Tallow Candles

This next blog post is a preparedness project. 

If you ever take the time to stock up on the necessities in life, you know you can never have enough light.  Whether its flashlights or candles.  So today I'm going to talk about a simple way to make candles with supplies you most likely already have.

The only thing you need for the "wax" is tallow, or rendered animal fat.

Rendering means cooking the fat long enough to melt it.

What I like to do is save my rendered fat every time I fry up some meat to use later.

I'll briefly explain the process of this project as it is really simple.
After you've got your fat stored up in the fridge, find some kind of container for your candles.  I prefer jars, in this case baby food jars, and my husband picked out one of his old bb pellet tins.  Just be sure its cleaned thoroughly.  You will also want to put a tray or plate under them in case you spill any tallow later.

Next, you will need some sticks and wicks.  I actually made my own wicks by soaking hemp string in some of the melted tallow and allowing it to dry for a few minutes.

Tie your wick to the center of the stick and cut off enough to go all the way to the bottom of the container.  If you're using something wide and shallow, like an Altoids tin, you may want at least 3 wicks to make sure the tallow burns evenly.

Then, melt your fat.

Once it becomes liquid you can strain it if you want. Then poor into the jar, making sure to get a little on the wick.  Double check that the wick is in the center when your done.

All you do now is let it become solid again.  As long as your container is air-tight, it doesn't have to be refrigerated and will last a very long time.  Just a quick note though, tallow is a very soft substance.  If you want your candle to be more firm, you can just put it back in the fridge until use.

And there you have it.  An easy, cost efficient prep item.  Have fun!