The Nostalgic Gadget That Comes In Handy For More Than Just Salad

The rate at which new technology is coming into our lives is happening at a dizzying pace. That's great for any number of obvious reasons but, with so many new gadgets it's easy to forget about the classics that still shine. Enter the Salad Shooter. First hitting the market in 1988, it was very popular throughout the '90s and early '00s. It's an electronic slicer and shredder, perfect for cutting veggies into bite-sized pieces for your salad.

It wasn't long before people started to realize the Salad Shooter didn't need to be relegated to just the salad bowl. You can use it to shred cheese for your pizza, as a handheld food processor for stews or casseroles, or even to slice nuts or frozen fruit to top off your desserts. Although there are countertop food processors that perform a similar function, they're really only good for chopping ingredients into tiny pieces. It doesn't work all that well if you want slices. Plenty of people use mandoline slicers to achieve similar results, but they can't beat the speed of the Salad Shooter and with the Salad Shooter there's no risk of accidentally catching your finger on the blade. The Salad Shooter saves you on prep time while also opening up new avenues of culinary expression to explore.

The Salad Shooter shines as a way to cut down on both prep time and the number of tools you'll need. Consider how it could help on a dish like scalloped potatoes. The drudgery of slicing the potatoes is done in a flash by the Salad Shooter. Then, without missing a beat, it can be used to shred all of the cheeses. With only one device to wash, the Salad Shooter's versatility will save you time while cooking and during cleanup. 

By speeding up the process of slicing veggies, the Salad Shooter enables you to try out recipes that may have seemed too daunting. The bulk of time spent cooking ratatouille is spent at the cutting board, now you can bypass that.

It's easy to get skeptical about what gadgets you bring into the kitchen. There's only so much space and some products feel like they're going to revolutionize your cooking game, only to wind up stuck in the back corner of a cupboard never to emerge again. The Salad Shooter has stood the test of time.

Of course, nothing's perfect. Many people love their Salad Shooters, but it isn't without its criticisms. Some people don't like how loud it is or that the size of the slices isn't adjustable, meaning you can't make them thicker or thinner. There's also a dilemma with the spout that you insert the ingredient into. While it's big enough to handle some items, you'll often need to cut your veggies in half or quarters to get them to fit.