Cutting-Boards – How to Funnel Food off a Cutting Board

cutting-boards

After I cut or chop something up on a cutting board I have the problem of funneling the pieces into a bowl or other container and it typically makes a mess.

Normally what I try to do is scrape the pieces with a knife into the bowl or whatever, but inevitably some of the pieces miss and go flying off onto the counter or floor.

Is there a reliable method of funneling food off a cutting board into a bowl, cup or other smaller container?

Best Answer

I have a few ways of dealing with this:

  • When using a small cutting board, use a bowl that's wider than the (smallest) dimension of the cutting board. If you can manage to swing (not fling!) the cutting board upright above the bowl, everything will fall into the bowl. Especially if the bowl is a bit wider than the board. Don't catapult your food off the board, but try to do it reasonably quickly so the board is upright before the food has slid/fallen off.
  • When using a large cutting board, I put the board flush with the edge of the counter. I hold a bowl next to the counter, and because I'm not relying on gravity, I'm able to very precisely push things off the board bit by bit (as others mentioned, use your hands or the back of your knife). If you have a circular bowl, you may want to create some overhang with the cutting board, so the edge is above the widest part of the bowl.
  • You can achieve a similar effect by putting the bowl in the sink and your cutting board next to and flush with the sink.
  • If the food is going to be cooked together anyway, favor using a big bowl for everything rather than several small bowls to put everything in separately. Less washing up, less change of missing a big bowl when dropping food into it.
  • When cutting large chunks, you can always just use your hands to pick things up. My mother would use a spatula and her hands and she should move quite a lot of food that way.
  • If you have a cutting board with a handle, you can actually use the handle as a mini-funnel.
  • With a bit of dexterity, you can make a V-shape by holding the back of the knife to the edge of the cutting board, and use that similar to the folding cutting board that moscafj linked. It only really works for smaller piles of food (depends on how wide your knife is, I guess).
  • My grandmother's trick #1: Pile the cut food, put a cup/bowl over it. Flip the board+cup. Take away the board.
  • My grandmother's trick #2: Pile the cut food, put a cup/bowl/your hand over it. Hold the board over a bigger bowl. While holding the cup/bowl/your hand in place, pull back the cutting board, so the food slides off the board and falls into the bigger bowl.

Which method I use depends on the food, amount, cut size, and what bowls I have available. I have a fair amount of plastic bowls specifically to simplify the whole cutting-and-storing part of our rather large meal preps.

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