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We all know cooking at home saves money compared to eating out all the time and helps keep our calories in check. However, prepping and cooking meals while juggling a family’s busy schedule isn’t always convenient or quick. As someone who strives to include more vegetables and fruit in my daily meals, but hates peeling and prepping them, I’m always looking for ways to save a little time in the kitchen.
Our team came across the Starfrit Rotato 2.0 Electric Peeler on Amazon and it got our attention. The product description claimed the gadget “peels a variety of fruits or vegetables of various shapes and sizes and textures with the press of a button.”
The reviews for the Starfit Rotato Express 2.0 ranked high: a 4.5-star overall rating with nearly 2,000 reviews.
Jill Starr, a verified Amazon reviewer, wrote in her 5-star review that the product “reduced my prep time significantly with foods such as mashed potatoes and apple pies. I have both fibromyalgia and arthritis…this product has saved so much ‘wear and tear’ on my body.”
Could this device actually be so simple to use and save that much time? I decided to try it out and see for myself.
I ordered it from Amazon on sale for $27.95 (marked down from $34.99) on March 15. The next day, I had it in my kitchen, thanks to my Prime membership.
Right off the bat, the Rotato Express 2.0 surprised me by having two power options: an electric power adapter and the ability to use four AA batteries (which are not included.) The gadget stands just under a foot tall and is 5.5-inches wide, so it doesn’t take up a lot of room on the counter. It’s plastic, which makes it easy to pick up and move if you don’t want to leave it on the counter.
Included in the box is the Rotato Express 2.0, two extra blades and a plastic knife to help remove the base mechanism and/or remove blemishes from your fruits or veggies. Those are located under the base of the Rotato Express 2.0 to keep them secure and prevent injuries.
The only assembly required for the peeler is the pronged holder for the vegetables or fruit, which secures food in place, along with the arm on top of the machine. The combination of these two allows your food to spin and peel freely.
And these two parts of the machine are the ones that gave me some difficulty at first. If you don’t take your time to place your potato (or whatever you want to peel) on the machine properly, it will wobble all over the place or even fall off. This could speak to a lack of user patience on my part, but it’s something to understand when first giving the peeler a whirl.
I started the experiment with a potato. Once I had the spud securely fastened on the bottom and the top, the Starfrit Rotato 2.0 did exactly as it promised. I touched the button once, the machine began to spin and the blade made its way down the vegetable and peeled it quickly and cleanly!
The peel comes off in one long string, which makes cleaning up so easy compared to picking up little pieces of potato peel that go everywhere when you use a hand peeler. When the peeling is done, the machine shuts off automatically.
Once I saw how the Starfrit Rotato Express 2.0 made these beautiful ribbons, I decided to give it a try to make zucchini noodles. It worked beautifully, and the zoodles were just the right thickness to sauté up with some veggies for dinner. So, this gadget is not only a peeler, it’s a vegetable spiralizer, as well!
For the price, I think the Starfrit Rotato Express 2.0 is a good buy. And it will help streamline my food prep, especially with vegetables, which always seems like a hassle when I’m cooking at home. Anything that helps me serve more veggies is a win for my kitchen!
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