The way it works is that the “separate shipping and handling” one pays for the “free” item is considerably more than it should be. Usually around $29.95 I believe for a $19.95 item. Then that is also the shipping charge for the one you are buying, so already you have $19.95 + $29.95 +$29.95 and if they throw in any other “free” gifts (the Graty?) they’ll add yet another $29.95 etc. So that $20 item you ordered can easily add up to over $100 very quickly…sometimes you are automatically enrolled in some kind of program as well, for a monthly charge…it pays to read the fine print.
The Slap Chop however has recently experienced a price cut it seems. The web site is now offering it for $14.95 with all the freebies being an additional $7.95 (each) in shipping…
What I had was the Vidalia Chop Wizard (website is here). It worked well enough, although you can’t just put half an onion in it and expect to dice it. It’s too much work to push it through the blades. So I had to cut the onion into one-inch thick slices and then dice that using the gizmo and even then, the thing broke at the hinge points. But it made nicely diced onion.
That really shouldn’t have been how it worked out. Here’s what the fine print on their website says:
So it should be:
SlapChop: $19.95
S&H: $7.95
“Free” SlapChop: $0
S&H: $7.95
Canadien Surcharge: $2
Total: $37.85
Re: Vidalia Wizard, that has always been my impression of it. It always looked like the woman in the commercial was using the weight of her body to press down, as if too much force were required to use her hands and arms alone. It seemed like you would have to cut the veggies into smaller pieces if you wanted to be able to dice with ease, in which case, I struggle to see the point. Maybe I’ll just go with a sous chef after all. Anybody wanna work for free?
Yes, that is now. But last year it was at 29.95 for shipping…almost all infomercial products are that way. You really have to read carefully on them to know what the true cost is.
Heh…yeah, y’all are all too quick for me, I rarely get to say something before it has been said already. But I did have to jump in there, being one of only 2 who will admit to owning a Magic Bullet (the blender!) at all. I don’t need a bunch of strangers on the 'net speculating about the contents of my night stand, ya know?
That’s the oddest thing to me. Kicking a puppy makes you an asshole, cheating on your wife makes you an asshole, lots of other things make one an asshole, but seriously? Buying a (useless) kitchen gadget is enough to make someone an asshole?
Everyone can go back to speculating on what toys may be in my night stand now since it might be the contents of my kitchen cupboards I should worry about more.
The one thing I regularly use it for is if I’m making a recipe that calls for grated ginger. I just peel the ginger and use the Pampered Chef chopper to smash it to little bits. If I used a grated, I’d be trying to scrape all the fibers out of the grater’s teeth for days.
For a really small task, it’s too much work. For a big task, the food processor is better.
I bought a Cuisinart SmartStick® Hand Blender at CostCo for $29.95 and love it. It claims to be a “hand blender”, and the defaults attachment turns it into a stick blender. But the package came with a two cup food processor and a whisk. For what I use it for, the food processor does a great job and is easy to clean. The blade and shaft come apart, and the bowl doesn’t have any fiddly places. I also have a full-sized food processor, but never reach for it. This SmartStick is so light that I can pick it up and shake it and rotate it to make sure everything is evenly chopped - something I wish I could do with the full-size unit.
I have a Braun version like this, called (IIRC) the MultiMix or something. It looks like a hand mixer, and has beater and dough hook attachments, plus attachments to convert it into an immersion/stick blender or a mini food processor - chopping only - with a two-cup-volume container. It really only handles one cup of volume if there’s fluid involved, due to the fluid spiraling up the sides of the container and squeezing out the gap at the top once the blade starts going. I like it for jobs like mincing a whole or half onion, especially since my eyes hate onion fumes and the container keeps it in check. Plus the small container, blade, and top are pretty easy to clean compared to our big food processor.
I get to be the minority vote here. I’ve never seen a slap chop in real life, so I don’t know exactly how it compares, but I do own the Pampered Chef version, and honestly, I LOVE it. I use it at least once a week.
I don’t get the clutter argument, since my chopper has allowed me to throw away my cuisinart food processor w/ its big pile of attachments. True, the chopper only chops, it does not puree, but I was never pureeing things in my food processor anyway. I have a blender which is really for margaritas but could be used to puree if necessary. The chopper is small and takes up less space on my counter than many other things like my toaster or knife block. Yes, I do also have good knives. And yes I keep my chopper right out on the counter because I use it so often.
And I really, really, really don’t get the argument that it is hard to clean. In the split second that I am moving it from the counter to the dishwasher I am taking it apart at the same time - that’s how easy it is to take apart. I just put the pieces in the dishwasher. If I put my food processor in the dishwasher, it took up a lot of room. And if I were using a knife and cutting board, I’d be putting those in the dishwasher anyway, so what’s the diff?
Meanwhile it does chop faster and more safely - my kid has been getting the satisfaction of being able to help with cooking since the age of 3, because the kid only needs to pound on the top.
Sure, there’s room for improvement on the price, and even the design, but I would hardly say it’s a useless waste of money.
I use mine when the husband’s not around to be the sou chef. It makes much nicer little onion bits than I could do myself, and lots faster, so I don’t burn my eyes.
It can be hard to close, but I found that if you put the onion in rounded side first, it works better.
This is the 
