diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go b/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go
index ef1664da8b1..c9ab5bb7689 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go
@@ -325,29 +325,25 @@ func (g *GenericPLEG) relist() {
 func getContainersFromPods(pods ...*kubecontainer.Pod) []*kubecontainer.Container {
 	cidSet := sets.NewString()
 	var containers []*kubecontainer.Container
+	fillCidSet := func(cs []*kubecontainer.Container) {
+		for _, c := range cs {
+			cid := c.ID.ID
+			if cidSet.Has(cid) {
+				continue
+			}
+			cidSet.Insert(cid)
+			containers = append(containers, c)
+		}
+	}
+
 	for _, p := range pods {
 		if p == nil {
 			continue
 		}
-		for _, c := range p.Containers {
-			cid := string(c.ID.ID)
-			if cidSet.Has(cid) {
-				continue
-			}
-			cidSet.Insert(cid)
-			containers = append(containers, c)
-		}
+		fillCidSet(p.Containers)
 		// Update sandboxes as containers
 		// TODO: keep track of sandboxes explicitly.
-		for _, c := range p.Sandboxes {
-			cid := string(c.ID.ID)
-			if cidSet.Has(cid) {
-				continue
-			}
-			cidSet.Insert(cid)
-			containers = append(containers, c)
-		}
-
+		fillCidSet(p.Sandboxes)
 	}
 	return containers
 }