A safe mandoline slicer?

A pair of chain mail gloves?

PL8 PROFESSIONAL MANDOLINE Slicer

The OXO folding mandoline is plastic, but not the easy to break kind. The Kyocera paddle mandoline has a very sharp ceramic blade and is really easy to use on top of a mixing bowl, and while not as durable as the OXO, it shouldn't break. I have a DeBuyer stainless real deal mandoline, which is big and heavy and indestructible, but is a bear to clean because it's so big and heavy, and it needs to be shifted a lot as slices pile up. And it was a gift. I wouldn't want to pay for one just for scalloped potatoes.

What all these have in common is needing a lot of hand strength for slicing raw potatoes. If the potatoes are cooked through, but still firm (hard to get so that the center isn't hard), any of them would work. Perhaps there are some kinds of potatoes which are softer for slicing. I don't do a lot of potatoes, so that's a reasonable possibility.

Otherwise, your best bet would be a food processor. They slice really well. Mine (Breville) has an adjustable thickness on its slicing blade, but there may be others that have that too for a better price.

Are there any apple peelers that could do it for him? Mine peels, slices about 1/4" thick, and cores in one step, but maybe there's a peeler with variable controls?

Mandolins and shaky hands are a disaster in the making. I have one made by deBuyer and I used to hide it from my dad who also liked to make a sliced potato recipe (potatoes au gratin). Therefore, I agree with pillog that a food processor is probably the safest bet. If that’s too cumbersome or overkill, maybe something low-tech like the Salad Shooter (remember when that came out?) would be a good option.

I just did a Google image search for 'adaptive vegetable peeler and there are a number of designs. Here are a few:

For shaky and weak hands.

https://nasey.us/shop/plastic-potato-slicer-tomato-cutter-tool-shreadders-lemon-cutting-holder-cooking-tools-kitchen-accessories/

dcarch

I would go with the veggie shooter. Nothing with an open blade like a mandoline sounds safe at all!

I so agree about any mandolin. So dangerous. Even with a 'no cry' glove at his age. Mom and Dad turn 90 and 91 next week. Would not even consider something so dangerous. Even my brilliant small mid-size Cuisinart? I know they would have trouble getting the parts aligned especially the top the way it has to engage, slide and click.

I like the powered shooter!. And dcarch' gadget idea giving a holding grip. Very simple guiding help for thin slices. I know my parents would not use it though. They don't care for learning new tricks. Too fussy. I do think they would like the shooter since they prepare so many slaws and salads and soups.

I have the Japanese ones that chefs use....and use them all the time. And two of the big heavy stainless I use for bigger prep being quite a bit wider.

(good quality plastics can be very sturdy). Sadly it is often hard to tell what product manufacturers care enough to research for longevity.

"----- And dcarch's gadget idea giving a holding grip. Very simple guiding help for thin slices. ----"

One thing to consider, it is very important for aging folks to have opportunities to exercise mentally and physically. If possible, don't select tools which require no work,

Just MHO.

dcarch

I have a food processor and even I don't use it for potato slices. Just too difficult for it to slice them due to loading issues and I don't have shaky hands. And thanks for the reminder on the peeler, he needs one of those too. But he only peels potatoes, and he does need something made for shaky hands.

As to DC's point, my dad does need things to do, and making scalloped potatoes is ONE thing he thinks he might like to try. It's been very difficult to get him to do anything due to depression which he refuses treatment for. He's actually kind of obsessed with scalloped potatoes, as he has an aide who makes them for him, neighbors make them for him, and he goes to monthly potlucks and comes home with leftovers of them. That's why I never make them for him, he almost always has a batch in the fridge anyway. But if he expresses an interest in wanting to peel and slice potatoes, that is at least something so to find a way to make that possible for him to do safely would be great!

I have a small food processor and a mandoline. The food processor is just about finished due to the plastic bowl cracking and breaking (not really due to excessive wear and tear either, just not very sturdy vs. size.) And my mandoline I don't use because it slices uber thin and is not adjustable. Takes forever to slice anything . . . So even if dad doesn't like it, I might end up using the salad shooter. We eat a lot of salads.

I've had a salad shooter for years (with only the grating attachment) and use it when I'm making stuff with lots of cheese (lasagne). Love it!

I think I'm going to ask Santa for the new one!

I wouldn't go anywhere near a mandolin.... at any age. DH kept buying them and I kept losing them. ;-) I'm really liking the idea of a Salad Shooter for myself. Thank you, Sammy.

