(Springfield, MO) --  French fries, chicken wings, deep fried ice cream. You might be thinking, those all sound like foods that aren't on my diet plan. But they could help your wallet.  Thanks to one Springfield man's invention, you might be able to use a bottle of vegetable oil as fuel.

10 years ago Charles Anderson was a land surveyor and Japanese interpreter. But it always bothered him how much money he had to spend on gas. "I'm inherently cheap," said Anderson.

So he went into his garage and decided to do something about it. "I had no idea that I was going to be an alternative fuel guru that went all over the world converting vehicles to run on chicken grease," said Anderson.

10 years later, Anderson is starting to get international attention. "We're shipping to Europe, Africa, Japan, plus all the places in the states," said Anderson.

With some help from his 11 year old son, Anderson converts diesel cars to also run on vegetable oil. Like the kind you'd find in the grocery store, or at your favorite restaurant. "Arby's we go there a lot, and other restaurants," said Andrew Anderson.

Andrew's what you might call the grease man. His job, finding out which restaurants have the best vegetable oil for cars. "It's normally clear and you can dip something in it, if it comes out white, it's not very good. If it's clear it's good," said Anderson.

"Essentially we can take your fuel bill and make it go away because most restaurants have to dispose of their oil," said Anderson.

It works because Anderson has created a conversion system that can be installed in any diesel vehicle. It turns vegetable oil into a usable fuel source, by heating it. "It's a heated tank, a heat exchange, and it goes through a heated filter," said Anderson.

Anderson estimates over three years,  the conversion system has saved his family about 35 thousand dollars. And as for the environmental impact. "My big Excursion is cleaner than a Toyota Hybrid," said Anderson.

Generally Anderson charges about $3,000-$4,000 to convert a car or truck to run on vegetable oil, but it can be more than that for larger vehicles like a semi truck.