Unitasker Wednesday: The jumbo jerky works gun
All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!
Today’s unitasker comes from a Popular Mechanics list of kitchen gadgets that you’ll use only once. The list is a treasure trove of single use items and they fit in the Unitasker Wednesday category perfectly. The Jumbo Jerky Works Gun is some sort of mechanism that makes forming jerky easier. It looks like a caulking gun that you fill with seasoned meat. You squeeze the trigger of the gun, which produces a series of perfectly formed jerky strips or sticks. The whole process just makes my mouth water!
After forming the strips, you still need to place the meat in a dehydrator or an oven set on a low temperature. You will be enjoying your perfectly formed jerky strips or sticks in no time. The set includes cure packets, spices, and three different attachments to make strips, double strips, or sticks.
Thanks to reader Andrea for bringing this unitasker to our attention.
33 comments posted
Posted by anon - 11/05/2008
Actually… we have one of these, and we use it multiple times a summer to make ground turkey jerky that is the best stuff you’ll ever taste. Making jerky out of ground turkey is far cheaper and healthier than steak, and the gun is the perfect way of forming the sticks. So don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!
Posted by Fit Bottomed Girls - 11/05/2008
“a caulking gun that you fill with seasoned meat” — that just sounds gross!
Posted by CJ - 11/05/2008
I have this!
…and I’ve only used it once
Posted by Benjamin M. Strozykowski - 11/05/2008
Ew!
I can’t believe that people buy some of the things that you spotlight here in these posts. I wouldn’t be surprised if the patent holders for most of these things were the same person.
Posted by Megan - 11/05/2008
“This sort of thing is not my bag, Baby.”
Austin Powers… anyone? It strikes a serious resemblance.
Posted by Rue - 11/05/2008
@anon: I don’t think the blogger is knocking the product, exactly. It’s just an item that seems utterly ridiculous. And for most people it is…but for a few it’s not. *shrug* Same goes for all the unitaskers that are posted here.
That being said…this thing really does look like a caulking gun! I wonder if a caulking gun would have the same results…:D
Posted by becoming minimalist - 11/05/2008
i’ve used it.
and discarded it.
Posted by Celeste - 11/05/2008
I have an electric cookie press (that I’ve never used).
I bet I could re-purpose it as jerky gun. LOL! If I made jerky, that is.
Posted by Bonnie K - 11/05/2008
Hey now! I own one and use it. LOL
Posted by Julia - 11/05/2008
The fact that this stuff is still on the market means someone is buying it. Otherwise it wouldn’t be around for the rest of us to laugh at, and wouldn’t that be a shame?
Posted by Sarah H. - 11/05/2008
I’ve made beef jerky twice now and can see how this might be useful…but…yep, I wouldn’t pull it out very much (and I must say, it seems WEIRD to put meat in what looks like a caulking gun!). I try to cut my meat for jerky while it is still partially frozen–that makes it much easier to cut nice thin slices!
Posted by rosie_kate - 11/05/2008
See, it all depends on a person’s lifestyle. For the general urban population, no, these things are not useful. But there are a plenty us of homesteader/sustainable living people out there who do grow, preserve and prepare most of our own food. We do actually need a lot of these tools! My kitchen and pantry are full of equipment that I use regularly for the purpose of storing food– and many of these items I’ve seen listed as “unnecessary” on Unclutterer. I do have a dehydrator and I’ve made jerky, though not with ground meat so I have never felt the need for this particular item.
I really love Unclutter and have learned lots here, but I do feel that much of the material is more pertinent to urbanites. It’s fine, of course– I just take what I need and leave what doesn’t pertain to me! It’s just like any job– a plumber doesn’t need the same tools as an electrician!
I’m not complaining at all! I have certainly been inspired here to pare down my household and be more organized about the (slightly more abundant) tools I use daily.
Posted by infmom - 11/05/2008
I think they just pulled out a cookie press (which is actually a useful gadget) and slapped a new label on it.
Posted by JefferyK - 11/05/2008
Do homesteader/sustainable living people grow and kill their own beef?
Posted by Anne - 11/05/2008
please Thursday come without my dear hubby seeing this…I will distract him…
I don’t want this in my home, for years I have made excuses for the jerky dehydrator….he sees this, it is over….
is there anyway we can just forget this is Wednesday..put a new post up..
I will take off our bookmarks and promise to replace tomorrow…
feed stopped
Posted by Millie P - 11/05/2008
Oh, but you see, it’s not a unitasker! You can make jerky sticks, and both wide and narrow strips…. that’s three!
Posted by Mike - 11/05/2008
Actually, if for some God awful you bought one it can also be used to pipe icing. Just my 2 cents.
Posted by Peregrin - 11/05/2008
@JeffreyK: Yes, some homesteaders/self-sufficient folks do raise their own beef (or buy sides of beef from other ruralites. Others hunt (deer jerky).
Posted by Peregrin - 11/05/2008
(D’oh. There should’ve been an end parenthesis after the word “ruralites” in my previous comment.)
Posted by RR - 11/05/2008
Isn’t beef jerky STRIPS of beef, not spread out ground up beef? The latter just sounds icky, like Slim Jims or something. Yuck!
No homesteader worth their salt would waste $$ on this.
Posted by JPLemme - 11/05/2008
@RR
Solid strips make better jerky, but not every part of the animal can be turned into large, solid strips of meat. (Steak is better than hamburger, too.)
Posted by Tonya - 11/06/2008
For the vast majority of the population this would be a waste of money, but we gave one to my dad a few years ago for christmas and I believe he wore that one out and is onto his second one. He is known among extended family and friends for his fabulous venison jerky, and this nifty tool has made his hobby so much more efficient!
Posted by Anita - 11/06/2008
I still think it sounds oh so gross! And I thought you made jerky out of whole, cut pieces of meat, not ground meat.
Posted by Jen C - 11/06/2008
I’m with the cookie press crowd. If you have one of those (because you use it regularly for yummy yummy spritz cookies) just repurpose it.
Posted by Janet - 11/06/2008
We have one and use it every fall. My guys are hunters and love making their own venison jerky. So ours gets a work out. Hey it does a great job. We make the strips and the tubes. The tubes are our favorites they are like slim jims only ours are low fat and organic.
Posted by Ron Jeremy - 11/06/2008
I use this for working my meat all the time!
Posted by Laura - 11/06/2008
Laughing! We actually USE this!! Oh dear….but we like jerky and this is a good way to make it affordably with ground meat….sooooo funny!!!
Posted by Jey - 11/07/2008
Ever heard of the “frankformer”?? It’s my favorite!
http://www.frankformer.com
Posted by estyblender - 11/12/2008
That reminds me of another meat-related unitasker I recently stumbled upon…
The Bacon Wave(tm)! Designed to make perfect bacon in one’s microwave! http://tinyurl.com/5p35kp
Posted by Real - 01/04/2009
I have one, and I used to use it a fair bit, simply because I love jerky and you can make it a lot cheaper and healthier yourself. Now I simply ask the butcher to slice the meat with the fancy machines.
So… does anybody want mine that is cluttering the cupboard?
Posted by John - 01/05/2009
Who makes this? I have a version of this and it’s made in China. There’s about 3 brands.
Posted by Lilliane P - 11/08/2009
Interesting comments. There is definitely sometimes a rather unpleasant snide tone to some of the comments posted and not just today. Today illustrated the folly of assuming that one’s own reality, whatever it is, is the only one. Glad to see the rural and homesteading folk here with different points of view.
Posted by A year ago on Unclutterer | Unclutterer - 12/15/2009
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