Reusing cooking oil is an age-old strategy, but if not done correctly it could get pretty nasty. One of the biggest issues with reusing oil is allowing old fat to accumulate and become rotten. It is important to strain the leftover fat before reusing, so that your food won’t have a bad aftertaste and no one gets food poisoning. To ensure the oil you’re using is safe you should strain it with a few layers of cheesecloth; make sure the oil is cooled off first. It isn’t a good idea to mix different types of oils and you should store the oil you intend to reuse in a cool dark place; this can be in glass jars. Iron pots and copper pots are known for making oil go bad quicker, so avoid using them for your recycled cooking oil.

The best oils to cook with are those that don’t begin to smoke until higher temperatures are reached. The most common used is olive oil, which smokes at 190 degrees Celsius and at the top of the list are safflower and sunflower oil with smoking points of 265 degrees Celsius and 246 degrees Celsius.