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Testing 7 Popular Kitchen Gadget Hacks
Sep 5, 2025
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0:00
[Music]
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This is a terrible idea. Who's making me
0:09
do this? I'm Heather and welcome to Hack
0:11
Chat, where I try out all the hacks.
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[Music]
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This week on Hack Chat, we're going to
0:18
be testing out tools for things that
0:20
they weren't designed to do. You can use
0:22
this instead of a subway card.
0:27
So, for the first hack, I'm going to use
0:29
this apple slicer on not apples, a plum.
0:33
I'm a little nervous that it's going to
0:36
crush the plum. Oo, look at that. This
0:38
is super good. I'm going to try it on a
0:41
on a potato for roasted potatoes. You
0:43
know, you have to center it just like as
0:45
if it's like a little sun. That's
0:47
pleasing. They're they're nice shapes.
0:49
These would be good for roasting. But
0:51
look at this. I don't know. What would
0:53
you guys do with this stump? Now, we're
0:55
going to try this on onions. I've heard
0:57
that you don't cry if you cut them with
1:00
one of these. And push. I'm gonna break
1:03
this. This is actually going to make me
1:05
cry. All right, I'm going to try this
1:07
again.
1:11
It did go through, but with a lot of
1:13
effort. And what we end up what we end
1:16
up with is something that would get you
1:18
kicked out of culinary school. There's
1:20
absolutely no reason why you would do
1:22
this except for if you were like you
1:24
just bought it and you're in your car
1:26
and you suddenly need some soup.
1:31
On a scale of 1 to five for helpfulness,
1:33
using this to cut other things is a two.
1:35
It's not that hard. It's pretty easy.
1:38
Cutting other foods with an apple cer.
1:43
For this next hack, I'm going to see if
1:45
you really can make a chopped salad with
1:48
a pizza wheel. Is it easier? Is it just
1:50
a gimmick? We're gonna find out. I'm
1:52
going to put in some bacon. I'm gonna
1:54
put in a hard-boiled egg. Maybe some
1:56
onion slices, romaine, some ridiculio,
1:59
men dives, pepper, and I'm going to
2:01
throw in some blue cheese. I'm going to
2:03
be really careful not to cut my thumb
2:05
cuz I can already tell that this is not
2:07
hack that should be tried by anybody
2:09
who's not wearing a cut glove.
2:12
Okay, I'm actually really going to put
2:14
on a cut glove. See, now I feel much
2:16
better. I feel more confident.
2:25
It's so hard to take this hack seriously
2:28
because it's not good and everybody
2:30
knows it. Everyone already knows it. I'm
2:32
going to keep going though because
2:34
nobody likes a quitter. Do you want to
2:36
see it?
2:38
[Music]
2:40
Chopped salads aren't about looks.
2:42
They're really about just like getting
2:44
everything onto a fork.
2:49
Mhm. Pretty tasty, but definitely was
2:52
not fun. The helpfulness of this hack is
2:56
a one. The easiness is a zero. I had
3:01
like a lot of emotions while it was
3:02
happening and most of them were
3:04
unpleasant. So, as an overall hack, I
3:07
give it a thumbs down. I just want to
3:09
add that if you need this, it's already
3:12
disqualified.
3:14
I want to talk about picnic season. This
3:16
is a hack that I actually need because I
3:18
love chicken salad, but I don't like
3:21
shredding chicken. Now, I know that I'm
3:23
pretty lucky to have a stand mixer, and
3:24
I got this stand mixer on eBay. I
3:26
poached some chicken cuz that's my
3:28
favorite kind of chicken for chicken
3:30
salad cuz it's really juicy. I'm going
3:32
to start it on low.
3:35
Okay,
3:37
looks like it's going pretty well so
3:39
far.
3:41
Um, I'm really like I'm so I'm so
3:44
excited about this because you know
3:45
what? So, it's shredded. It's very
3:48
fluffy. It's like the perfect texture
3:51
for chicken salad. And I could basically
3:54
just put the like mayo, mustard, salt,
3:57
pepper mixture in here directly and
4:00
chicken salad would be done with one
4:02
dirty bowl. So, this is a total win. For
4:06
helpfulness, it's a five because it's
4:07
it's just incredibly helpful. It's super
4:10
easy. It's a five for easiness. I did
4:12
nothing. For like super duper fancy
4:15
appliances, it's also a five. It's a
4:17
very smart use of a stand mixer.
4:19
Overall, I give it a thumbs up. My next
4:22
tool hack, I'm going to test out the egg
4:25
slicer. Slicing things it wasn't
4:28
designed to slice. We're going to start
4:30
with a mushroom. It's crushing it. Not
4:32
in a good way. I have this crushroom.
4:36
My next victim is a kiwi.
4:40
It did save a lot of time. Strawberry.
4:44
Oh, that was good because you don't have
4:46
to cut off the stem. Okay, this banana.
4:48
This part of it crushes the whole entire
4:50
thing. I don't think this tool is meant
4:53
to cut things that are oblong.
4:56
[Music]
4:58
I think I'm going to break this. See?
5:01
See what happened? Didn't cut all the
5:02
way through. Olives are next.
