Helpful Find: This Little Shredder Makes Meal Prep So Much Easier

There are some kitchen gadgets you buy, use once, and then they disappear into a cabinet for the next five years.

This isn’t one of those.

We use this food shredder all the time.

Chicken.

Pork.

Fresh tuna.

If I need something shredded, there’s a pretty good chance this thing is coming out.

See the shredder on Amazon

Could I accomplish the same thing with two forks?

Absolutely.

Do I want to sit there pulling apart a pile of chicken with two forks when this thing can do it considerably faster?

Absolutely not.

What Is It?

It’s a pretty simple kitchen gadget.

Put your cooked meat inside, put the top on, and rotate it back and forth. The plastic teeth inside grab the meat and pull it apart.

A few turns later, you’ve got shredded meat.

One feature I really like is the clear top.

You can actually see what’s happening inside while you’re turning it. If the pieces are still too large, keep going. When it reaches the consistency you want, you’re done.

No need to keep opening it to check.

We Use It for a Lot More Than Chicken

I originally thought of something like this as a chicken shredder.

It definitely does that.

But we’ve found quite a few other uses for it.

We’ve used it to make:

• Shredded chicken tacos
• Chicken salad
• Fresh tuna salad
• Shredded BBQ pork

The fresh tuna has become one of my favorites.

We’ve been grilling tuna steaks and then shredding the tuna to make tuna salad rather than always using canned tuna.

Drop the cooked tuna into the shredder, give it a few turns, and it’s ready for tuna salad.

Where It Really Earned Its Keep: Pork

Chicken usually isn’t particularly difficult to shred with forks.

Pork can be another story.

I’ve made pork before that I expected to fall apart beautifully…

It didn’t.

Then you’re standing there with two forks trying to convince a stubborn piece of pork that it’s supposed to become pulled pork.

That’s where I’ve really appreciated this thing.

Put the pork inside and start turning.

It shreds it.

Even some of the pork I’ve had trouble pulling apart manually has been considerably easier with this.

That alone makes it useful in our kitchen.

It’s Also Faster

This is probably the biggest reason we continue using it.

Convenience.

I’m always looking for ways to make cooking easier.

I can sit there pulling chicken apart with two forks…

Or I can put it in this thing, twist it a few times and move on to the next part of dinner.

That’s an easy decision.

Especially when we’re making something that requires a decent amount of shredded meat.

There Is One Thing I Don’t Love

I’m not going to pretend every product I put under Helpful Finds is perfect.

This one has a downside.

It’s a little annoying to clean.

The plastic pieces inside that do the shredding are sharp and pointy.

That’s great when they’re attacking a piece of chicken.

It’s less great when you’re trying to clean little pieces of chicken out from between them.

I wouldn’t recommend getting aggressive with your fingers trying to remove stuck food.

Use a brush.

Ours came with a small cleaning brush, which helps get into the tight spaces.

I actually think having a slightly larger cleaning brush in addition to the included one would make cleaning easier. Keep the little brush for the tight areas and use the larger one for everything else.

The important thing is making sure you don’t leave little pieces of food stuck between those plastic teeth.

Into the Dishwasher It Goes

After we’ve removed any visible food particles, we put ours on the top rack of the dishwasher.

That’s made cleanup considerably easier for us.

As always, I’d follow the cleaning and dishwasher instructions that come with the particular model you buy rather than assuming every plastic shredder is dishwasher safe.

The dishwasher handles the final cleaning.

I just want to make sure there aren’t chunks of yesterday’s chicken hiding somewhere inside before it goes in.

Because…

Gross.

Is It Necessary?

No.

Let’s be clear.

Humanity successfully shredded chicken for a very long time before someone invented a plastic container with spikes in it.

Two forks still work.

Your hands work.

There are other ways to do it.

But that’s not really the point of my Helpful Finds.

I’m looking for things that make everyday tasks easier.

And this does.

It’s especially helpful when we’re preparing a larger amount of shredded meat or when we’re dealing with something like pork that doesn’t particularly want to cooperate.

❤️ Greg’s Take

This is one of those simple kitchen gadgets that turned out to be much more useful than I expected.

We’ve used it for chicken tacos.

Chicken salad.

Fresh tuna salad.

BBQ pork.

It saves time, saves me from fighting with two forks, and the clear lid lets me see exactly when the food has reached the consistency I want.

The downside?

Cleaning around all those little plastic teeth.

Use the brush.

Trust me.

Other than that, this thing has earned its place in our kitchen.

And considering how many kitchen gadgets end up buried in the back of a cabinet…

That’s actually saying something.

Where to Find It

If you want to see the food shredder I use, you can find it here:

View the food shredder on Amazon