5 Kitchen Tools That Will Save You Money

Were sometimes skeptical of single-use tools, but there are times when they're worth it. The cost difference between buying a whole pineapple and cutting it yourself and paying for precut rings or chunks is significant enough to qualify: an 8-ounce container of pineapple chunks costs about $3, while you can get five times that amount—about 40 ounces of the fruit—for $5, or even less if you buy a whole fruit (it's a difference of 38 cents an ounce versus 13 cents an ounce). A pineapple slicer and dicer ($20) makes quick work of the prickly-skinned produce. (As with the other tools, you'll want to make sure you're going to use this more than once to make the savings worth it.)

How it'll save you: There won't be nearly as much waste as there is when you attempt the job with a knife. You insert a shaft into the top of a trimmed pineapple, press down lightly and twist; the flesh will come right out of the peel, and then you can slide the dicer down the stack of rings (or leave them whole).