Bacon Grease - Rendering, Storage, and Usage

[EagleRob]

Just got chewed out by my wife for using her favorite coffee mug to drain bacon grease. We've never used it later in cooking but I've heard it's been done. I grew up as a butter or olive oil fryer. I usually just use the ceramic coffee mugs to cool it then pitch it. So I figure this midwestern crowd might be able to give me some tips as to how to render it properly to use it for cooking later, a better place to cool and store it, and some of the better uses for it in frying. For some reason, my cast iron skillet just perked up.