Unitasker Wednesday: Bananarama
This week is a twofer Unitasker Wednesday. If you’re Mr. Bean, you want your banana to have all the protection it can get while traveling. That’s where the Banana Saver comes in. Never again will you get an icky brown spot. And, since it “fits a majority of banana sizes” you’ll only need six or so Savers for a bunch of bananas. At $4.99 each, that is a steal.
Once you get to where you’re going, you’ll no doubt want to slice your banana. But, you wouldn’t want to use a knife like a sucker, would you? That’s why there’s the Banana Slicer, which the ad copy says works “in a second.” Life is too short to be slicing bananas.
Thanks to readers Tim, Roy, and Laura for sending these in!
** Unitasker Wednesday posts humorously poke fun at the single-use items that seem to find their way into our homes.
Posted by Jerry on Oct 24, 2007 |
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25 comments posted
Posted by caro - 10/24/2007
I saw the Banana Saver in a store and thought, some day this will end up on ‘Unitasker Wednesday’.
Posted by Andy - 10/24/2007
The banana saver is slightly ridiculous looking but not too bad as an actual idea. Bananas are quite difficult to transport sometimes and getting to your destination with mushed up banana over everything is no fun.
Obviously a normal plastic box would serve just as well, but the banana saver would minimise wasted space in your bag….. Hmmm, extra clutter at home but less clutter in your bag?
The banana slicer is, however, way over the top!
Posted by Andy - 10/24/2007
…also, I forgot…I love the product’s website for the banana saver with the product description of “…(Banana not included)…”
Posted by John - 10/24/2007
SWMBO has the banana guard as books and key used to end up in a mess!
When not in use they simply live in the fruit bowl. And they certainly do save space over a larger box
Posted by Jacki Hollywood Brown - 10/24/2007
I always put my bananas in a large mouth plastic drink bottle from the dollar store so they won’t get crushed in my lunch box. You can also use the drink bottle for drinking. Sometimes I fill the drink bottle with water and put it in the freezer so I will have an ice pack (but then I don’t put the banana in it).
Posted by CJ - 10/24/2007
What! I spent months looking for a banana slicer, and eventually had to settle on a tomato slicer. I dehydrate bananas for my pet rats, so it’s very important to me to have every slice be the exact same width (That way they all dehydrate the same). I wish you’d posted this a month ago!
(As for saving bananas, however, I have no need.)
Posted by ABM - 10/24/2007
The banana savers are used by cyclists that want to attach a high energy snack to their bike frames. Bananas are one of those “perfect foods” for cyclists – much bang, little buck. They aren’t really intended for home use.
What’s really funny is seeing a cyclists with half a dozen banana savers on their bike.
Posted by Louise - 10/24/2007
I can just imagine cleaning the banana slicer. So you saved 14 seconds slicing the fruit, only to spend 5 minutes tediously cleaning the little wires of banana gunk.
I admit I kind of like the banana holder, though. It would work well in a lunch bag/box to keep the fruit protected. When I was a kid, I was pretty hard on my lunch bag and stuff got squished all the time. The way kids carry heavy book bags now, those bananas DO need some armor to survive!
Posted by Louise - 10/24/2007
@CJ: Sounds like you are the perfect customer for the banana slicer. I’ll bet you slice many, many bananas at a time, making clean up more practical. Any photos of your rats delicately nibbling the dried slices?
Posted by urban bohemian - 10/24/2007
Wait a second, the Banana Slicer may have just changed the Butter Cutter from a Unitasker to a Multi-tasker! It could cut butter and bananas!
Posted by Nancy - 10/24/2007
I can’t help thinking that (for my own purposes) the banana slicer defeats the purpose of uncluttering. This just takes up more space & is one more gadget; whereas the knife I already own will do the same (unless as CJ mentioned above, you need every slice to be equal thickness).
Posted by CJ - 10/24/2007
@Louise: Yep, I think it takes around a dozen bananas to get the amount I want for their food mix. I originally did it by hand, but that really takes forever and I had some that were overcooked and others undercooked.
If I’d known about this product earlier (I mean really, who would imagine a device existed for the sole purpose of slicing bananas?) I would have gone for it, but now I think I’ll stick with my tomato slicer. I just have to cut the banana in third. I guess I could also slice tomatoes? But I don’t like them.
And unfortunately there are no photos of them eating one, but they do love it. It’s the first thing they grab out of the mix. I suppose I could take one if you really really wanted it
@urban bohemian: When I first saw the butter cutter that was my very first thought!
