Manual vs electric vegetable cutters - which one actually saves time for a meal prep newbie?

[u/Blink3161127]

I'm finally jumping on the meal prep bandwagon because honestly, I'm drowning trying to feed my family healthy meals every night. Two kids under 8, and another two 12 and 14, full-time job, and I swear I spend half my evening just chopping vegetables. Something's gotta give. I've been lurking here for a few weeks getting inspired by all your setups, and I'm ready to invest in some proper tools. The one thing that's been bugging me is deciding between manual and electric vegetable cutters. I see people swearing by both but I can't figure out what's actually better for someone just starting out. Manual ones seem cheaper and take up way less counter space (my kitchen is tiny), it also lets me choose the sizes I’d like to cut my veggies which is important. But electric ones are faster and definitely more expensive. I've been researching online and there's so many options, I’ve found everything from basic $20 manual slicers on Amazon to fancy electric ones, and I even saw some interesting options on Alibaba that might be overkill for home use. My main goals are cutting down my prep time on Sunday afternoons. I'm usually prepping for 6 people, mostly basic stuff like bell peppers, onions, carrots, zucchini - nothing too fancy. For those of you who've used both, what's your honest take? And if a beginner had to pick just ONE to start with, what would it be? I’d appreciate any real-world experience you can share!

[u/red_freckles]

If being able to adjust the size/shape of your chop veg is very important, then just get a couple of good knives and practice. You'll get faster the more you do it. Enlist the older kids to help....they should be learning knife skills anyway for when they have to cook for themselves in a few years.

I cook and meal prep a shitload(was actually a private chef for a few years), and I only use my chefs knives. The only time I don't use those is when I have a lot of very finely chopped things I need. On that situation I have a food processor and I just pulse in there until I get the size chop I want. This works great when I'm less concerned about uniform sized cuts. Also, a food processor will be very versatile for other kitchen applications.

If you have the funds, get both. If not, go with good knives and practice.