Just talked to Dad and found out he got a mandoline. I asked him if there was a safety guard on it. His response was, "Why, there's no need for one." He will be for-sure getting knife guard gloves for Christmas!

Oh dear! Christmas? How about tomorrow. (Not that he will wear them.)

My only solace is he probably won't use the mandoline.

I would remove it from his house today and give him the shooter instead , show him how to use it and give him lots of veggies to practice on!

I did find out that there is a guard on the mandoline, my dad just didn't recognize what it was. He's totally unfamiliar with any kitchen gadgets. I seriously doubt he will get much use out of the mandoline. He insisted on getting a small crockpot even though he already had a 6 qt. one he didn't use, and has not used the smaller one either. He insisted on keeping the waffle maker even though he doesn't use it. If it gives him pleasure to have it and think he might use it, I'm not going to further sweat the issue. You know, the whole serenity issue, not sweat what you can't control and focus on what you reasonably can. He'll be getting a set of gloves, but knowing my dad, me getting them for him would be a prime reason for him not using them, just to "show me." I had to learn to let that kind of stuff go a long time ago. I will be getting him the salad shooter, but have to do it in a way that he does not think it is me telling him to use that instead of the mandoline. Me telling him not to use the mandoline is the surest way I know of to make sure he uses it. Seems counter intuitive I know, but narcissistic controlling people love to disregard help, knowledge and assistance in order to show their superiority to the person offering to help. Taking help to them is a sign of weakness and inferiority and they will go to great lengths to avoid that feeling, even if it is totally illogical.

Oh pinkmountain, I feel you!

My dear mother is almost 90 now, and has lost a great deal of mobility and control over her life, and since she has always been fiercely independent, she is having a terrible time adapting, or recognizing when she needs aid - especially when it's coming from me!

I do not consider her to be narcissistic, though. She is more of a frustrated 'control freak'.

I use my mandoline for slicing far more often than I use the food processor. I'm late to the game since your dad already got one, but I was going to suggest doing an amazon search for "v slicer" and picking one of the simplest reasonably highly rated ones. I have the Oxo mandoline and it's very good at a very good price point, but still it's more than most people need. An added benefit is that the guards are usually obvious and easy on the simplest v slicers.

I think that is the one my dad got, the Oxo v-shaped one.

I have a food processor and a mandoline and the attachment for the KitchenAid that slices and a very old and much used Salad Shooter. Oh, and one of those old Veg-O-Matic things too, LOL.

I never use the KitchenAid attachment, the mixer itself is too large and heavy to move about to a place where I can actually use it. I do use the food processor for large batches of things, like the garlic that I sliced this evening for the dehydrator. I never use the mandoline, it's a PIA and collapses whenever I touch it, plus it's difficult to clean and all the blades never fit back into the box, it's some high end expensive one that belongs to Elery and he may have it with my blessings!

Now, the Salad Shooter? I actually like it. It's lightweight, easy to store and the handle makes it easy to control. If I just am making salad I'll grab my knife, but I use it for smaller jobs like grating cheese and shredding cucumbers for a batch of sweet relish. It's at least 30 years old but still works fine, although I'm betting that the new ones won't last that long.

Don't argue with your Dad, it won't do anything except aggravate both of you. He's like my Mother who refuses to use a walker at 84, although it would make her more mobile and everyone wouldn't worry about her falling. She "doesn't need it" and refuses to use it and the more we talk about it the more stubborn she becomes. Your Dad is like that, his CHILD is never going to tell him what he should do, and he's not going to do it anyway. Get him the Salad Shooter and tell him you found the best gadget you've ever seen, see how it can just shoot slices of vegetables all over the place. Could he just show you how that ring goes on that holds the slicing blade in place? You're just going to leave it there so you can use it when you cook at his place, but he's welcome to use it when you aren't. If he's like every other person I know, he's going to have to play with the gadget, even if he won't do it while you are there, plus he gets to "show you" how it's supposed to work, double bonus.

Annie

Annie, do you think your grandkids could get away with giving your mom one of those four pronged stability canes if it had racing stripes, flames and skulls?

That's my plan Annie. I need to wait until Christmas so Dad doesn't think that I got the salad shooter to REPLACE his mandoline or because I thought the mandoline was a bad idea. And it's a win-win, because my small food processor is pretty much shot due to the plastic cracking/chipping, so if Dad doesn't use the salad shooter, I certainly will.

