Thanksgiving dinner is over. The guests are full, the dishwasher’s humming and there’s a roasting pan on the stove with half an inch of turkey grease in it.
The easy move is to tip it into the sink, run the hot water and call it a day.
Don’t.
That grease doesn’t disappear. It cools, it hardens and it waits for you somewhere down the plumbing. And on Thanksgiving, kitchens all over town are doing the same thing at the same time.
Plumbers have already shared what to stop flushing. The kitchen sink has its own list, and the holiday is when it matters most.
Here are six things to keep out of your drain this Thanksgiving and what to do with each instead.
1. Turkey grease and pan drippings
This is the big one. When the Environmental Protection Agency studied what was causing sewer blockages that led to overflows, grease topped the list. It was behind 47% of the reported blockages in the EPA’s 2004 report to Congress, coming from restaurants, homes and industry alike.
Grease looks harmless when it’s hot and runny. But once it hits a cold pipe, it turns back into a solid. Layer after layer, it narrows the pipe until nothing gets through.
The fix is free. The city of Shreveport, Louisiana, tells residents to let the grease cool, pour it into a container that can take the heat and toss it in the trash once it’s solid.
Two additional tips: First, wipe greasy pans and dishes clean with a paper towel before they go near the sink. Second, drop a scoop of kitty litter or a wad of paper towels into the can of grease to soak it up.
2. Coffee grounds
There’s a lot of coffee brewed on Thanksgiving morning. If your habit is to rinse the grounds down the sink, break it.
West Jordan, Utah, put coffee grounds on its holiday list of things that don’t belong in your drain or garbage disposal. The disposal may grind them, but they still have to travel through your pipes.
Put them in the trash or, better yet, the compost pile.
3. Potato peels
Somebody’s going to peel 10 pounds of potatoes for the mashed potatoes. Those peels shouldn’t go in the disposal.
The same West Jordan list calls out “potatoes and peelings,” along with stringy, fibrous produce like celery, onions and corn husks. As that city puts it, disposals are a marvel, but even the best of them have limits.
Peel over a paper bag or a sheet of newspaper, then roll it up and throw it out.
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4. Eggshells
Stuffing, pies and casseroles can burn through a lot of eggs. You may have heard that tossing the shells into the disposal is good for it.
West Jordan isn’t buying it: Eggshells are right there on the city’s list of things to keep out of the disposal. Toss them in the trash or the compost instead.
5. Rice and pasta
Leftover rice and noodles seem soft enough to go down the disposal without a fight. They’re on West Jordan’s do-not-disposal list too.
Scrape plates into the trash before they hit the sink. The same goes for flour, which made the city’s list as well.
6. The ‘hot water and soap’ trick
Here’s the myth that does the most damage, because it feels like the responsible thing to do. Pour the grease down, chase it with plenty of hot water and a squirt of dish soap, and it’ll wash away.
Nope. Soap and hot water won’t break grease down. They just carry it farther down your pipes, where it cools, sticks and builds up.
And don’t count on the garbage disposal to save you. Shreveport says flatly that a disposal doesn’t stop fats, oils and grease from getting into the pipes. It just grinds the food that comes with them.
Why this is your problem, not the city’s
Here’s the part some homeowners don’t think about until they get the bill.
In many cities, you own more of the sewer pipe than you think. Fairfax County, Virginia, says residents are on the hook for the pipe between the house and the county’s sewer line, connection included.
Minneapolis is even blunter: The private line is yours right up to where it meets the city’s main. When that private line has to be replaced, the city says recent projects have averaged $13,000, with costs ranging from $2,150 to $62,000.
Rules vary from place to place, so check with your own city or sewer utility. But don’t assume someone else is paying.
A small clog is cheaper, but it still costs you. A plumber can charge up to $360 just to snake a drain.
Then there’s what happens if it backs up into the house. Minnesota’s Commerce Department warns that a standard homeowners policy won’t pay for sewer-backup damage, and flood insurance won’t either.
You’d have to buy extra coverage, either a separate policy or an add-on called an endorsement. Without it, cleanup can run you thousands of dollars.
If you’ve never checked whether your policy has that coverage, now’s a good time. You can compare homeowners insurance options here and ask about a sewer-backup endorsement while you’re at it.
The bottom line
None of this costs a dime. A can for the grease, a paper towel for the pan and a trash can for the scraps will keep your Friday free of plumbers.
While you’re in the kitchen, don’t miss the other holiday habit worth breaking: rinsing the raw turkey in the sink.
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