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Monday 26 November 2012

OXO Salad Spinner: Review and Give-Away

Salad: it's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.


I might just change your life today. And then you'd forgive the fact that YET AGAIN I have left it far too long without an update.

Earlier this year, I had one of those conversations that start out of nothing with an elderly lady in my local supermarket. Want to know what it was about? Bagged salad.

I hate those stupid packets of pre-washed leaves that seem to spoil as soon as you open them. They are so, so, so ridiculously expensive. Do me a favour and compare the price (do the maths properly and work out the price per hundred grams!) of bagged lettuce or whatever versus its whole, shrink-wrapped cousin next time you're shivering in front of those overly effective chillers. You'll see.

Clearly my old lady friend was thinking the same.

'In my day, ' she said, somewhat gravely, 'we used a salad spinner. These bagged up ones (the salads - she was holding a packet of frisée as it happens) go bad after a day of being open.'

'My mum used to have one of those.' I offered. 'It was day-glo orange plastic and made a growling noise when you turned the handle.'

I couldn't tell if she was listening or not.

We both chose a packet of two Little Gems and went our separate ways. I wondered if she still had a salad spinner and if it was a day-glo orange model, and promptly resolved to steal my mum's cranky old one when I next went home.

As it happens, I forgot to and much time passed. I forgot all about spinners and continued washing my salad and draining it in a colander as usual, not minding the slightly limp leaves that this method produces. After all, I'd been eating salad like that for years (and if I'm honest, I always try and get away with not washing the lettuce anyway. The French always seem to get away without.)

Then, months ago now (I'm a slacker) I had an email from a rep for OXO, asking if I would like to try any of their range of baking products. I use a few already - I love their dough scoopfor portioning cookie dough before baking - and was looking through their range online when I noticed they also made rather funky looking salad spinners.

In a flash of inspiration I asked to give one a trial, thinking that the humble salad could take centre stage on the blog for once. We really can't always have sugar on the front page. It's not a good way to live.

Happily, OXO are letting me give away a brand spanking new Good Grips Salad Spinner(the link is to a slightly different model, the spinner is actually like mine in the pictures) to one lucky reader. We'll get to that later. First, let's check out what's so great about said salad spinners.


  

Here's the empty spinner. You'll notice straight off that it's not day-glo orange, and I can only apologise to you for that. Please remember that I am not the designer.

You'll also notice that there's no cranky little handle to turn. That's because the OXO spinner is automatic! You just push down on the lid, and your salad will spin away until all the water (or nearly all of it) is no longer clinging to the leaves, but instead collecting at the bottom of the bowl leaving you with dry, crisp salad to dress as you wish.
 

Look at it go!

The little point of design genius, as far as this salad maker can tell, if the little ridged point in the centre of the bowl. This keeps the leaves in their basket above the water level, so you get dry salad for no effort whatsoever. Amazing. You can also (or at least, I did) dress the leaves and serve the salad right out of the plastic bowl itself.



I noticed that a reviewer on Amazon has said what I am trying to get across in a much more efficient and direct way. Let's enlist the help of our good friends the quotation marks!

"be honest. can you live your life without a salad spinner? you probably can. but should you? no.

so if you're going to get one then this is the one for you. the central button you just push down and it spins your bits inside like there's no tomorrow. no longer do you have to contend with a rotating handle like on old-fashioned salad spinners that tend to fly off your counter and pierce you in the eye.

the oxo rocks."
Indeed.

I know you want one. Here's how (short of just going out and buying your own) you can get it.

I will be posting a mini-series of salads. Most likely there'll be three of them, but heck, I might do more. Simply leave a comment on any of those posts, or this one, telling me what your favourite salad is.

The rules (must have rules) are as follows:

  • Leave a comment on this post letting me know what your favourite salad is. Maybe you hate salad and you want this for someone else. That's fine. I'm not going to judge you.
  • If you prefer, leave the comment on the Delicious Delicious Delicious Facebook Page. You can like us as well! We'd love it if you did.
  • Comments will close at midnight on Monday 10 December 2012. Winners will be selected at random shortly after. 
  • Open to all people, everywhere.
  • Email entries not accepted. 

32 comments:

  1. My favourite salad without a double is greek salad with added avocado, because I'd add avocado to every food I ever ate if you let me. Yay for salad!

    talkative@gmail.com

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  2. I would love an automatic salad spinner !!
    My favourite salad is goat's cheese - chèvre chaud - grilled goat's cheese on slices of toasted baguette, served sitting on a little onion marmalade with crisp salad. Preferably also served at a little round table in the square at Chinon where you can watch the world go by for hours......but then you can't have everything !!

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    Replies
    1. Tell me about it, Jean. Life is teaching me the hard way that, no, I cannot have everything!

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    2. Jean, if you don't win it... keep an eye open for Lidl's version... I got one some time back... but I saw it this year as well [Anglais et Francais sites]... I love it... but Pauline's a bit blasé about it... I think she prefers the dayglow green one with the growly handle. But this reminds me of a spaceship top that I had as a child... but doesn't make whistly noises or sparkles.
      But it does dry salads! I'm just putting some Limouzin Frères goat cheese on top of a "use up freezer and fridge" shepherd's pie.

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  3. My favorite salad is a spinach, pomegranate, tangerine salad with a pinenut-shallot dressing, or maybe lettuce with halloumi and strawberries soaked in balsalmic vinegar. I don't need a salad spinner, though, as I already have one.

    I just thought I'd add a little tip for people who may be concerned about the amount of space which is taken up by a single-use product. Salad spinners are also great for getting the water out of light-weight hand-washed clothing. I use it for bras, but of course it works for other delicates.

