How many times do you reuse your used cooking oil?

I use canola oil when I fry food. I could reuse it for twice only and depending on the color. If its still golden yellow, then I can reuse it, but if it looks light brownish, I throw them. Just like you, I put a little, just enough, to save oil because its also expensive.

We re-use our cooking oil. It saves a surprising amount of money when it comes to the years end, because you only end up having to buy HALF the amount you usually would. However i do agree sometimes the cooking oil is left really dirty, which is why i filter it with a little sieve, so it's mainly clean - and so i can re-use it on the same item as i did the first time. I don't really think it effects our health to be honest.

we only resuse the cooking oil that we use for cooking french fries. we keep it in the fridge and use it a couple of times. after the second time we use it, we usually throw it away after that. i wouldnt use it again unless we put it in the fridge though.

I don't usually end up with cooking oil enough to cook another meal. I usually just use enough that would cook the desired meal. Then again, I don't fry a lot too, so that leaves me to lesser oil use than most. Anyhow, whenever I do fry, I do store them up until they smell not good or they're no longer clear. The difficulty of frying from used oil is the fact that it could blow the flavor of the dish or meal you are preparing. Why? Well, for one thing, it may contain spices and salt from the previous cooked meal, and that would transfer to your new meal thus the dish would be a lot salty. Another would be the fact that flavors would mix. So, I usually just try it twice or thrice then throw it. Plus, I don't fry with fry meaning, I deep fry with oil, then the used oil I use for others like veges and meat or some dish that don't require deep frying. Another one tip though, if you want your oil to be clearer, fry them with potatoes. Potatoes are know to cleanse oil from other flavors. Thus keeping your oil clearer for the next batches of cooking. Good luck!

Great Discussion! I never use the cooking oil again.. I will throw it out. Using it again, will make the meat dark looking. And it will have an scorched taste to it.. I will put in some brand new oil that will be fresh and clean.. I will cook with this. Even if I cook one set of chicken, and if the oil is already done from the chicken, I will throw it out. I will clean the frying pan out and put new oil in the pan to start my new batch of chicken.. I grew up in my family where they used to do this.. But, in my home, I don't do it.. I don't like the black embers that the chicken leaves after it has fried.. So, that is why I use new oil every time that I fry another set of chicken..

Its not matter of cleanness its matter of health. It is harmful for our health if we eat reused oil. Because once we used oil unsaturated compounds become saturated compounds. Saturated compounds are not easily digestible they store in our body as fats, so it not good for our health to eat reused oils.

i reuse the oil again after i fry chicken (usually) maximum to 3 times... afterthat, i will throw it away... it really depends actually... if the oil is already dirty on the first use, then i will throw it straight away... take care and have a nice day...

This is just my response...but I would be sooooo scared of cross contamination of the foods & bacterias, even tho the oil has reached a high heat! I guess if you totally filtered the oil (& you can buy special filters)...you might remove the residue! About the only oil that I ever end up with is bacon fat (I eat very seldom because of the nitrosalines/nitrosamines) and wipe it out of the frypan with paper towel & use to start my fire! I guess I really have not added to your question..as it's not something we eat at home. Deep-fried foods! Cheers!

My grandmother used to do the same thing but I find it pretty hard to do. The most that I do is probably when I'm frying something in bulk I just keep using the same oil until it's too dirty (usually when I burn something) or I'm just finished. But I once tried to save the oil since I was running out and then I noticed that it had changed color and that it was clumping. I'm not too sure why, it could have been that the fat of what I was cooking was in the oil and causing this effect, but I said I'm not trying that again because it didn't look healthy.

I don't reuse the cooking oil at all. The closest thing we do is if we fry bacon we fry eggs in the same pan w/o cleaning it for the flavor but that's about it and it's all done in one sitting not saved for later. Though I know in the olden days they used to do a lot w/ bacon grease.

I normally do not cook anything in cooking oil but on the rare occasion that i do i throw it out immediately afterwards. I do not reuse the same oil. My husband does though. He will use it until i throw it out. I agree. I think it is gross. He tells me i am just crazy.

hehe.. maximum 3 times or even less. recycle cooking oil is not good, but using new one just for frying chicken or anthing really wasting. besides cooking oil nowdays are very expensive. so i see first if the cooking oil is okay, not so black, i'll use. if not, just change the new one

I don't care if you are rich or poor. If the oil is not burnt it is still good. Strain it and reuse it. Fry a potatoe in it to freshen it, but don't through out something that is still good. There is enough waste in the world, and don't through used oil down the drain, it just pollutes the water supply. We have enough oil, meds and junk going into the water already.

It depends on the oil. If it is old and looks kinda bad than I might throw it away. But I do reuse oil. And for some odd reason I am thinking that the oil might help with the taste of the thing that I am going to cook so I sometimes reuse it.

We hardly do any deep frying when cooking. However when we do, we try and reuse the oil as soon as possible. However I know its not healthy to reuse oil that has been boiled before. But I cannot make my self throw out oil that has just been used once. So i try to keep deep frying to a minimum and only shallow fry with the least amount of oil.

when we deep fry we only use it twice and throw it out we use vegetable oil or olive oil try to watch the chlestrol as much as possible.when deep frying the cooking oil often burns and you just cannot reuse it period.

In our house we reuse our cooking for frying. I don't find it dirty or anything. We make sure that it is in a clean bottles and that the oil is not burned. We normally reuse it for at least twice. I haven't anything about reused cooking oil is bad or not in our health.

i don't fry much but i do save the oil if i have alot & use itone more time. i always pour it through a strainer to use it again.

I am normally using grapeseed oil when cooking. It is quite expensive but healthy so like you I also use just enough for my cooking to avoid wastage. For deep frying I use Palm Oil which is considered to be one of the best frying oils, since it is resistant to high temperatures and does not produce unpleasant odors. Re-using cooking oil is done in most households as what you said your Mom do it. But, cooking oil that has been overused can turn the oil rancid to the point that it produces an undesirable flavor and odor. Used oil should be discarded once the color of the oil turned darker, or when it turns thick, or when there is excessive foaming and when it generates smoke fumes. When this happened, the oil needs to be discarded for it already reached it's smoke point and hence begins to decompose. Different cooking oils have different smoke points and each time it is used the smoke point becomes lower. This is the reason why I am using grapeseed and palm oil. I know they have high boiling point. So when there are excess and I could see that there is no change of color yet, I would strain it and keep in a tightly closed bottle and store in a cool place for second use. I don't go more than 2nd use anymore. I want to play safe.

don't reuse those cooking oils. reused cooking oil is dangerous to your health. ill explain. normal cooking oil would have the cis conformation (which is good) but when you reuse the oil continuously, the constant heating would cause it to be converted to a trans conformation which is highly dangerous to your health because it cannot be broken down and digested by the body, it accumulates in your blood vessels causing heart attacks.