If you are serious about dehydrating fruit and vegetables for food storage, you should look into purchasing a mandolin slicer to aid with food preparations.
A mandolin slicer makes each slice a uniform size so your food will dehydrate evenly. It also saves you time and money preparing easy meals that you might otherwise purchase frozen or prepackaged.
We’ve had homemade french fries several times since our new mandolin slicer arrived and I look forward to having this handy kitchen helper as I prepare more produce for dehydrating.
I purchased a Deluxe Cook V-Blade Mandoline Slicer as an introduction to using one and I’ve been asked to give it an honest review.
I think the product is well made and sturdy. The blades are very sharp and my next purchase should probably be a pair of those cut resistant gloves so I can use the slicer without worrying about cutting myself. There are 4 separate blade attachments, which are easy to slide in and remove:
- one for a medium slice,
- one for a thin slice,
- one for a french fry julienne cut,
- and one for thin julienne cut. We used this to make zucchini noodles.
- it also has a hand guard.
It has an overlip bowl hook at the end and we found that it does work best when using it with a bowl. I think it would be more versatile if there was also a kickstand, so you can use it on a cutting board too. It was awkward to hold the slicer upright for heavy cutting jobs.
We cut zucchini slices with the medium slice. These will be dehydrated for future use.
We cut thin potato slices to make our own chips. Baking instructions and seasoning.
We cut russet and sweet potatoes with the large french fry cut attachment. This turned out to be harder than it looked like it should be, because it took quite a bit of pressure to get the potatoes through the julienne slicer. It even bent few of the small tines out of place. We fixed them easily with a pair of pliers. We also discovered that the potato needs to be no bigger than the handheld guard or you can’t get the pressure needed to do the work.
Finally we made zucchini noodles using the thin julienne cutter. That worked so well we will do this all the time. I think it makes eating healthy much easier when you have the right tool.
This mandolin slicer is easy to clean. There are no funky areas that collect food, so it is easy to give it a thorough washing and let it air dry. Overall I’d say this was a great purchase for our family and that it’s something we will be using quite a bit for food storage. Do you have a mandolin slicer? What is your favorite way to use it?
#deluxecook from Amazon – There are affiliate links in this post. Thanks for supporting PreparednessMama in this way.
Deluxe Cook V-Blade Mandoline Slicer Professional – Easy to Clean – Hand-Held Stainless Steel Vegetable Slicer – 4 Cutter Attachments – Thin & Thick Slices, Chips & French Fries – Lifetime Guarantee!
GREAT KITCHEN TOOL. You’ll love cutting very thin, uniform slices of veggies for healthy salads & stir-fries or a julienne slicer for celery & carrot sticks for snacking or even french fries!
SUPER EASY TO USE AND A BREEZE TO CLEAN. Lightweight yet sturdy with no fiddly knobs, nooks or crannies to hose down. Dishwasher safe. Food prep so much easier you’ll wish you’d bought one sooner!
SOLID WORKMANSHIP that doesn’t feel flimsy. The silicone handle & feet enable safe handling so it won’t slip & slide on the counter and the incredibly sharp cutting blade is fixed so won’t fall out.
SAVE TIME & MONEY on a slicer that does a better job than units several times the price. A time saver even if you can julienne and slice very thinly and makes fast work of canning and preserving food.
PEACE OF MIND with our lifetime guarantee making your purchase of the best mandoline slicer 100% risk-free.
I got a mandoline as a freebee with something I bought last year. I had never used one before but now I keep it next to my fridge now and use it every day.
It is great for slicing the fruits and vegies I dehydrate, cook with, and use for fresh snacks. It works extremely well for slicing cooked meat for sandwiches and chunking for stews.
I also got a shredder with it that I use to shred cheese, vegies, etc. It has been a joy to have something that works so efficiently and quickly. Prep time is cut in thirds and I actually have more time and produce to can, dehydrate and smoke our for pantry.