This Balanced Bowl-Colander Hybrid Saves Time and Water

Sorry, lazy home cooks: You really do need to wash your fruits and vegetables before you eat them. Rinsing produce thoroughly removes up to 90 percent of harmful pathogens, but between dirtying a colander, using up water, and inevitably spilling some food in the sink, it's also a huge pain. Equilibric, a combination food strainer/serving bowl—currently raising money on Kickstarter—makes the process a lot simpler.

Instead of using a separate colander and bowl to prepare a meal, this hybrid kitchen item saves you a step. If you're washing fruits, vegetables, beans, or grains, just add your ingredients to the Equilibric colander, fill it with water, and use the handle to pour out the liquid into the sink. As the water flows from the bowl, it rinses the food inside the colander. According to Equilibric, this method uses the 60 percent less water than traditional strainers and washes away twice as many contaminants.

For straining ingredients that have already been cooked, like pasta, the product works the same way. And when your food is strained, you can serve it straight from the bowl instead of transferring it to a new vessel. It can also act as a defrosting bowl. When you have frozen items that need to come up to room temperature, just place them in the colander—the bowl will collect any water that accumulates and make for easy clean-up.

Equilibric comes in two shapes: a 9-inch-wide round colander and a 12-inch-by-8-inch rectangular one.

Buy one on Indiegogo for $19 and up, with delivery estimated for September of this year.

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