Albeit the presence of MQL over the last 2 decades, its ability to replace flood cooling in machining industries is limited despite its bundle of benefits over the flood cooling system. The performance of MQL in comparison with flood cooling is superior in terms of surface finish, tool life, and geometrical accuracy of the machined components. One major cause for this slow reach is the high recurring cost of the MQL oil. Commercial MQL oil from reputed brands costs from $8 to $18 per liter, while the cost of flood coolant oil is INR $2–$3 per liter only. The high recurring cost of MQL oil makes it almost impossible for small and medium-scale industries to use MQL. With the high cost of MQL oil, use of MQL will be ~ 21.6 times higher than the flood coolant cost and therefore, it is impossible to use MQL as an alternative to flood cooling system. Therefore, it is imperative to reduce the cost of MQL oil. The waste oil from cooking is available at a lower cost and can be used as a potential alternative to commercial oil. Used cooking oil (UCO) has very limited application despite its huge generation. Drilling studies are conducted at two different speeds on AISI 304 plates. The stainless steel 304 drilling studies with UCO have proved to be better than the commercial oil in terms of surface roughness and tool life at a medium cutting speed of 2390 rpm while at a high cutting speed of 4777 rpm, the performance of UCO is not satisfactory.