Genius hack to stop snacks from going stale goes viral: 'Love it'

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The internet is full of amazing contraptions we never thought we needed, and a TikToker has just brought one particularly nifty one to our attention.

American woman Lindsay Roggenbuck shared a video earlier this month of a tiny gadget that can be used to reseal any ordinary packet of chips or bag of snacks.

It’s a genius hack for keeping chips from going stale if you can’t finish the whole bag in one sitting - or as another reviewer put it, for parents of temperamental toddlers who are desperate to open a packet of snacks but just eat the one mouthful.

The mini bag sealer is a pill-shaped device that looks a bit like a tiny stapler, but instead of pressing it once to release a staple, you run it along the open top of a bag and it uses heat to weld the two sides together, completely sealing it up as if it had never been opened.

It works on any type of plastic bag, you just need to hold it down for a few seconds before using it to make sure it’s warm enough.

Unlike a regular sized vacuum sealer, this unit is battery powered and small enough to fit in the palm of your hand so it’s super convenient to store and use.

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“Simply slide it along the edge of any bag and it’s sealed airtight,” Lindsay says in her video, “So perfect for snacks, chips, you name it!”

Granted, you could get the same result by using a well placed bag clip or tipping your leftover chips into a container, but neither have the same novelty appeal.

While Lindsay is based in the US, it’s not hard to get one of these mini bag sealers shipped over to Australia.

Prices on Amazon Australia range from $13 to $45, however the model with the best reviews is this one priced at $22 plus postage.

Not everyone has been as thrilled as Lindsay with the product however, with a few people commenting that it didn’t work for them.

Clearly a big fan of the gadget, Lindsay replied saying that the lack of instructions is confusing and you need to make sure to preheat the device by holding it down in the sealing position for at least five seconds before using it.

Another person who loves the sealer said, “I use mine all the time. I open my lettuce bags, stick in a paper towel and seal back. My lettuce lasts so much longer.”

Someone else simply said, “Have it, love it”.

There's also a second use for this gadget, and if you flip it around to the other side, it can be used to cut a plastic bag open.

So if you’ve bought a bag of frozen hash browns for example, you’d use the cutting edge to open the bag, take out the hash browns you’re about to cook, then seal the rest back in using the sealing end. Pretty nifty!

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