What is it? A plastic bag to hold food to keep it fresh longer.Rating: Works As AdvertisedMajor Claims: - Helps preserve food longer and delay spoilage – True.
This product was very easy to evaluate, although it did entail a time-lapse test spanning several days. The green bags are made with a natural mineral that neutralizes a common decomposition gas, ethylene, emitted by food as it breaks down. For our evaluation purposes we sought to duplicate one of the tests in the vendor commercial, specifically to observe if the bags indeed hindered the spoilage of a banana.
We used two bananas for our experiment, one placed inside the product, and one left out as a control reference. In just four days time we observed the two pristine bananas begin to darken and brown, yet the one inside the green bag visibly did so at a much slower rate than our control reference (see video illustration).
The product doesn’t completely prevent food spoilage or the normal, natural breakdown of fruits and vegetables and other foodstuffs, but it does measurably and demonstrably slow the process down, which legitimately could help prevent wasted food, and thus save a consumer money.
These green bags are also available with a zipper top closure, although the product instructions on the regular bags advise to “Just fold over the top of the bag, to loosely seal air out. Keep end of bag folded over during storage. You do not need to seal tightly. Do not use twist ties – they might make holes.”
This product works as advertised.
What is it? A manual chopping product for food.The product consists of a plastic base and an upper hinged plastic section that features two sets of blades arranged in a checkerboard fashion. One set of blades is intended to cut approximately quarter-inch squares, the other blade set is intended to cut approximately one-half inch squares. A plastic cup in the upper section catches the cut food.Major claims: Quick! Easy! Safe! From website: “…the kitchen tool you’ll actually use daily!” Our first experiment was to cut a tomato with the large blades, exactly copying the picture illustrated on the cover of the instruction manual and recipe guide. The result was a bit of a mess.Giving the product the benefit of the doubt, and accepting the possibility of user error on our part, we read the instruction manual and learned that the picture on the cover of the manual and the product’s packaging illustrates improper use.The instruction manual states: “Lift the top (transparent container locked) and place the item to be cut in the center of the round disc with a flat side facing down. NOTE: food with a peel such as peppers, apples, pears, tomatoes, cucumbers should always be placed with the peel side down. Lower the top (blade) so it rests on them. Place one hand on the transparent container and the other hand on the flat surface to push the cutting blades through the item.” (emphasis added)This was a confusing statement considering the fact that a tomato is a spherical object that has a peel/skin on its entire exterior. What side is down? We found additional information in the instruction manual, which states: “The Nicer Dicer works best with small to medium sized fruit and vegetables cut in half. We recommend that you cut larger pieces in 3 to 4 sections to get the best results.” Thus, using the Nicer Dicer requires preparation of food with a knife before its use. Indeed, by cutting a smaller tomato in half, and larger ones into multiple pieces, and then placing the skin side down, did produce better results. We were not so lucky with peppers, a more rigid vegetable.From our video results, please notice that to use the Nicer Dicer occasionally required extraordinary force to get the blades to cut the food. This was especially true for the smaller blades. The difficulty we experienced with the Nicer Dicer was readily apparent. Unlike a traditional knife that “slices” through foods such as a tomato, creating a small incision and then using both a horizontal motion as well as downward vertical motion to slice, the Nicer Dicer attempts to “push” a set of blades straight down through food. This action is akin to setting a knife on top of a tomato, and rather than slicing it, pushing the edge of the blade straight down. But what adds to the problem is the crisscross array of blades that spread the pressure of the downward action over a larger surface area than a single knife blade would do. Think of the “bed of nails” concept where if someone laid down on a single nail it would likely pierce their skin, but when there are many nails placed closely together and sharing the load, no injury occurs.We did observe that for foods such as an onion or a potato, which tend to be firmer than a tomato, but not as firm as a pepper, the product had an easier time “chopping” through them, but still required a noticeable amount of effort.As to the claim of it being “easy” and “quick,” it was not, in the sense that it required preparation of food with a knife prior to use. If one is going to use a knife to cut fruits or vegetables to begin with, why switch to another product when you can just finish the job with the knife? As to value for the price, we discovered that you can get a Cuisinart Mini-Prep (a small brushed stainless electric food processor that requires no physical exertion to use) for $29.99 or a KitchenAid electric 3-Cup food processor for $39.99. The Nicer Dicer retails for $39.99.Our conclusion, as is apparent from our review video, was that the product did work in some instances in terms of actually chopping the food, but it didn’t work very well in others—especially with tomatoes. With respect to its major claims of being quick, easy, safe, and expected to be used daily, we observed: - It wasn’t quick in the sense that time had to be spend in advance pre-chopping the food items, and in the case of a crushed tomato (instead of chopping neatly as expected) the unit needed to be cleaned prior to use on anything else.
- It was easy only in the sense of the number of steps required to chop, but in the case of a green pepper with the smaller blades, it required considerable effort to cut it — a difficult task, not an easy one.
- We didn’t observe any safety issues.
- And with respect to daily use, that would be a personal judgment call on behalf of the user and impossible to speculate. However, as noted, with the availability of small electric food processors for the same or less price, our speculation is that if a consumer has a choice between the two, if they required a product for daily use, they would opt for the latter, not this product.
This product works as advertised. It opens jars automatically. We tried it on two brand new jars, each a different style, and the product opened them easily. No preparation was required to release the vacuum seal. The product was able to achieve a firm grip on both jar and lid and twist it open.Major Claims:The Fast, Easy Way to Open Jars – It was easy, but not terribly fast. In fact each jar took at least 30 seconds for the product to complete it full function.Effortless, one-touch action – This statement doesn’t mean just the momentary pushing of a button, but rather holding that button down. The instructions advise to hold the button down until the outer jaws grab the jar and the inner jaws begin to move. This can take several seconds.No twisting, no pulling, no pain – This is true. After the device takes over, you just let go and watch.Small enough for your kitchen drawer – It’s dimensions are 7.5 inches long and 2.75 inches thick. So if your drawers will accommodate an object of that size, then it would fit.Powerful enough for new, factory sealed jars – This was observed to be true in our tests.Never jams—lets go when jars are too tight – This was not observed, as the jars we tested all opened just fine. The instructions do advise to run a jar under hot water if it is too difficult to open, as one would normally to heat the lid and cause it to expand, as well as possibly melt sugars or other material acting as an adhesive and preventing the lid from turning. The instructions also provide a list of jars NOT to use this product with, such as plastic jars (presumably due to the fact that plastic may give or collapse and the firmness of glass is required for resistance); jars with “steep curves or irregular shapes” (presumably due to the fact the outer jaws may not be able to get a proper grip; and jars beyond its size limitations of 1.2 inches to 4 inches.For an able-bodied person with two strong hands, this product probably wouldn’t enjoy much regular use, other than to perhaps help with a particularly stubborn jar lid. A normal jar can be opened in a couple of seconds, whereas this product takes a half a minute or more to perform its function. On the other hand, for people without full use of both hands to open a jar, e.g. people with arthritis, an injury to a hand, a missing hand, etc., this product could be absolutely invaluable. It’s also quite amusing to watch.
