Some of us avoid deep frying because it's a pain to deal with the oil afterward, but did you know that in most cases, you can use your cooking oil a few times before you need to discard it? Before you save your oil,  determine if what you just fried was relatively neutral in flavour (like french fries or doughnuts). Oil can impart flavour into whatever your frying, so if you've just used your oil to fry fish, you can save your oil, but mark down that it was used for fish, so you can use it again for the same purpose. If your cooking oil has changed colour from yellow to brown, it probably shouldn't be saved, so instead of ruining your next recipe, it's better just to ditch it. To save your cooking oil, first wait until your oil has cooled completely. Pour your cooled oil into a cheesecloth-lined strainer set on top of a large bowl. Using a funnel, if needed, carefully pour into an airtight container and store at room temperature until you're ready to fry again.