Someone figured out how to make cooking pasta even easier: 'Why didn’t I think of this?'

Cooking pasta — sauces aside — is a pretty straightforward process. But what if it could be even easier?

TikToker @tipsandtrickswithq has a hack that makes straining much simpler: Instead of putting the strainer in the sink and pouring the pasta into it, @tipsandtrickswithq demonstrates how to place the strainer directly into the pasta pot to drain the water while keeping the cooked pasta inside.

“Doing it this way is so much easier and cleaner,” @tipsandtrickswithq describes.

“Amazing why didn’t i think of this?” wondered @kerrileeford, echoing many commenters’ feelings.

“We’ve litterally been doing it wrong our whole life,” added @itspaige_077.

The hack lets you drain water while keeping the noodles in the pot, preventing stray pasta from escaping or getting stuck in the strainer. To best utilize the hack, choose a strainer that fits fully across the pot so noodles cannot fall out from the sides.

“That only works is the pot is the same size as the strainer, if the pot was bigger, the noodles would just fall out but great hack tho,” noted @shxdow008.

Some commenters pointed out that straining pasta with the strainer inside the pot helps save pasta water for cooking sauces to thicken and flavor them. Instead of dumping the water down the sink, strain the water into another pan or bowl.

“The only life hack you need is to save some pasta water,” claimed @___ozy.

Additionally, @tipsandtrickswithq notes that the strainer-in method allows the strainer to stay clean and ready to use for other purposes, like draining grease off when cooking ground beef.

And a warning: Do not pour hot oil down the sink. Instead, Nebraska cattle farm Oak Barn Beef recommends pouring beef fat through a strainer into a disposable container or onto aluminum foil. Once cooled, fold up and throw away the foil.

A few people expressed concern that placing a plastic strainer inside a hot pot would cause it to melt, but @tipsandtrickswithq assured followers that using the hack so far has been just fine.

“It doesn’t though n I do this ALL the time,” @tipsandtrickswithq wrote.

“Yall in the comments must not know how cooking or conductivity works!! Plastic has a high melting point but LOW conductivity! It wont melt”!! added @mypinkcoffin.

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