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If you are in the stage of life where you’ve got young children who can still choke on certain foods, you’ll also know the tedium of slicing grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, hot dogs and other foods in half to make them safe for your kids to eat.
So, when I saw a gadget called the Zip Slicer from Progressive Prep Solutions for sale on Amazon, I was eager to try it. The long, tube-shaped device and attachment claim to help you quickly slice through multiple food items, like grapes and snack tomatoes, in one move.
At the time I purchased the Zip Slicer, it was around $30, including shipping, but it was on sale for $28.95 as of publication time.
How It Works
Inside the white attachment (shown below) that slides onto the clear tube is a triangular razor that, when slid along the tube that’s packed with tomatoes or grapes, neatly cuts through them. You’re supposed to slice in “one quick motion,” according to the directions.
I tried out some grapes to begin. I couldn’t figure out if I needed to keep the grapes precisely in a line or not but they tended to get a bit askew when I held the zip slicer straight up with the attachment ready to slice.
Does It Actually Work?
Honestly, it worked pretty well for me, with a little trial and error.
The zip slicer didn’t cut through all the grapes, which was because of the way they had aligned themselves in the tube. But, after a second swipe, I had most of them cut in half and in less time than it would have taken me to cut them individually.
Next, I tried slicing some tomatoes that were smaller than cherry tomatoes, which was a bit of a problem because they definitely clumped together and didn’t stay in a straight line inside the tube. However, the razor still managed to cut maybe half of the tomatoes on the first go.
I tried it again with larger grape tomatoes and this time the slicer worked beautifully, cutting every tomato in half. So, it seems to me that objects closer to the width of the zip slicer’s tube work best.
I also let my 6-year-old son have a turn slicing some tomatoes, and, with the blade safely inside the plastic sleeve attachment, I wasn’t worried about him cutting himself.
We didn’t have any hot dogs to try for the review, but I have to imagine the zip slicer would work quickly to cut those in long strips. Considering that studies have shown hot dogs and grapes are some of the top things young children choke on each year, the zip slicer seems like a convenient and worthwhile device to have in your kitchen if you’re a parent.
Even if you don’t have kids, I can see how being able to slice through a bunch of tomatoes right into your salad would be a nice time saver.
Users seem to be pretty happy with it, overall. From more than 1,500 reviewers, the zip slicer has an average score of 4.2 stars out of five.
One Amazon reviewer, Kathleen McGregor, wrote that she likes the zip slicer for just that purpose, saying she eats cherry tomatoes frequently but hates chopping them up. While she apparently doesn’t often buy single-use kitchen gadgets, she said this one was worth it.
“It is fast and so easy,” McGregor wrote. “The triangle sides just slip through the tomatoes, since you can use the handle from either side. It’s simple, useful and efficient.”
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