Comments on: How can I reuse or recycle … meat bones?

By: Barbara Barron

Barbara Barron — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:42:52 +0000

So, here we go again, right where I left off, this time I’ve cracked the large bones problem also. I put all large bones, recently, some goat spine and long bones in the pressure cooker, and cooked them for 2 days. The result was very soft bones that crumbled easily with a small amount of pressure, my friend put them in a strong polythene bag, walloped them with a hammer and fed the resulting bone meal to the ducks! Good all round, we get a good feed also!

By: HuntingWabbits

HuntingWabbits — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:41:47 +0000

I used to give pork bones to my hamsters to munch on, keeps their teeth from getting overly-long.

By: Barbara Barron

Barbara Barron — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 09:46:53 +0000

Yes Shawn I absolutely agree with you, regarding everything organic, and the Machynlleth Centre recommend it. The only addition I have is to put garden lime in the mix, to speed the process up, and keep the mix sweet, however with the addition of paper and cardboard, the mix may well stay sweet anyway. My problem has been that I no longer have my garden, and can’t bear to throw away all that lovely organic potential. So I’m kitchen composting, with securely fitting lid containers, you can buy them on e-bay, allowing the mix to cook a bit, this let’s all the unpleasant flavours the worms don’t like to leach out, (oranges and onions) and the mix actually goes warm, so nature is still taking its course. Then it’s a feast for my little wrigglers, who love it.
I’ve had a problem with chicken bones, but as I’m now looking at a tawny coloured powder that used to be carcass, I think I’ve cracked it.
Method:-
Boil the chicken with the meat on first, to remove all vestiges of soft tissue, this includes connective tissue, cartilage, ligament and tendon, it all melts down in the broth and provides a lovely jelly.
I boil the clean bones for 2 days, with about a dessert teaspoonful of cider vinegar in the broth. (the vinegar does not taste by the way, you can still add lovely veggies like celery, onion and garlic, and have a nice stew.) The vinegar leaches out the calcium it would seem because after the bones have been dried, try on the radiator, saves energy, but you may have to use a very cool oven. I found most of the bones except the long bones can be crumbled by hand. The long bones obligingly gave up the ghost in the spice grinder, but rather than risk expensive kitchen equipment, it may be as well to get an old fashioned acme cast iron grinder that we used to mince meat with years ago, I’m fairly sure that’d do it!
That’s it I’m finished! Many thanks for hints and stimulating conversation.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:51:32 +0000

oh- by the way, the bones do compost after a year or so in the pile. Just leave them in until done.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:49:48 +0000

I second what Steve said: You CAN compost meat scraps, bones, dairy products, ect….. The basic rule of composting is “if it is organic (used to be alive), it can be composted”. I have been composting EVERYTHING that comes from our kitchen for years now. Left overs, thanksgiving turkey carcases, steak bones, spoiled pot roast (was left out on the counter overnight-oops!), including all my waste paper products. I put it all together in a 55 gallon steel drum and let it “cook” untill it’s too full to turn, then empty all of that into my existing garden compost pile, mix it up and when it ready, it all goes into the garden as a lovely, rich soil conditioner loaded with all kinds of mineral, nutrients and humus. I haven’t had the aweful smells people talk about because I mix in LOTs of shredded paper with each batch and keeping it in the steel drum avoids problems with the “vermin” (except for the normal house flies – however, the drum is far enough away from the house to not create a problem with that).

By: Barbara Barron

Barbara Barron — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 07:04:17 +0000

Many thanks to Steve and the helpful lady I’ve been conversing with. Your suggestion re vinegar Steve was helpful I put a small amount of cider vinegar in the boiling broth and I cannot taste the vinegar but it does seem to have softened the bones, along with giving them an extra boil for 2 days rather than one. this chicken was an organic one, so the bones were very hard to start with. Apart from the long bones all the others have crumbled by hand, and I have no doubt all the bones will now grind to a clean powder, and hopefully I can feed it to my worms. I shall tentatively try grinding the long bones in my spice grinder, if it doesn’t work, it’ll go in the cast iron acme grinder winging its way through the post.
I think the mix of wood ash and bone meal is an excellent one, and if you have a garden it’s probably the best way, alas I’m in a flat, so everything has to be done in the home.
I think we’ve cracked it though, so thank you Steve and the anonymous lady.
I’ll do one more posting. regards Barbara

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:13:12 +0000

After boiling bones for stock I put them on the (wood ) fire; they soon become brittle enough to break down and provide bone meal with the wood ash for the garden / compost heap.

By: Yeidi

Yeidi — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:34:28 +0000

This sharp-tongued comment shouldn’t be welcome. =S This person’s trying to help the world just like we all are. Any bit of help or attempt to do so should no go underappreciated.

By: Barbara Barron

Barbara Barron — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:53:58 +0000

Many thanks, by dehydrator do you mean oven? I think I havn’t been boiling the bones for long enough, so this time the chicken bones are going on the simmer for a lot longer perhaps a couple of days, although I must not forget them! I’m sure there is a way, and you may have it!
It would be good to get this off to a certain method. Then I could say:-
Boil bones for x amount of time
dehydrate for y amount etc.
I am not responsible for your blender etc.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:51:04 +0000

I cook all bones (beef, pork and poultry) down for soup stock. If cooked long enough they are very soft. Then I put them in my dehydrator until they are thoroughly dry. A few whirls in the blender gives you a very fine bone meal which can be used in the garden or incorporated into home-made cat, dog or chicken feed.

By: Barbara Barron

Barbara Barron — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:01:14 +0000

Well here’s an update if there’s any interest. I’ve just bought an acme mincer, the old fashioned type which clamps on to the worktop, and is made of cast iron. Will that do boiled chicken bones? I’m about to find out.

