two tiktok hacks you should NOT try at home

you’re better than this.

Hacks, for all intents and purposes are supposed to make people’s lives easier. Social media is littered with people trying to make doing anything easier, but as more people jump on the bandwagon, people have to become more creative with their hacks to stay relevant. From clickbait to hacks that just don’t work, you can find anything online. So for the sake of critical thinking skills, here are two dangerous hacks made by dumb people for dumb people that you should NOT be attempting, at home or anywhere else.

I understand dorm rooms are a tight fit— you’re likely sharing a small space with another person and sharing a kitchen with a number of other people— so cooking fast and quick becomes a priority. However, you shouldn’t sacrifice your brain cells or wellbeing to eat something half edible, or ruin the appliances that everyone else has to use too.

1. steak in a toaster

A toaster is a heat source so there shouldn’t be a reason why this doesn’t work, right? And logistically, this does work. Especially if you aren’t accounting for flavour or a general sense of responsibility.

Obviously the biggest question is: would the steak even cook? Short answer, yes. A piece of steak needs to hit an internal temperature of 145F and a toaster can heat up to twice as much. But the real problems arise in other areas

1. it would be tedious to continuously start the toaster over and over again to actually cook the steak because a toaster isn’t designed to stay on for that long or cook meat.

2. the toaster wouldn’t be food safe to use for anything else because the uncooked meat juice is all over the inside of the toaster and would contaminate everything else.

3. do you really want to be the person who makes your whole building smell like burnt meat or start a grease fire?

4. if you’re desperate enough to try cooking a steak in a toaster, you’re desperate enough to walk to a chipotle.

5. poaching eggs in the microwave

If you’ve ever searched up ‘how to poach an egg,’ then you’ve more than likely seen some of the dozens of videos about how to poach an egg in the microwave. All seems well and good when you’re watching someone else stick an egg in the microwave but what happens when you try it?

A base fact that has to be understood here, is that placing a whole egg in the microwave will explode. The most common attribution to that is that the shell keeps the steam trapped which builds pressure and boom you’ve created more work for yourself in cleaning up. But it’s not just the shell that makes the egg explode. Even if you break an egg and pop it in the microwave, it will still explode because both the yolk and the whites are explosive since the microwave superheats the entire egg.

Now I’m sure you’ve seen people stick the egg in a bowl of water and you’re thinking ‘well this must fix it’. It does not. This is even worse because the boiling water will slosh out when the egg explodes and you risk getting even more injured.

the bottom line

If you’re hungry, cook your food normally. Don’t try any of these ‘easy’ hacks. Not only are you playing at getting seriously injured, but you’re putting other people at risk and looking like an idiot. A trifecta that I don’t recommend.