Peeling potatoes when you have arthritis
 

Learned a new trick (to me anyway) for peeling potatoes. Boil the potatoes with the skins ON. The skin comes right off. I did mashed potatoes for 70 and my hands did not hurt at all!!!!

I gave up peeling spuds. I scrub em, cook em, then mash them. Fine restaurants do that, only they call them "crushed " .

I love "smashed" potatoes with skins - with garlic! But in case you really want to peel potatoes or apples, my daughter's occupational therapist made her a small cutting board with a nail poking up on it for stabilizing the fruit or vegetable while you peel. DD has cerebral palsy with good use of one arm and hand, so they were trying to find ways for her to cook before she went off to college. You can now buy ergonomic kitchen tools such as vegetable peelers with large handles to use along with the cutting board. Of course, DD never used either because she likes to bake potatoes in the microwave if she's cooking for herself.

I worked for a catering company for years and we always boiled the spuds in their skins then slipped them off once they were cooled down.

Me, I do not like mashed spuds, so I always cook them ways that leave the skins on.

I do peel carrots, unless they are fresh from the garden.

My mil eats canned spuds. I cannot imagine buying them that way but she seems to like them. She also used instant spuds made with milk.

As a retired Chef I have used that tip for years, but the best use for it is those lovely small new potatoes. Save having to scrape them just cook them in ordinary water until cooked strain and pop into a bowl of cold water. When they are cool enough to handle, skin them and pop them back into a pan with butter, salt, ground black pepper and fresh chopped mint, ooh delicious.

The other really useful tip, especially when there is just one or two of you, do a painful of potatoes at a time, strain and put into a bowl of cold water, run the tap slowly till they are completely cold, dry and pop into the fridge and use as needed, they are delicious sliced and cooked in your mornings breakfast bacon fat, ummmm

I will have to try poping the potatos in the fridge as I had never thoght of that. Good idea..

I really love mashed potatoes. But have not had them for quite a while until I found Betty Crocker's Potato Buds- 100% potatoes- in a box that actually fit the demands of my special diet....no butter, cheese or milk in the package.
In cooking on the stove I used olive oil, water, spices, and placed caramelized onions on top before serving. They were appreciated and my hands and body did not suffer from preparing them. I find it very difficult to stand in the kitchen for any length of time so this fit the ticket. My Mother who was a mother of 7- was a firm believer in using any help available and I do agree. Wegman's grocery store carries them.

My mom would take larger size potatoes par boil them with skins on ( par boil-Not completely cooked) let them cool. store in frig. and when she wanted to make the best homemade hash browns you ever ate!

Golden Yukons (sometimes just called Goldens) are fine when mashed with the peel which is thin. The skin is too thin to peel, anyway.

This always the method my family uses to make potato salad. Along with making the peeling eaiser it keeps the potatoes from absorbing as much water. Baking works too for regular or sweet potatoes.

Thanks for the tip. After peeling potatoes and sweet potatoes for the gang on Thanksgiving, my fingers hardly bend at all. lol

If you want to try some really excellent mashed potatoes, try Ore-Ida's Steam N Mash. Real potato cubes that you cook in the bag in the microwave. Directions say 10 minutes, but I do 11-12 minutes. Just add your milk, salt and pepper, mash as you usually do. My family actually prefers them. There are several different varieties as well - garlic and sweet potato.

A trick I use is frozen southern-style hash browns. The cubed type. Great in soups and stews. No peeling or dicing. Just pour out the amount you need, fasten the bag with a clothespin and put back in the freezer. For roasted or mashed, I leave the peel on. More vitamins and fiber that way.

I boil potatoes in their jackets for my potatoe salad too. It gives the salad a richer taste.
I rub the skins off and then cut them in cubes when they are cool. Don't cut them when they are hot or you will have mashed potatoes. lol Miracale Whip Mayo, relish, onion, and 6 boiled eggs chopped. People love it.
syl

My Momma would boil potatoes with the skins on and then peel them when cool for potato salad. I just leave the skins on reds and purples.

I have a peeler that slips over one finger like a ring. It's much easier than gripping that peeler for all those taters

I cook red skinned pototoes with the skin on , esp. good in a potato salad. Also mashed with onions and garlic

Great ideas here and having arthritic hands all my life makes for many challenges. Thank you so much for all the wonderful ideas and I make red, yukon gold smashed potatoes while adding sour cream, milk, parsley, and other herbs. Whatever suits your fancy and the Kitchen Aid mixer helps for making potatoes for a large crowd. Bon Apetite!!!!!

I got that kind of ring peeler a couple years ago and wish I had it long before. So much easier. Also if you can stand to watch Dawn Wells ,who was Mary Ann on Gilligans Island on TV in the 70's, she shows how to peel potatoes in a video on YouTube.

I don't peel white potatoes at all. Waste of my time. I buy Yukon Gold for the thin mild skins. If the family wants no peels then they can make instant or be here to peel the potatoes or not eat them. Either choice is fine with me. ;)

AND the best of the vitamins in Potato, mainly Vitamin C is right under the skin so when you peel potatoes you toss all the goodness away. If I want the peel off I boil them in their skins, when cooked pop them into cold water and take the skins of them, they taste a lot better that way.

Economically if you are on your own like me, boil a batch of potatoes and cool them down completely in cold water and keep them in the fridge ready for frying, baking or salads. They will keep for a few days in the fridge quite happily.

Good tip to know.

Living alone, I have learned to make big meals and freeze portions for later. So, I peel potatoes maybe once a week or maybe twice a month. Menus include, large pot roasts, large beef stews, chicken and noodles, pot pies and meat loaf w baked potatoes. All of these adapt to creating "TV" dinners for later. I don't mind peeling potatoes since its not very often. And, I have the box variety for when I really want mashed potatoes in a hurry.

I use the Ore-Ida instant potatoes in a small bag. 4 servings in a bag. Add a little butter or sour cream or whipping cream or whatever you like in them. But mostly I peel, or boil and keep peelings in, or bake, or microwave. If you microwave, put them in a baggie. It keeps the moisture in them better. But don't close the bag.

When I use instant potatoes, I use sour cream instead of the milk, using the same amount, then put 2 minced garlic cloves in the water while it heats. Also add some black pepper, maybe 1/4 tsp in 4 servings. Takes away that "boxy" taste. My favorite brand is Potato Pearls, but I haven't seen them for a long time, not sure they are are on the market any more.

An aside: I always ask everyone what they expect for Thanksgiving. One son in law always requests real mashed potatoes. One year I said if that's what he wants he could bring them. He didn't bring them , so I handed the bag of potatoes and peeler and told him to get busy. The next year, he asked for lemon meringue pie!

A large portion of the mineral value in potatoes in in the skin. My family gave up skinning potatoes in about 1950.

I gave up boiling potatoes a long time ago. My DH and I like baked or roasted potatoes much better. I just give them a good scrub, oil them and toss them into the oven. My hands don't stand up against peeling potatoes any more. Arthritis is to blame. Oh, my DH actually likes Hungry Jack Instant Mashed Potatoes and asks for them often. Sometimes that was all he wanted to eat when he was on chemo. Just the instant potatoes with a bit of gravy. :):):)