I've been told that making fondant is labour intensive and I'm better off to buy it..($5 here for a 500g box)...However I'd like to have a go at making it in bulk and storing away what I don't use for later. It might work out cheaper!
I'd like to know;

1. Is there a substitute for shortening? It is very hard to get hold of in Australia especially in this country town. I have heard of someone using coconut oil as a replacement.

2. How do you store your home made fondant? At this stage I don't want to make marshmallow fondant.
Also I've also heard of someone freezing leftover fondant...What do you think?

3. How long does home made fondant last?

Also can anyone recommend a recipe that taste great and doesn't set up hard on the cake (and not too tricky to make)!

Make one batch with a kilo of sugar. Then you will know how labour intensive it is--don't believe everything you read...I started with 2 kilos and no trouble at all (but I bake a lot of bread...)

Coconut oil is OK in place of shortening.

For storage, it is possible to add some approved preservative like potassium sorbate (winemakers use it to inhibit fermentation in sweet wines). Whatever is allowed in your country.

I would not keep fondant around for more than one month. In a cold place NOT frozen.

Michele Foster's Fondant (on this site in the recipes section) is fantastic. If you have a mixer with a dough hook, its honestly not very labour intensive at all either. I let the machine do the majority of the work, then knead by hand for about 5 minutes afterwards.

I dont have shortening in South Africa, so I use margerine when its required. I trawled YouTube for homemade fondant and found many useful vids. I watched about 20 before trying it myself and I was successful, perhaps you might want to do the same?