I get the frustration and depression that comes from limitations in old age. But I don't understand some of the illogic of it. Like you are trying to help them stay mobile, not cut a finger off, not fall, etc. - not totally limit them from participating in life anymore. I have one friend with a mother that keeps falling by going down to the basement to do laundry. She has given her mother names of already vetted home helpers but she refuses them. I asked my friend if it was a money issue, can her mom afford it? My friend said yes. To me this is a no-brainer. Heck, if I could afford it, laundry would be off my list of activities RIGHT NOW. If I had to give up laundry to remain mobile and in my own home, so much the better, then I would have an excuse! Or like my dad, who refuses to move his computer from his basement office to his office on the first floor. So instead he complains he hasn't done anything on the computer because he doesn't have the energy to go downstairs . . . He even had it on the first floor for a while and moved it down to the basement, so it is not like this is going to throw his routine into chaos . . . When I suggest he move the computer to his upstairs office, he says he needs the exercise of going downstairs. He has money, I suggest getting another laptop for upstairs. No, he's too old he says. And frankly I would get him a laptop and set it up for him, but I don't have that kind of money, and then I would have to hear the endless complaints about it. He has other computer savvy friends who might do the same. Meanwhile, I'll stick with complaints about the salad shooter . . . It is what it is.

Plllog, she has one. It's purple with flowers on it. Makayla picked it out because it reminded her of gardens. Mother says they are for "old people" and if she starts depending on such things, she'll never get back to "her old self". Yeah. I don't dare tell her she's never going to get back to her "old self", because her "old self" was younger than she is now!

Annie

Oh boy! I feel for you. I was one of two primary care givers for my grandmother. She lived to be 101+. She was a full on contrarian. It was exhausting to try to help her in all the convoluted ways that wouldn’t kick in her contrarian side while trying to respect her independence. I once found her smirking and proudly eating her breakfast blackened cookies under a haze of smoke. Someone had given me a platter of Christmas cookies I hadn’t successfully hidden. She had shoved the whole plastic tray into the toaster oven.

Not sure if this would work. A few years ago my aunt regifted to me this cuisinart gadget for spiralizing veggies. I recently finally unboxed it . All the sharp parts are inside the gadget.

https://m.kohls.com/product/prd-2919301/cuisinart-food-spiralizer.jsp?skuid=38170868&ci_mcc=ci&utm_campaign=FOOD%20PREP&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=google&utm_product=38170868&CID=shopping15&utm_campaignid=6889977295&pid=googleadwords_int&af_channel=CSE&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxZShiIP65QIVI-eGCh1d-gMvEAQYAyABEgJ1p_D_BwE

I have an OXO V-blade mandolin. The first time I used it I was arrogant and thought I didn’t need the guard. About 3 slices and I had taken off the top of a knuckle. Fortunately, my RN cousin and her MD husband lived across the street. He ended up putting a compression bandage on it. And having to re-bandage it several times over the next week or so.

@l pinkmountain, if you can at all sneak into your dad’s house and swipe the blades or any other part that will make the mandolin unusable, please do so! Are you in league with his aide? If so, perhaps she’ll help the pieces get “lost.”

I still use my mandolin, but not without a lot of trepidation. Even when I use a protective glove, I’m still skittish.

I'm not fond of mandolines. Once they taste blood, well, you know......

I know you will make things as safe as possible for your Dad!

Thanks again for the help, I do understand the concerns about mandoline
safety and I thank you for sharing them, they did confirm my own concerns. Fortunately or unfortunately, my Dad is not a child nor is he mentally incompetent. I'm not responsible for his safety, he is. Of course I love him and would like to help as much as possible. But I can't control my controlling father, nor do I want to get wrapped up in that kind of thing. It's kind of like when your kids become adults, you love them but they are the ones responsible now for their own lives. There are gazillions of people out there doing all kinds of things they probably shouldn't and people who love them wishing they wouldn't. I'm not ungrateful or disapproving of the help and advice offered, but at this point I am bowing out.

I have no advice to give. I've dealt with my own stubborn elderly parent and understand the frustrations. I'm personally scared to death of mandolines, so I've never used one, nor have I wanted to use one.

About 30 or more years ago, my mother gave me a Salad Shooter, and I've been using it ever since. It's what I use for shredding cheese when I'm not doing more than one pound at a time. I'ts my favorite shredder for summer squash & zucchini when preparing squash patties/fritters/pancakes. The shreds are slightly different in shape from what I get with a hand grater or food processor. They don't seem to exude liquid as easily.

Thanks to this thread, I ordered the larger professional sized Salad Shooter, and it just arrived. I'm looking forward to using it.