The Hack That'll Keep Ketchup From Flying Out From The Packet
When eating fast food, you're usually given two choices of ketchup. You can either get the stuff that's dispensed into those tiny paper cups, or you can take a handful of ketchup packets with your order that you'll probably just leave in your glove box. If you wound up with the packets, you probably know that they can be kind of a pain to open. It's either impossible to get all the ketchup out unless you practically rip the whole thing apart, or, depending on how you tear it, the ketchup shoots out at an angle and splatters everywhere — possibly all over your clothes.
Ketchup packets, love them or hate them, have been around since the 1960s and clearly aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Rather than avoid ketchup packets for the rest of your life, you can finally learn how to use them the "right way." But what's the "right way?" Isn't tearing off the little marked corner and squirting your ketchup onto the wrapper of your burger how you're supposed to do it??
While it's true that this is a widely accepted and common method, it's not the act of tearing that's wrong — it's how you're tearing the packet that needs to be corrected. By simply tearing the ketchup packet down vertically instead of horizontally, you not only save yourself a bit of time (and prevent a mess), but you also get a little personal pouch full of ketchup just for you to dunk in.
You can dip your fries right into the packet
As mentioned, it can be kind of hard to get every last bit of that tangy tomato condiment out of that plastic packet. Unlike the paper ketchup cups, you can't exactly dip your fries into the packet if you've only ripped off the corner per the packet's instructions. However, by simply changing the direction of how you tear open the packet, you can very easily make a convenient and easy ketchup pouch to dip your fries into.
To achieve this, take the ketchup packet and find the dotted or marked corner that tells you where to tear it. Instead of tearing at the little corner in one quick horizontal jerk, tear right down along the side in one long vertical rip. In this way, you open up the ketchup packet to resemble a pouch or wallet shape, perfect for dispensing an enormous amount of ketchup at once or dipping your fries into without making a mess. Again, this is a remarkably easy and very basic trick.
The hack can be done with any ketchup packet, but it's best to tear slowly. Since you're opening the entire thing, there's a chance that ripping it too fast could cause some of the ketchup to splatter out. Just pinch the edge you're tearing, rip the packet slowly and firmly without being too rough, and you'll avoid any wayward condiments on your hands, face, or clothes.
A TikTok video first drew attention to this hack
It's a safe bet to say that you may not have heard of this trick until you read this article. If so, you're in good company — plenty of others haven't either and, judging by their reactions, seem to be equally surprised that such a clever workaround exists in the first place. In fact, it was a TikTok video from 2021 that apparently brought this ketchup packet hack into the spotlight.
In an interview with Good Morning America, content creator Erica Kuiper explained that she and a friend first came up with the idea while they were trying to drive and eat their fries at the same time. By opening the packet as a pouch, she said, they could effortlessly "drive and dip." She also noted that she'd previously shared this method with her daughter and it had become something of a signature move for the family. In comments to Good Morning America, Kuiper seemed surprised by how popular the video was given its simplicity and expressed disbelief at how the hack had managed to go viral so quickly.
@cookiterica IMPORTANT FRENCH FRY HACK! #tiktokfood #lifehack #savagemom #momsoftiktok #ketchup #frenchfryhack #Buffering
Although her video is indeed popular, Kuiper isn't the first person to have introduced a ketchup packet hack to the Internet. Food Beast, for example, detailed a particular hack in 2014 that involved tearing off a larger corner space of the ketchup packet and dunking fries into the condiment through the wider hole.