I have a shredder like this and thought my niece would like one. She's starting to cook more and this is so easy to use. It's faster and better then those old fashion graders. Put the blade you need in the barrel. Find a clean dry surface and turn the side knob to stick the shredder to your counter. Put the cheese, veggie, hard boiled egg in the chute. Put a bowl under the chute and turn the crank. Shredding the food is so fast. When done you take the barrel off the stand, take out the blade and wash them by hand. It's also very easy to clean. My brother decided to put the barrel and blade in the dishwasher. The blade came out fine but not the barrel. It warped. When I visited 2 weeks ago I wanted to shred something and found out the dishwasher isn't good. This will save you time and fingers but hand wash it so you can continue to save time and fingers