Have you ever needed to peel a large number of potatoes quickly? Perhaps you wanted to throw together a quick potato salad or some mashed potatoes for a get together, or maybe you have a few kids at home that eat like there’s no tomorrow… well, so have we.
Here’s how to peel 4lbs of potatoes in about a minute, completely mess free, without help from anyone in the household using this homemade potato peeler you can make for about $1.
We actually saw a video of this circulating the web but had a few concerns, the first concern was- it used far too much water, 3-4 gallons at time. The second concern was, it was fairly messy and needed to be done outside or in the bathtub.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of making a mess in one room in lieu of a mess in another. The 3rd and final concern was having that much water that close to an electric source with no barrier. So, with those 3 major issues in mind, we came up with our own simple mess free potato peeler.
MYO Instant Potato Peeler
You’ll Need:
1 Brand New Toilet Brush (We Use a “Mr.Clean” from the Dollar Store)
a Drill (Cordless or Not, Doesn’t Matter)
1 gallon plastic bucket with a screw on lid
Cutters of some sort
Fresh ‘New’ Potatoes
First, if you look at the toilet brush handle you’ll see that it’s tapered at one end. You’re going to want to cut that part off. I used pvc pipe cutters that I found in the garage, but you could cut it with a hacksaw, skill saw, etc. Cut the handle top off.
Open the chuck on the drill as wide as it will go and slide the cut end into the drill. Tighten to ensure it fits. Now that you know it fits, take it back out and set it aside, you’ll need it again in a minute.
Take the cover off your 1 gallon heavy duty plastic bucket. Cut a small hole on the top just slightly larger than handle of the brush. It helps to hold the brush in place and draw a circle around it as a guideline.
Now, slip the brush handle through the lid with the threads facing downward and slip the brush handle into the open chuck of the drill. Tighten it thoroughly, like so:
Dump your unwashed, unpeeled Fresh New Potatoes into the bucket, it’ll hold about 3-4 lbs. Fill it 3/4 of the way full of water.
Insert the Brush, screw the cover on, Turn the drill on high for about 45-60 seconds.
Drain off the foamy water (don’t pour this down the sink unless you have a garbage disposal as it pretty well puree’s the peelings into the water when it removes them and you could clog your drain. It works great as a treat for chickens or to water outdoor plants!
Voila, Instant Peeled potatoes in under a minute.
Homemade Potato Peeler: Want to see this in Action?
Now for the What Not to Do’s
Initially we tried this using a coffee can. The coffee can was a heavy duty plastic container, but it has built in “hand grips”. We cut a hole in the cover and started whirling away without holding the container.
Yeah, big mistake on 2 fronts, first the cover flew off and we literally had potato water covering the ceiling, cupboards, kids, appliances, floor and all. It was messy, hilarious and quite frankly, I haven’t laughed that hard in years!
Secondly, the potatoes got stuck where the “handle grips” were and caused big chunks of wasted potato. Recap- use a container with a SCREW ON lid that has no indentations on it.
The plastic bucket that I used here is a whey protein powder that one of my sons had. The dollar stores also have heavy duty 1 gallon storage buckets for, you guessed it, one dollar.
This will NOT work on old tough potatoes, they won’t peel.
This does work well on new potatoes (aka fresh potatoes from the garden), yellow skinned potatoes and new red skinned potatoes. Again, if your potatoes have been sitting in your pantry growing eyes, don’t waste your time trying to peel them using this method, it won’t work.
Homemade Potato Peeler: Questions We think you Might ask:
1. Does this waste a lot of water?
No, it uses less than a gallon, which is less than you’d probably use scrubbing the potatoes for dinner anyway.
2. Is it Reusable?
Yes, Simply rinse the brush clean, let it drip dry, wipe out the container, store the brush inside until the next time you need it.
3. Will this work on sweet potatoes?
Yes, this works on FRESH Sweet Potatoes and yams, but you’d better hold on tight to the bucket, otherwise, it’ll go flying!
4. Should I use a Corded Drill or a Cordless Drill?
We used a Cordless, it doesn’t matter which one you use because nothing gets wet if you follow the directions, of course, common sense applies and we’re not responsible for your actions, we’re simply sharing OUR method of how WE peel potatoes quickly.
Here’s the video we were inspired by!