Posted by PJK - 10/24/2007
@ Nancy: The uni-tasker Wednesday posts are sarcastic, LOL! They aren’t REALLY recommending that you buy one. Their point is to highlight items that add to our clutter by having only one purpose. Like you said, a knife would work just fine! And as for CJ’s post, I think it’s safe to assume that he was doing some sarcastic story telling as well.
Posted by dancing monkey - 10/24/2007
I have thought about purchasing a variation on this product, called the banana bunker, because its phallic shape and sheer color remind me of sex-ed classes I never had.
Then I found these inflatable guys and realized there’s more options out there for fruit protection than I had ever considered.
Posted by Ralf - 10/25/2007
This is cluttering the Internet with useless ‘informations’. Some people may not see this posts as sarcastic. I fear someone out there takes this kind of article as a hint from the ‘professionals’…
Nancy’s post shows the danger. And people like me who are not native english speakers will also need a bit of time finding out that this is not serious.
And…did you ever thought about stealing peoples time when they look for real infos? It’s my daily routine to browse the list on LifeRemix but during the last weeks I have stumbled over so much useless posts that I feel that I am only losing time.
Posted by peacelamp - 10/25/2007
I actullay own the banana saver and use it everyday as i bring my breakfast to work in my gym bag and often the banana would get crushed etc… but now its awesome…it stay protected in the banan saver…its really awesome…it might be a unitasker but if thats a task you do everyday then its Worth it!!!
Posted by CJ - 10/25/2007
No I was quite serious. I really do need the slices to be the same size each time
Posted by shashe - 10/25/2007
I too once scoffed at the banana bunker (that’s sold at MoMA for 4.99 too and serves as a protector.) But then, I tried it and now I use it all the time. For someone who eats bananas regularly for lunch, this thing is fantastic at saving the banana from spoiling in my purse.
Posted by tlord - 10/25/2007
The funny thing is how for every Wednesday unitasker item (one of my favorite things on this site, btw!) there are a number of responses along the lines of “Wow! This is just what I need to *simplify* a particular task!”
Not everything is for everyone, of course — but it’s a bit like the witticism that whether you deem an action “practical” depends entirely on what it is you intend to practice.
I’m with the people who are defending the banana carrier / protector — one of these (if it works as advertised, or even 80pct of that) would certainly have saved some regrettable messes in *my* life
I don’t think the idea is to buy enough to carry a bunch of bananas anywhere as a bunch — just lone bananas on their final journeys. (Though the idea of a bike with a bunch of them attached does make me smile. Over the cost of those nutty packets of athlete-food-goo, it sure sounds appealing.)
CJ’s need for uniform slices for dehydrating is a legitimate one, too — I used to put up with very uneven drying (thanks to uneven slices), and I realize that this would actually have been a very useful accessory. Bananas wouldn’t hold up well to a mandoline, I suspect
timothy
Posted by Karen - 10/25/2007
I love unitasker Wednesdays! The banana slicer has got to be one of my all-time favorite posts so far.
Posted by Erin @ Unclutterer - 10/26/2007
@Ralf — I believe sardonicism, sarcasm, irony and humor can be effective ways of conveying information. A Unitasker Wednesday post may actually be more effective at telling our readers to “stop filling your lives with things, just to have things” than a post using those exact words. Additionally, we have too much fun researching and writing them
Posted by twosandalz - 10/26/2007
@Jacki — I was all set to buy my own banana saver (seriously!) for hiking. Bananas would make great day hike food… nutritious, filling and cheap. I never bring them tho. They turn into goop too easily. But your idea for using a drink bottle is even better than the carrier cuz I’ve already got those on hand. Thanks for the suggestion!
Posted by Andy - 10/26/2007
I am the proud owner of a banana holder – Lakeland Plastic in the UK have sold them for years – and it’s really useful. I had an ugly banana/laptop interface a few years ago and this thingy stops that happening.
Posted by jon - 03/03/2008
Remember to be a wise primate and peel your banana from the non-stalk end, just like the other primates do. It is so much easier and cleaner. And then take your banana peel home and put it in your compost bin. In the UK, bananas are price-protected to support our former colonies, and so are expensive, or rather, the peel is expensive. If you weigh the banana unpeeled and then weigh the peel, it’s always about 50% of the weight, hence 50% of the cost. So don’t waste your money throwing that peel into the bin, put it back into your Saver and take it home again.
And in the summer, put your drinks bottle in the freezer the night before cycling, and you’ll have ice cold water for your drive.
Posted by Penny - 11/29/2008
I just found the perfect companion piece to the banana saver – http://www.wdrake.com/WalterDr.....Rank%20ASC which helps you preserve half-eaten bananas!
For those times when you’ve saved your banana from getting squishy, but then just can’t finish it…
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