5:06
Squished. Disappointing. It's like when
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you meet somebody and you think they're
5:10
going to be your friend and then you
5:12
realize they're like really really not
5:14
your cup of tea. Okay, it's capra season
5:17
and I am ready for it. This took me like
5:19
4 seconds. Let's see if this will work
5:21
on the tomato. This is a terrible idea.
5:23
Who's making me do this?
5:28
Is anybody else ashamed of this? So,
5:30
this didn't work at all. Don't ever do
5:32
this on to a tomato. Here's how this guy
5:34
did. On a scale of 1 to five for
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helpfulness, I give it a four only
5:38
because the strawberry cutting is just
5:42
basically miraculous. On a scale of
5:44
easiness, I give it a five. It's super
5:46
easy. There's no skill required. It's
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like a guillotine. I give it a thumbs
5:50
up.
5:52
So, this next hack is making whipped
5:54
cream using a French press. Let's see if
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it works. You just squish it up and down
6:00
over and over. Obviously, you add sugar
6:06
like my top arm muscle, whatever that's
6:08
called. The one that's on the top,
6:12
the shoulder,
6:16
that is is hurting me. But I do really
6:20
like whipped cream, so I'm still
6:21
invested in making it work. So, it's
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getting thicker and it's getting much
6:26
harder to pull up and down. So, yeah, it
6:28
appears to be whipped cream. It's kind
6:30
of liquidy in parts. It has not
6:33
increased in volume very much, which is
6:35
one of the things that's supposed to
6:37
happen with whipped cream. Do you want
6:39
the good news first or the bad news? The
6:42
bad news is this hack is really dumb. My
6:45
French press is I don't know how long
6:47
it's going to take me to clean it, but
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the good news is that I have a cup of
6:51
whipped cream to eat and and to drown my
6:54
sorrows.
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So, how bad is it? So, for helpfulness,
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I give this a three. Middle of the road,
7:01
not that helpful, not a disaster,
7:03
really. For easiness, I give it like a
7:06
zero because I'm tired and I have a lot
7:10
of work ahead of me cleaning this up so
7:13
that I can have coffee tomorrow. Look at
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my French press, everybody. This is what
7:16
I did for you. So, I give this one
7:20
thumbs down. This hack is a classic.
7:22
It's squeezing citrus using tongs. to
7:26
get more juice out with less effort. I'm
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getting a lot of juice out of this guy.
7:32
A lot. And I'm not even working at all.
7:34
It's a little messy. Is that really a
7:36
problem? I don't think so. And look at
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how much juice there is. For
7:39
helpfulness, I give it like a four. So,
7:41
it doesn't get the full five cuz it just
7:43
doesn't have that level of genius. For
7:45
easiness, it's much easier than
7:47
squeezing it with your bare hands. So, I
7:49
give it a four. And overall, I give it a
7:52
thumbs up. For specialness, I don't
7:54
know. It's like a two. It's not really,
7:56
you know, something to write home about,
7:58
but if you happen to have some tongs and
8:00
some lemons, make lemonade.
8:04
For this hack, we're going to get the
8:05
seeds out of this with this. Sometimes
8:08
you just don't want the seeds cuz
8:09
they're spicy. I like spicy stuff, but
8:11
not everybody does. So, I'm going to
8:13
take the end off of here, and I'm going
8:15
to use this. I'm going to dig these out.
8:18
Just going to move it around the outside
8:20
using the swivel action.
8:23
I can see there's some seeds in there
8:25
still. And I just want to show you
8:27
something. Let's just do this using the
8:30
same tool that I just used to cut it.
8:33
What do you think worked better? The
8:34
knife or the peeler? My emotion is
8:37
primarily like why am I using this
8:39
instead of this when I have this out
8:41
already? So, here's my rating. On a
8:44
scale of 1 to five for helpfulness, I
8:46
give it a one. For easiness, I give it
8:50
like a three. I don't like it. I feel
8:52
like lost when I'm doing it. I feel like
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I don't get it. Like I'm left out of the
8:57
joke. I guess like on a scale of
8:59
loneliness, I give this one a five.
9:02
Seeding peppers with this is a thumbs
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down.
9:07
What I learned overall is like it's fun
9:09
to try stuff out. Winner. Overall
9:11
winner. Slicing some things that are not
9:14
eggs on an egg slicer. Least best using
9:16
a pizza wheel to make a chopped salad.
9:19
Just only cut pizza. Let the pizza wheel
9:21
retain its dignity. The thing I'll never
9:24
use again, but I'm really, really glad
9:25
that I did because it was ridiculous is
9:28
making whipped cream in a French press.
9:30
I'm amused by how incredibly messy and
9:33
difficult it was and how much whipped
9:35
cream I had to eat to comfort myself as
9:38
a result. The one that I'll probably
9:40
really use a lot this summer is
9:42
shredding chicken in my stand mixer.
9:44
It's crazy how easy it is and how fluffy
9:46
and amazing it is. And also, I'm going
9:48
to try pulled pork in it. Did you learn
9:50
anything today? And are you going to try
9:52
any of these? If you like hacks, like
9:54
and share this video and subscribe to
9:56
the Spruce Eats. I know you have a hack.
9:58
I know you made one up or you liked one
10:00
or your cousin liked one. Tell me about
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it in the comments below and I'll try
10:04
it. I want to try out the hacks that you
10:06
like. I don't. It's a lie. It's not even
10:08
true at all.
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[Music]
#Food & Drink