Trying out products sure can work up an appetite. So our Does It Work? duo headed to the kitchen for today’s round of testing.
The two of us — home writer Mary Beth Breckenridge and consumer reporter Betty Lin-Fisher — checked out five products used for storing food, cooking it and cleaning up afterward.
Here’s what we thought.
Ankomn Savior
We tested two different containers designed to keep food fresh longer. One, the Ankomn Savior, was sent to us to try out.
This pricey vacuum-sealed container boasts it will keep food fresh up to eight times longer. We were intrigued by promotional materials showing a picture of a banana that looked good enough to eat after 21 days in the container, so we decided to try our own test.
We put a just-ripe banana into the Ankomn Savior and followed the directions to twist a knob on the lid to expel the air inside. We set another banana from the same bunch beside it, out in the open, and waited to see what would happen.
Amazingly, the banana in the container had barely changed in appearance after 12 days, while the other banana was mostly an unappetizing brown. Not so amazingly, both bananas were nearly liquefied inside.
Yuck.
A subsequent test found the container kept refrigerated strawberries fresh several days longer than berries left in their original carton, but we could see that the fruit in the Ankomn Savior was starting to go bad after a week. There was no way those strawberries were going to last a month, which would have been eight times longer than the other berries.
We realized part of the problem might be that the vacuum seal doesn’t hold indefinitely, so perhaps the manufacturer expects users to keep resealing the container periodically. But that wasn’t specified in the instructions, so we didn’t do it.
The Ankomn Savior comes in 1.5- and 2.5-quart sizes. The larger container, which we tested, retails for a hefty $74.99 but wasn’t even big enough to hold an entire bunch of bananas. The container is dishwasher-safe, but not the lid.
While we found it does extend the life of food somewhat, we doubted the claim of eight times longer. And the price was just too steep for both of us.
Verdicts:
Betty: Skip It
Mary Beth: Skip It
Rubbermaid FreshWorks produce saver
Knowing we were going to test the Ankomn Savior, we decided to also try this cheaper food saver as well so we could compare the two.
We paid $14.99 for a large FreshWorks produce saver, which holds 17.3 cups, or a little more than 4.3 quarts. The container also comes in 2.5-cup and 6.3-cup sizes.
The FreshWorks makes the more modest claim of keeping produce fresh up to 80 percent longer, and we found that to be about right with our strawberry test. The refrigerated berries (which, admittedly, were a little past their peak when we bought them) went bad after four days outside the container but lasted a week inside it.
We should note that the FreshWorks container is designed only to hold produce, while the Ankomn Savior can hold a wide variety of foods, including coffee, spices, cheese and meat.
Mary Beth liked the FreshWorks, especially the fact that all the parts are dishwasher-safe. Betty, however, found it bulky.
“And even though it can keep strawberries for a week, I’m not sure I want to eat them after that long,” she said.
Verdicts:
Betty: It Depends
Mary Beth:
Snap It Up
FlavorStone InfusionGrill
The FlavorStone InfusionGrill isn’t a grill, but rather a grill pan with ridges in the bottom. That provides space to add juice, wine or some other liquid, which is supposed to infuse the food with flavor and produce steam to speed cooking.
We spent $59.95 to buy our pan online, plus tax and $8.95 for shipping. That was enough to make Betty balk. “Whoa, that’s an expensive pan,” she remarked when she saw the price.
We tested the grill pan using a recipe for Stir “Free” Orange Chicken that came with it. Right away, we encountered a problem. With a grill surface that’s less than 8½ inches in diameter, the pan was too small to cook the prescribed amount of chicken breast chunks — 1 pound — in a single layer. We had to pour off the liquid produced by the chicken to keep the meat from poaching in its own juices.
The chicken eventually browned nicely, but it took about 20 minutes, not the 5 minutes specified in the recipe. And the chicken didn’t pick up any of the flavor of the sauce we added after the chicken had browned.
We tried the pan again by cooking a couple of boneless chicken breasts with orange juice. Even after 18 minutes, the meat still wasn’t cooked through. When it was finally done, we couldn’t taste even a hint of orange.
We did like one thing about the FlavorStone InfusionGrill: As promised, the pan cleaned up effortlessly. But that wasn’t enough to win us over.
Verdicts:
Betty: Skip It
Mary Beth: Skip It
Egg-Tastic Ceramic Microwave Egg Cooker
This $9.99 lidded ceramic container cooks up to four eggs in the microwave oven.
At first we wondered why you’d need this gadget instead of using a plain old ceramic mug, but now we get it.
We cooked an egg in the Egg-Tastic and another in a mug of roughly equal size. The egg in the cooker came out fully cooked and fluffy in the prescribed time. The egg in the mug didn’t cook through in the same time.
Of course, cutting a minute or so off your egg-cooking routine might not be enough motivation to buy a special implement. And as Betty pointed out, it’s one more thing to have to store in kitchen drawers or cabinets that are probably already stuffed.
The Egg-Tastic doesn’t work any wonders for the texture of microwaved eggs, either. Some people like eggs cooked this way; some people don’t. If you’re one of the latter, you’re not going to like them any better cooked in the Egg-Tastic.
Verdicts:
Betty: It Depends
Mary Beth:
Snap It Up
Grill Stone Cleaning Block
Who knew your grill brush could be dangerous?
A study published earlier this year estimated emergency departments treat 130 grill brush injuries a year in the United States, many of them caused by people accidentally ingesting wire bristles. That has some people wary of using the brushes.
If you’re one of them, the Grill Stone might be a good alternative.
The grill cleaning block is similar to pumice but made from recycled glass. It’s gritty and a little soft, and it scrapes the residue off a grill grate.
Wait a minute, you’re probably thinking. Isn’t glass just as dangerous as wire if you eat it?
Despite what you may have read in murder mysteries, eating glass ground this finely shouldn’t hurt you. The instructions with the Grill Stone do, however, say you should wipe off the grill after you’ve cleaned it, and we think that’s advice worth heeding. Otherwise you might end up with gritty food, which is pretty unappetizing.
We tested the Grill Stone on Betty’s grill and found it removed the blackened residue from the tops of the bars in the grate faster than a wire brush. However, it didn’t remove the residue from the sides of the bars, while the brush did.
“But when you’re grilling, do you care about that?” Betty asked.
Her husband, Paul, does. When he tried the Grill Stone, he also noted it removes the seasoning from the grate along with the residue.
Because the block is so soft, we were concerned it might wear down quickly, so it would be a good idea to have a refill on hand.
We were sent the product to test, but a Grill Stone with a handle sells for about $6 to $8. Refills sell for around $4 or $5 apiece, and you can buy them in packs of three.
Verdicts:
Betty: It Depends
Mary Beth:
Snap It Up
Have you seen an advertised product and wondered if it really lives up to its claims? You can suggest items to be reviewed by Mary Beth Breckenridge and Betty Lin-Fisher by sending email to mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com, or calling 330-996-3756 or 330-996-3724.