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    Replies
    1. I have a wool setting on my washer that is perfect for that. Though I love your resourceful thinking! Thanks for commenting Ann.

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  4. Favorite salad...a big green salad with all kinds of vegies.

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  5. To be quite honest I don't have a favourite salad, sometimes I make a salad for work using whatever ingredients I can find in my fridge! This goes from spinach, to cherry tomatoes, to pickled onions, to ham and lastly possibly a few bits of pasta to bulk it up! My fave dressing however is most probably honey and mustard without a doubt!

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  6. My favorite salads change with the seasons, but at the moment I'm totally obsessing over the salad I made with our first Thanksgiving dinner: baby greens with thin sliced apples, toasted pecans, feta cheese, dried cranberries, and a dressing made with balsamic glaze.

    Also, it's lovely to finally see a salad spinner that's dishwasher safe!

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  7. I love salads with fruit, nuts, and cheese. Apples, pears, peaches... pine nuts, sunflower seeds, cashews... and pretty much any kind of cheese!

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  8. My fav salad has got to be a big Ceasar salad!

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  9. Hmm favorite salad would have to be an Asian Chicken salad! I love the tanginess of the sauce! At one point last year, I ate it every night for dinner :D

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  10. I love salad so much that I eat all sorts of variations all the time - any kind of combination of veggies and usually some cheese or maybe chicken or nuts is my lunch staple. But if I really have to pick a favourite it's probably a classic casear, with crisp romaine leaves and that fantastic dressing that I can never remember all the ingredients of.

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  11. Tough to choose... but it's definitely between a Santa Fe/Cowboy Caviar covered in avocado and corn, or a spinach salad with hazelnuts and roasted squash.

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  12. wow this is a beautiful giveaway...I always loved salads....but if made sometimes gets soggy...so i hope the salad spinner will help a lot....

    Luv all kinds of salads which includes fruits, nuts and cheese with the greens...

    "DIWALI FOOD FEST" Nov 1th to Nov 30th
    "Bake Fest #13" Nov 1th to Nov 30th
    SYF&HWS - Cook With SPICES" Series
    South Indian Cooking - July 15th to Sep 15th

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  13. I own the small version of this and LOVE it. I don't eat a lot of salad, but I use it to rinse and drain herbs on a regular basis. It is worth every inch of cabinet space it uses (which isn't really all that much).

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  14. Hey Mr P,
    I would <3 to win this salad spinner.. I am too a shameful buyer (and discarder) of those bags of salad that go off too quickly.

    The salad I am obsessing about atm is 'bread salad': take day-old bread, chargrill with olive oil on both sides, before rubbing with a garlic clove; chargrill some meat (or tofu?) to your taste (medium rare is great with lamb), I love lamb, chorizo or steak; tear bread into pieces, slice meat thinly, and toss with your favourite salad vegies and cheese (i prefer feta or bocconcini/mozzarella)

    Thanks! :)

    Laurin

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  15. I like every kind of salad I can find at the grocery store!

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  16. I hate soggy salad and I would love this spinner! I love something spicy, like arugula, with something earthy, like some lentils or beans. Plus a lot of some nice balsamic vinaigrette and some toasted walnuts, and some pomegranate seeds!

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  17. My favorite salad is an overnight salad with bacon and munchee cheese and mayo and cauliflower and other yummy ingredients!
    dwmarks33@comcast.net

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  18. Mr. P, how I need that salad spinner! I've been spinning my salads since I was a mere slip of a girl, and I'm still using the same model decades later. Every time I see the OXO, I want it but can't bring myself to buy it because I (technically speaking) already have a spinner. So you see, unless I win one, I will never know the joys of the OXO salad spinner since the one good thing about my spinner is that it apparently lasts forever! jean at delightfulrepast dot com I love salads of all kinds. Throw in a little quinoa and you have a meal.

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  19. I was actually thinking of getting me a salad spinner, and you have this give-away...is this a sign or what???!? Would love to win an automatic one too.

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  20. My favorite salad is a chicen caesar salad.

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  21. I love all salads (my nickname is Salady!) but I do like a raw vegetable salad a lot, made with little floreats of cauliflower and broccoli, fresh beans, mushrooms, zuchinni and corn kernels (and capsicum or anything else you love)..add a little home made salad dressing and yummo!

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  22. I am slightly ashamed to admit I like my salad simple. Iceberg or Cos (possibly Little Gem), baby beetroot and room temp cherry tomatoes. I do like a caesar salad if I'm feeling naughty.

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  23. How can i possibly pick only one?

    Raw red cabbage with roasted almonds, diced oranges and cranberries maybe? Or Caprese? On any given day a simple green salad with plenty of veg and feta cheese is also kind of godsent. I simply cannot live without a salad spinner, now that i've seen one :P

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  24. My favourite salad is Nicoise, and if I won this salad spinner I'd give it to my mum because she has salad spinner envy as I own one of these and couldn't live without it!

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  25. My fave is definitely a lovely fresh Greek salad. Preferably eaten somewhere hot and sunny! :)

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  26. I don't know about a favorite, but whenever I make salad I always seem to add fruit - berries, sliced pears, pomegranates, mandarin oranges, etc., etc. And when I go really crazy I'll throw in a few nuts! =)

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  27. Andrea McConnell9 December 2012 at 10:24

    In summer my salad has to have some fruit in it - pineapple, mandarins, grapes or strawberries with simple iceberg lettuce, cucumber and grated carrot. Definitely no tomatoes!!
    In winter I like a warm couscous salad with baby spinach, roasted peppers and a squeeze of lime juice. Yummy!

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  28. My favourite salad would have to be a simple, rocket, Parmesan & balsamic vinegar - oh with a pinch of rock salt.... so simple and delicious!

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That's what he said.

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