Best method to save $_POST data to a database

[eluser]jonnyjon[/eluser]
I'm a CI noob and was wondering the "best practice" with regards to save $_POST data to a database table...

Ideally, I'd just like to send all the $_POST vars to an active record function. Is this generally, the best method? Or should we parse each value and save it manually?

I came across a snip it of code somewhere that pre-parses the $_POST and removed all values for columns that don't exist in the table you are trying to write to... does anyone know where I can find this?