I learned about the Oxo Angled Measuring Cup after seeing a video of Alex Lee, president of Oxo, speak about the usability and accessible issues their company tries to address with their products.

Below is the video if you want to watch it, but it’s kind of long. Around the 16:30 mark is where Alex starts talking about the measuring cup.

To summarize Alex’s points, when Oxo makes something, they want it to be easy to use and easy to understand. He describes how his research group had some focus groups with people in their own kitchen.

“What’s wrong with your measuring cup?”, they’d ask.

And people, for the most part, didn’t have any major complaints. Answers received were along the lines of “It’s glass, so if it drops, it breaks,” (Oxo’s cup is plastic, not glass like) or “When it’s greasy, it’s slippery” (Oxo’s cup has their good grips material on the handle). But nobody mentioned anything else.

“Ok, show us how you measure”, Oxo would ask them.

And that’s when the fun started. The people would pour, bend down to look at the measurement, pour some out, bend down and look at it again, and did this four or five times. As Alex Lee from Oxo states, nobody mentioned this as a problem. This is an accepted part of the process of measuring.

A solution to the unnoticed problem

It wasn’t until people saw the innovative measuring cup that they realized there was a problem to begin with. The Oxo cups have an inclined measuring ramp on the inside of the cup, making it easy to see measurements from any angle, even from directly overhead. This makes measuring easier, faster, and more consistent.

Bottom Line

The Oxo Good Grips Angled Measuring Cup is a great addition to any kitchen. Because it is made of plastic instead of glass, so there are some liquids that cannot be used in this cup, but that’s up to you and your kitchen as to whether that is an issue. But even if you had a glass one, this will likely be the measuring cup you reach for first for many cases – it makes measuring that much easier and simpler.

Our family likes the Oxo Good Grips Angled Measuring Cup.

If you buy it

If you decide to buy the Oxo Measuring Cup, please consider using the link on this page to do so. It counts as a referral for us and doesn’t cost you a penny extra.

View the Oxo Angled Measuring Cup at amazon.com

You wouldn’t think that cooking spaghetti could much easier than the current method – putting noodles in boiling water. But there’s more guesswork than what is on the surface:

• How much water?
• How long do you cook it?
• Keep stirring the pasta.

In our family’s case, we only have one 8″ coil on our stove (all the others are 6″), and this can be very limiting for us if we’re trying to boil spaghetti and cook ground beef at the same time.

Product features

The Fasta Pasta site boasts the following features:

• No waiting for a big pot of water to boil
• Perfect al dente pasta everytime
• Saves time, energy and water
• Use with spaghetti, fettuccini, macaroni, lasagna noodles, rotini and more
• Will not boil over
• Cooks evenly without sticking
• Dishwasher safe, FDA approved microwaveable material

So we ordered one

A way to cook noodles without taking up space on our stove, and without needing constant attention for stirring and cooking time, was something we put a lot of value in. That’s why when we found out about the Fasta Pasta, we bought it to give it a try.

You wouldn’t think a microwavable plastic bowl could be so handy. But the Fasta Pasta is built in such a way to make cooking perfect noodles easy. It’s size is tailored to fit standard length noodles that you’d buy in the store. It has a notch on the bottom so that the noodles don’t rest directly on the container bottom, but raised a little. Water levels are indicated on the sides of the container to remove any guesswork. Also, the lid has helpful measuring and straining holes.

Put in your desired amount of pasta and water as indicated on the cooking chart (included).

Then pop the fasta pasta into the microwave. For some noodles/amounts, it’s 5 minutes – for others, it can be up to 17 minutes. Remember to remove the lid.

When the pasta is done cooking, re-attach the lid and strain the water.

Add your favorite sauce and enjoy.

When we made fettuccini, we ended up with perfect portions, thanks to the guides on the cooking chart and the built-in measuring holes on the Fasta Pasta. Of course, one person’s ‘perfect’ may be different than another person’s, so you can tweak the water levels and amount of pasta for future meals until you get it just the way you like it.

Bottom Line

We wouldn’t have thought that easier way to cook pasta would be all that valuable, but it is. No more big pots for boiling pasta noodles. We free up an eye on our stove; just set and forget in the microwave. For only about $10, Fasta Pasta is well worth it – it’s ease of use and simplicity make it much more valuable than that.

Our family likes Fasta Pasta.

If you buy it

If you decide to buy the Fasta Pasta, please consider using the link on this page to do so. It counts as a referral for us and doesn’t cost you a penny extra.

View Fasta Pasta at amazon.com