Non-stick cooking spray is convenient. It’s also expensive and full of propellants; finding one made without genetically modified soybean or canola oil is almost impossible.
My solution? Grease the pan with shortening. I buy non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening (it’s a great big tub of palm kernel oil) and use that anywhere I would normally use cooking spray.
I use a silicone pastry brush from the dollar store and just paint on a no-stick coating. I hate washing the greasy brush, though, so I keep it in a jar with a little shortening. Cheap and natural!
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
thanks for this tip
I am totally going to try this!!! Thanks for a great tip.
I like the idea of leaving the pastry brush in with the shortening. That makes it more convenient.
I have a son with medical issues that precludes us from using oils and shortenings. I was totall confused on what to do about things that need the pan to be greased in some way. Then I was given a great piece of advice…parchment paper. It was used for so long, and is still used in many bakeries, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it on my own. Now we use parchment paper for anything that we would normally grease. Works awesome.
Just thought I would throw another idea out there in the same line of thinking. Hope it helps someone.
You are so smart! This will go in my list of “I just gotta try that”.
I had a hard time finding a jar that I could cover, because the handle of pastry brush was too long. Mason jars or other jars saved from foods were all too short. I finally found one at Ikea.
I love the idea of keeping the brush in the shortening! My mom used to use one of those brushes every time she greased a pan, mainly because she is not the one who washes dishes; my dad hated trying to get that brush clean.
I grease pans by just pouring a small amount of liquid oil in the pan and rubbing it around with my fingers. Moisturizes my cuticles, too! You do have to do this RIGHT before pouring in the batter, though, or the oil will slide down the sides and they won’t be greased well enough. If I need to grease pans in advance, I use butter.
There is another way. Bed Bath and beyond has a container which you fill with canola or any oil of your choice, pump it and spray. The container doesn’t cost more than $20 and it’s healthier than spray because you don’t get the chemicals.
I’ve seen those in the Pampered Chef catalog but wasn’t pleased with mine. Good to know there’s another alternative!
I use coconut oil mixed with some liquid lecithin and it works really well. In fact, some things that used to stick with the spray stuff don’t with this.
I agree…tried the spritzer thingie from Pampered Chef (which I love the products)…hated it! It went to Goodwill with some other stuff. I do love the PC silicon basting brush though. Thanks for the brush/shortening idea. Guess what I will be doing tomorrow?!