By: Barbara Barron

Barbara Barron — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 10:47:27 +0000

I’m an avid recycler, and when I do eat meat, very rare, but our evolution and dentition seems to suggest we are omnivors, so I’m not ashamed of eating the odd bit of meat, I boil the bones to make a nourishing and easily digestible broth, apparently it’s secondary protein and easily assimilated into the body. That leaves me with clean bone but an inability to deal with it, except bin it, which I hate doing. Does anybody know of a grinder which will decimate the bone so that it can be used as fertiliser? I like the idea about jewellery, and I may try that next. I think it would need more than common bench acid to dissolve bone, and may be difficult to get, am I wrong? I’m loth to put bone in my wormery, I think it may be there for far too long>

By: Trent

Trent — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:30:24 +0000

At least you’re admitting to being nothing more than a pathetic comment troll. Better than most of ‘em.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:42:46 +0000

You CAN compost meat and bones without smell -Google livestock composting which as a much better practice than incinerating carcasses. You need lots of carbon and time – not sure if you could easily do only bones… Entire cows can be completely gone in 6 months.

Also if you have the facilities to do so, grinding them would be great for compost pile or direct to garden. Ever heard of Bone meal? I would probably cook first to kill pathogens if not putting into a hot compost pile.

This is something that I am going to try someday – making bone ash as a pottery ingredient. I think if I put bones in the kiln with an already fired pot the ash left may actually be usable.

If a limited amount, you could try neutralizing them in an acid bath (strong vinigar) until the proteins are broken down – surely they would compost better at this point. Be Sure to dilute and use the old vinegar on the heap too!

By: Lizzy

Lizzy — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:47:15 +0000

I guess you could boil them until there was not a hint of meat or anything left on/in them , clean them, and then make buttons, or hone them down into knotting needles – if they’re straight…..maybe that’s a little too creative…

By: snehal

snehal — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:39:16 +0000

my idea is to make furnitures with the help of bones by crushing them using any chemical if interested contact me……

By: Nani-Ka

Nani-Ka — Fri, 30 May 2008 02:57:03 +0000

I’ve tried it & it works great as long as you don’t put too much vinegar.

By: hollypop

hollypop — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:34:42 +0000

even though you cant get me within a mile of meat of any kind, i do know you can use the bones (w/ a little meat attached) to make broths & soups.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:54:39 +0000

can also grind them and make dog pourage

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:52:08 +0000

now you are talking serious business. how about carving out those african necklesses, bangles and the like. aint we headed for stoneage anyway?

By: Katie Doll

Katie Doll — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:05:27 +0000

I boil, bleach, and then make necklaces and jewelry out of them.

By: renee

renee — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:32:38 +0000

bury them in some sand in your yard. the local insects will pick them clean, then bleach in the sun for a couple of weeks. the result is beautiful white bone that you can carve.

By: renee

renee — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:31:10 +0000

Cooked bones are brittle and can leave bone splinters in a dogs mouth ( I have a vet friend who’s main dog clients have suffered from this problem) so please don’t feed them to your dog.

By: Rivka

Rivka — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:04:54 +0000

According to the Tightwad Gazette, adding a tablespoon of vinegar to bones when cooking them into soup will help you get the calcium. You won’t taste the vinegar. (I haven’t personally tried this yet.)

By: nancy

nancy — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 19:43:44 +0000

ya, bones flavor soups really well, I’m from the south we do that all the time.

By: karoline

karoline — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:24:59 +0000

use them to make soup, my dad does that tastes really good.

By: Janeycat

Janeycat — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:05:59 +0000

This might sound crazy, but my gothic taste in aesthetics had me using the old bones of a KFC takeaway (Not mine, I’m Veggie – my wee brother ate the meat off it) to make earrings and hair decorations. I know of several websites that currently sell (human) bone jewellery necklaces to the gothic community, and one that does ethically-sourced bat bone jewellery. They’re priced quite highly, and I couldn’t say how popular they are (I’ve not seen anyone but me wearing them), but…here:

http://www.apocalypse.org/pub/u/hilda/churchyard/index.html

If you go ARE of a crafty nature and go with the jewellery idea:
1) Just use chicken/poultry bones as they’re are the smallest and most delicate, unless there’s any other small ones (pig/sheep knucklebones?)
2) Cleaning the bones is best done with a) teeth, if there’s any meat-eaters in the house, then b) an old toothbrush + a blunt knife (don’t scratch the bone!), then c) toilet bleach in a shallow tray overnight. Any cartilidge will stink and decay, so get it all off.
3) Coat with clear nail varnish for a tidy finish.
4) It’s probably best to super-glue the jewellery (lengthways onto an earring hook, the top of a hair-comb, a plain hairband), as piercing can cause it to splinter. It should still be secure.
5) If it’s not to your taste, you could try selling it on ebay. I just checked their policy on animal parts, and bones are fine so long as they’re not from an andangered species. There’s a hardcore goth or two out there that may well be looking for it. :)

(A fairly random idea, but that’s so far the only use I’VE been able to put bones to…!)

By: neil

neil — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:23:45 +0000

You can put meat bones (and meat cheese etc) in a ‘Green Cone’. A sort of composter that seals in the smells that attracts vermin and uses ground worms to breakdown any food.

I guess a wormery might also be able to cope with bones.

By: sam.

sam. — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:41:19 +0000

Art….try to fit the bones together to make them look like a full sceleton glue the bits together put them on a stand and there you go.

By: Elouise

Elouise — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:05:54 +0000

When I was a kid, we had a pet dog. Our vet told us not to give bones to the dog, because bones splinter. So we pressure-cooked the bones until they were soft and the dog ate them all up, with relish! This seems a good solution, doesn’t it?