(Product Review) TeleBrands Original Chef Basket Deluxe (As Seen On TV)

TeleBrands Original Chef Basket Deluxe (As Seen On TV) Review

TeleBrands Original Chef Basket, Deluxe - 4615

Reviewed by kelly60 on 2013-02-07

Product Rating: 2

Community Rating: Very Helpful

Pros: Folds somewhat flat, works for some foods, I only paid a dollar for mine.

Cons: Made in China, poor construction, sharp edges, difficult to clean

Summary: It was probably worth the dollar I paid for it, but I'm glad I found it at the dollar store instead of paying full price.

If you have ever watched the infomercial for the TeleBrands Original Chef Basket Deluxe, you may have thought to yourself how useful this gadget might be, but like so many of these products from the infomercials, this product is more little more than hype.

The Chef Basket claims that this product has a "12-In-1" design and can be used "on the stove top for cooking, boiling, deep frying, steaming, poaching, blanching or par-boiling, and as a colander for rinsing, washing, draining, straining, storing." Yes, this sounds like a pretty versatile gadget. Unfortunately, I did not find this basket to be very useful.

The first thing I noticed when removing it from the box was the poor construction. This basket is made of steel wire that isn't put together very well. There were some parts where the seams were not attached well, leaving openings, and sharp points to the woven basket. In addition to small pieces of food slipping through some of the openings, this also makes hand washing nearly impossible. Even though they tell you that this is dishwasher safe, I wasn't happy with how well it cleaned up in my dishwasher either.

So, how useful is this gadget? It certainly would not replace my colander because it just isn't large enough to get the job done, and is much harder to clean. The same is true for most cooking tasks I tried. I can use it to wash a few veggies, then insert it into the pan of boiling water, but can't cook a large enough batch of most things to feed my family. I used it for french fries, steamed veggies, pasta, and boiled eggs, but couldn't only make small quantities of any of these things. It could cook a box of macaroni & cheese except that stirring was difficult and some of the noodles fell through or got stuck in the holes. I could make around 8 hard boiled eggs, or a few smaller boiled potatoes. It may be large enough for a single person, or maybe even a couple, but the size was too small for most purposes I would normally use it for.

When expanded, the basket measures about 5 inches deep by around 9 inches in diameter. Since the handles must extend horizontally outside the cookware but not near the flame, you have to be careful of the pan size you use it with or the handles to heat up. There is a warning about proper positioning of handles, but doesn't tell you that you have to use a specific sized pan to keep them from burning your hands. Even when used according to the directions, they still heat up to some extent, but you will probably at least be able to handle them if you are careful.

They also claim that it folds flat for easy storage. Even though it does collapse to take up less space, it does not fold completely flat like the commercial shows. It looks good in the box, but once removed would not fold up as small again. Still, it doesn't take a lot of space, so I could live with this if the product worked as well as described.

The box also offers the "Amazing Chef Knife" that never needs sharpening for free, but instead of including this bonus knife in the box, there is a certificate for the knife which will cost you around $6 shipping and handling... not exactly free in my opinion.

Overall, I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this kitchen gadget. I found mine at a dollar store, so for the price of a dollar, I got to try it out. I'm not sure what the online price was for this basket, but I do recall seeing a buy one get the second one for an extra shipping and handling charge. Whatever the price, it was too much.


Originally published on Epinions.
#RealShoppingHelp