Salad Shooters and other shredding things

[Darienne]

Yep, I am old and my hands don't work well any more. And I make a lot of dishes which take a lot of cutting and mincing and dicing and shredding and so on. Particularly salads in the summer. And nuts for muffins and anything else I can add nuts to. DH loves nuts in everything.

DH Ed will do the cutting and mincing and dicing and so on for me whenever I ask. But then he's often not there when those cutting bits are needed...or I just don't want to ask him AGAIN. I have a food processor with no shredding part to it, a couple of those cutters which you bang on the top with the palm of your hand...that hurts the hands also. Knives, box graters, microplanes, etc, but they all hurt to use. And if they don't hurt while I am using them...they hurt later and sometimes for a couple of days. This is ridiculous.

OK. This is not to gain sympathy, but rather as background from which to ask about the usefulness of buying a Salad Shooter...or some other utensil which works as well. (I always thought a Salad Shooter was one of the useless things which you watched some poor guy work at the Exhibition in the Food Building.) Apparently not.

All advice is appreciated.

[Lisa Shock]

I haven't owned the Salad Shooter, so, I cannot comment.

I own the DeLonghi DSM7 mixer, no longer on the market, I think the Cuisinart mixer is its successor, and I have the shredder attachment for that. It's sort of a chute that you attach to the gears on the top of the machine. You place a bowl under it and just shove things in. I like it. You can keep going forever, unlike a food processor, you can empty or change your bowl while it's operating. I don't know if clicking it in place would be too much for you. Also, you still have to cut things to fit in it, like make wedges of cabbage, or peeling carrots. It's pretty easy to assembly, it latches on with a metal handle.

I also own the mini food processor/chopper attachment kit which is a small glass jar with a blade that sits on top. This is good for quickly mincing a half onion. It assembles like screwing a lid in a jar then pushing onto the gear.

Anyway, if you have a mixer, you might want to look into what's available in attachments. And, as always, eBay is a goldmine of discontinued parts and accessories.

[Smithy]

I've been eyeing my mother's Salad Shooter (not used in years) with the idea of putting it to my own use. I may be able to report back on it next week when I'm out visiting again. In the abstract, I'll note that its advantage over a food processor with a shredder attachment is that you can, er, shoot anything into its own prep bowl or the final receiving bowl, without having to disassemble and empty the bowl as you would with a food processor. I'm not sure how big the hopper is, though.

Come to think of it, a few years ago I saw some gadget made by Hamilton Beach and sold on the cheap at our grocery store. As I recall, it had a shredder and slicer and had multiple receiving bowls - a food processor idea, but the motor was designed to fit onto the storage bowls. Our store was blowing them out at half price, and even at $15 I decided I didn't need it, so I can't comment on its quality except to note that Hamilton Beach is no longer the company it once was...so it might have been junk. Still, if it weren't junk it might fill your bill nicely. Maybe someone else remembers it and can recall the name.

[Jaymes]

Well, over in one of the other "grater/slicer/chopper" threads, I mentioned getting a Salad Shooter. I, too, seem suddenly to have found "old hands" attached to my otherwise still stunningly youthful (I'm sure, although the mirror doesn't bear that out) body.

I haven't had occasion to fire up the SS yet, but really want to make some cucumber & onion salad, so will shortly. I'll report back.

[Darienne]

Thanks to all who answered my question, and Jaymes, I await your report.

[annabelle]

Darienne, have you thought about getting a small, say 4 cup food processor? I bought one for my 80 year old mother who has RA and it is easy for her to use and clean.

[Lisa Shock]

Oh yeah, to chop the nuts, have you tried a blender? Some models can be used with small canning jars screwed in place of the glass pitcher making small jobs easier and a lot lighter to lift.

[GlorifiedRice]

http://s183.photobucket.com/user/GlorifiedRice/media/SaladShooter.mp4.html

Here is a short video showing me SaladShootin' a block of sharp cheddar in 30 seconds with the old Salad Shooter, Im sure the newer Pro Model is faster and quieter...

Im getting my counters replaced soon...

And I had to use one hand for my phone so I couldnt "shoot" it in the bowl exactly but you get the point...

[Darienne]

Thanks, GR. You obviously have the beginning of a video career ahead of you. :smile:

Life has intervened in the interim, but I am still going to order one of these gizmos on Amazon.ca.

Thanks again.