Easily Stop The Spread Of A Ripped Potato Chip Bag With A Hole Puncher

A crunchy bag of potato chips is a moreish snack, but finishing off an entire family-sized packet alone in a single sitting isn't always advisable. And, if you've accidentally ripped the bag while mindlessly munching on those crispy potato discs, it makes it much harder to store them away for later. Luckily, if you've got a hole puncher handy, it's easy to stop the spread of a ripped potato chip bag at the source. Simply use your hole puncher to make a single circular perforation at the tip of the tear to halt its path. This will round off the linear, pointy apex of the rip, instantly preventing it from advancing.

Chips left open to the air become stale quickly because the hydrophilic starch molecules present in potatoes absorb the moisture around them. So, to keep chips fresh and crispy, it's important to stave off any tears that appear in their packaging before you store them away.

If you don't have a hole puncher handy, there's another way to stop a vertical rip from moving further down your bag of potato chips. It may sound counterintuitive, but try tearing the bag a bit more. This time, rip at a right angle to the original slash in the packaging before moving back up the bag. With this simple technique, you'll round off the tear, mimicking the curve that a hole puncher creates, therefore preventing the packet from splitting all the way down to the bottom edge. This method makes for a neater potato-chip-eating experience, especially when sharing the bag with children, who aren't concerned about making a crunchy mess on the carpet.

When all else fails, why not rip the bag open along the existing fault line, lay it flat on a table, and share the chips with friends, as the Brits do in U.K. pubs with single-serving-sized packets? Although this won't work for solo movie nights, it's perfect for Super Bowl get-togethers and parties where you'll go through bags of chips en masse.