Vidalia Chop Wizard
by Vidalia Chop Wizard
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Our Price: $27.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Vidalia Chop Wizard
Customer Review: DID A WHOLE BABY SHOWER SALAD BAR WITH THIS
Summary: 5 Stars
I LOVE THIS TOOL... a year ago, I threw a big baby shower for a friend...I am NOT a party planning person at all, and NOT a good cook...so I thought, what would be healthy, fun, and fresh that people would really enjoy...answer: SALAD BAR! I highly recommend doing a salad bar to anyone throwing a shower.
I really only needed three things to complete the task: 1)This Vidalia Chop 2) Lots of two-compartment clear rectangular trays from Dollar Tree, and Zip Lock bags to store all the GORGEOUS, perfectly chopped veggies in overnight.
I used this chopper on just about everything. I cut cucumbers into thirds then put them through the chopper to julienne them into perfect strips, of course did gorgeous red onions, chopped peppers, celery, etc. SO beautiful.
I also used a round tray from Dollar Tree to hold the dressings and did simple tent labels next to each side to mark the kinds of dressing. I had a lot of items that I didn't put through the chopper but the uniformity of the perfect chopped veggies is what made the display so beautiful.
Everyone thought I was some master party planner...but I can tell you right now, I would have never gotten through that formidable mountain of fresh veggies without this chopper.
I use the product still all the time. It's super easy to clean (I'd never use it if it took more than a few seconds). And I love how it chops the veggies into it's little container underneath. This is good for two reasons. 1) it allows you to get really good leverage for harder items. I read reviews of other choppers and it seems like people have a hard time getting certain things through...but since this thing is flat, you can put your whole body weight in if needed and slam it through...very easy! 2) It has a built in measuring cup so you can stop EXACTLY when you get to the amount needed for a recipe.
Enjoy!
Customer Review: I must confess...I broke it....
Summary: 5 Stars
I did! I broke it. Vidalia chop wizard met its enemy and its name is butternut squash. I had a recipe that called for a butternut squash. Strangely, it said to peel it then chop it into small pieces. Peel it? How the heck does one peel a butternut squash?????? (Without cooking it first in any way) So (feeling silly and at a complete loss) I broke out the potato peeler and "peeled" the outside skin of the squash, which took FOREVER since the outside is very hard. I put the pieces on the slicer tray and banged the lid with my fist over and over and then...
Well, the corner attached to the lid splintered and flew across the kitchen into the dining room!
Gawd, I was heart broken because I killed my beloved chop wizard! And I had quite a lot of chopping left to do.
Dispite this inconvience, I loved the chop wizard and in fact I'm online right now to buy another with all the other attachments. I bought the first one at Walmart for $10 on sale around Christmas 2006. It chopped everything I asked it to beautifully and really made my new fresh vegetable diet a lot easier to tolerate because I HATE handling onions (I no longer wear my sunglasses while chopping them) and I hate slicing carrots and I hate messing with all the small tedious veggies that just take forever and a day to get into a recipe. I've cut myself with a knife so many times. It does require more effort to crush the lid on the tougher veggies like carrots than let's say onions but I'll tell you, it's not so bad especially when I'm so incredibly frustated at having to eat my veggies when all I want is a cheese burger and fries. I can take my frustrations out on the veggies as I smash them through the blades. And it's somewhat satisfying. Cleaning the lid is kind of a witch, even with the handy little comb thing they provide. But I would recommed it to anyone! And I have...
Customer Review: BUY IT NOW - prefer it to the Progressive Intl. chopper
Summary: 5 Stars
This thing is so fantastic I make excuses to use it. For years I have wanted something to make Mexican salsa with. Tomatoes, onions, and jalapeños for a big bowl used to take me 40 minutes to chop! (OK, so I'm not that good in the kitchen). Now I've got a bucket of salsa in five minutes, and it's fun. It's even fun to clean! Along with a cat, it is one of the things I have resolved never to live without again. If it broke, I wouldn't even care--I'd just buy another one.
The one thing I would kill for is a slicing insert. Why didn't they make this? Or did they? Please Vidalia, THIS IS A CRI DE COEUR!
The Progressive International Chopper comes with a slicing insert, and I even think it's manufactured by the same people (the Vidalia has the word "Progressive" in slightly raised lettering on it). However, I don't like the Progressive as much, for persnickety reasons. You have to put the lid (the thing that slams down on the onion) on "just so," whereas with the Vidalia somehow you just slap it on and away you go. The Progessive comes with a handy plastic case to put the whole thing in, but it is so precise that, again, you have to fit everything in just so. Psychologically it seems too tight and compressed ... I need wiggle room. I throw my Vidalia back in the box, toss it on the top shelf, and I'm done.
Objectively the Progressive chops and dices just as well, once you've hooked the lid into place and pulled it out of its tight little box. And it has the slicer attachment for mushrooms, etc. If you are not bothered by the same crazy stuff as I am, then buy the Progressive. Personally, I am sticking with the Vidalia, which gives me enormous pleasure, and in the meantime I'll pray that Vidalia starts making other inserts.
Customer Review: FANTASTIC
Summary: 5 Stars
Like some others here I am very leery of TV infomercials and after studying it HEAVILY.... calling the company, seeing, taping and RE-watching the half hour infomercial, also looking all over the internet including Target's reviewers along with Amazon's reviewers, I decided this was safe to take a stab at [pun IN-tended lol] because I cannot stand in the kitchen chopping because of my back. This device is FANTASTIC. At first don't get nervous, because you have to get accustomed to it's little quirks [hey, WE all have those too lol]... like making sure the whole fruit or veggie is cut in half OR quarters or YES, it WILL be a mess, as some have said, and celery has to be cut into smaller segments [I cut across the WHOLE bunch of celery, hard to explain] and you DO have to bang the cover down VERY HARD sometimes, but hey.... so what! It WORKS. Then when done chopping, take the blade out and bang it over the pot to get the excess into the pot/pan that remains in the blades [unavoidable], then use the white piece that they enclose to help OR a fork, and it's fine. What a DIFFERENCE instead of cutting everything. Don't hesitate for a MOMENT in getting this. By the way, Target's reviews were much worse so don't even bother to go there... I read these here first [it's FROM Target through Amazon] and there were much more great reviews HERE to overpower what I read there, so decided to try it, and am so glad I did.Customer Review: Love it! Bought two for me and several for friends!
Summary: 5 Stars
I think the Vidalia Chop Wizard is an awesome kitchen gadget - one that everyone should have! For starters, if you chop some garlic, zucchini, squash, etc. and shake it all together with some olive oil, salt and pepper - you don't even need to cook it. The "fresh chop" just tastes so good and it slices and dices faster than I ever could. Often I will stay away from veggies because I am too lazy to chop...but this device makes throwing together a meal healthy and simple. I have found the small dicer to be great for garlic, but because I like the dices smaller, I put the garlic chunks though it a second time to get them even smaller. You will not use this chopper for all your chopping needs - sometimes you just want a different cut - but it will come in handy time and time again. Especially wonderful for small kitchens with little space, throwing together some fish (or other) and veggies, or just prepping for veggies to throw in some foil on a BBQ. I love my Vidalia Food Chop. It's a time saver! Just make sure you rinse/clean it after use so the bits don't stick in the grate. I wouldn't mind a larger container to chop into, more grates with different cuts and a more compact way to stack/keep all the pieces together...but this is something that can easily be solved by future attachments and/or alterations (hint, hint Vidalia). Definitely not good enough reasons to go without while you wait!