Kellene – I have 25 lbs or shortening that have gone rancid. Can you give me any ideas of how I can use it. I’ve had it for 10+ years.
Thanks, Carol Oertle
as per the article, you can use it as lamp oil. solid or liquid, it will burn.
It’s nice to see you Kellene! I enjoyed seeing your segment on DD Preppers!
Hi Kellene, I just looked at your Kick Butt Bread recipe and it calls for the lecithin granules. In the article you stated you used the liquid soy lecithin in your bread recipe. Can you tell me how you changed the recipe to use the liquid (i.e. less coconut oil) Thanks so much for all you do.
Actually I thought I needed to correct the recipe when you brought this up but I just went back to the recipe and there is a sentence or two in parenthesis in which I discuss the granules and Coconut oil OR using the soy lecithin oil. The recipe is correct and updated as it stands at present. Thanks for keeping me on my toes though.
Good article. Essential fats, such as Omega 3′s, are so important but spoil so quickly. Coconut oil is a good way to store some healthy fats. It is a shame certain fats have a bad rep, I really think the demonetization of fats in the 80s/90s was the biggest mistakes made in our modern understanding of diet.
I have a gallon of expeller-pressed oil from Tropical Traditions that says it’s best by 4/2012. Can I still use it to make hand scrubs? Is it safe to still use for cooking? Sorry if you’ve had this question before, I just found your blog and haven’t read through all the articles and comments yet.
You can still use it as an oil, but yes, you can use it as a hand scrub. Remember, expiration dates are creating by attorneys not taste testers or scientists.
So I am a bit behind on my articles. I have been busy trying to reorganize my home to fit my staple items, if you will. I would like to ask if it is okay that I copy and paste this series for my binder? I have been hand writing some stuff down and darn it, my hand hurts.
So, because there is so much goodness here I like to have it for my kiddos in a binder. Teaching them to help out and follow the ways of self reliance is my goal for this year. For my children and I will journey together. Anyway, I will make sure to always have the website properly referenced in the binder. IT is only for personal use. I have told so many people to go to your blog. Just the other day, eggs on sale, a guy asked me what was I going to do with all those eggs. I told him, why I am going to preserve them and use them later. He asked how, I gave him your blog and told him to search the topic. While doing so, a lady stopped me and asked b/c she overheard me. So I gave the info to her too. I felt great sharing what I learned with others. So thanks so much for this great place to find information.
So glad to learn that you enjoy the site. So very, very glad.
You can print out for your own personal reference, but sharing it beyond that capacity would be in violation of the copyright.