If you go and donate blood (at least where I live), you can call in several days later and get a cholesterol reading. It won't be the whole breakdown of the different types of lipids, but its somewhere to start if you don't want to go to a lab and also do a good deed at the dame time. Last time I had mine checked it was good but I know that I have to be careful because of my family history.

My husband and I like to have friendly competitions at the pharmacy blood pressure machines because he's kind of a big guy but his blood pressure and cholesterol are better than mine, grrrr!