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Picture it: It’s late in the evening, you stayed late at work, you’re borderline hangry, and you just want something quick and easy and comforting for dinner.

Enter the humble pasta. It’s quick to make and also is a total comfort food. Just as your body is starting to enter the hanger stage your pasta hits that al dente sweet spot and you’re ready to strain it and serve.

Strainer
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

But when you go to pour the boiling hot pasta into the strainer, tragedy strikes. That strainer you’d precariously balanced in the sink buckles under the tsunami of scalding water and noodles. And it tumbles down, taking more than half your meal with it into the sink’s basin. There is no coming back from that.

Sadly, what I have described is probably not so uncommon to many of you reading. However, thanks to TikTok, hope is restored that one day, we may never have to suffer another lost pasta noodle to the icky sink.

Colander
Photo: flickr/Marco Verch Professional Photographer

One TikToker, @johannawestbrook, has shown us all that at today years old, there is a correct way of using our strainers – and we’ve been doing it wrong all along.

In her short video clip, Johanna explains that the strainer isn’t meant to go in the sink, but rather directly into our pot.

Strainer
Photo: TikTok/johannawestbrook

From there, we can then pour out the liquid with so much more ease. Less hassle and far less noodle waste means this hack is pure genius! What have we done without TikTok all these years? Well, strain pasta the completely wrong way apparently!

Check it out below:

@johannawestbrook

I was today years old when I fount this out #tiktokhacks #lifehacks #food #foodhacks #foodie #fyp

♬ original sound – Johanna Westbrook

What do you think of this hack? Did you already know this? Let us know!