Juicers / Blenders

[cvC]

Here's something I've bookmarked and which you might like to look through, hiprevolutn:

http://rawfoodadvantage.com/juicers.html

I'd thought the best juicer was a Greenstar, but it turns out there's another called the Marathon that's even more powerful and leaves pulp that is "sawdust dry". Neither of these have plastic see-through bits as far as I can see, which I would certainly consider an advantage - I've recently been buying drinking water in glass bottles (from Waitrose, 49p a litre) and have noticed a plasticky taste when going back to that in plastic bottles - but, towards the other end of the scale in price is the manual Healthy Juicer and which is mostly plastic:

http://www.healthyjuicer.com/

[jeffg]

Give me some ideas on good blenders to buy. I've heard VitaMix is really good, but also expensive.

[karmadust]

i *love* my magic bullet

[PainterLady]

vita mixer sucks!!!! i paid 400 bucks and it is broken now. and believe me we didn't use it that many times. I think I am going to get the magic bullet next..

[DancingWillow]

how big is the magic bullet? it seems pretty small from pictures...

[karmadust]

it is small, the cup that goes on top is about the size of a normal drinking glass - it's made so that you can flip it over and drink smoothies right from it. the package comes with several of these "cups", so on the rare occassions where i've needed to blend larger amounts of food, i've just done it in batches. but though it's smaller, it also blends much faster than a normal blender - usually only a couple of seconds and you're good.

[DancingWillow]

oh, OK. i'll look at it next time i'm in a store. i had my eye on this blender that doubles as a food processor. you have one base/motor and two attachments (one is a blender cup/blade, the other is a food processor cup/blade). the blender part is normal-sized (pretty big, which i liked), but the food processor part only fits one cup and i need a bigger one for the recipes i want to use it for.

[Mahk]

My cheap old ( 1970's/80's) plastic blender has sort of a "plastic smell" (if I stick my nose into it). Drinks seem fine though. Should I be worried? Could other people do me a favor and smell there blenders? [I know that seems like an odd request, but it may save me from having to buy a new one]

Thanks everyone!

[Paragon]

Hi.

Not sure if this is the right place to ask (mods please move if not) but does anyone here use a juicer?
I would mostly be using one for vegetables and maybe the odd citrus fruit. I have been looking around and it seems that "masticating" -no giggling at the back - are the best, though I would prefer a manual version for cost / environmental reasons...

Any suggestions??

Love

Steve

[Yoggy]

Hi Paragon,

I've had 2 juicers in my time, and both of them were crap. The Juiceman Jr. was terrible; the "filter" part that separates the pulp and juice would always come loose and lift up (probably from air current underneath it from spinning so fast), and it would grind the plastic of the feeder tube! The smell was awful, it was like burnt plastic, and there was plastic powder floating in the air. I've heard of others on this forum who had the same problem, so I definitely recommend not getting this juicer.

The other one was the Hamilton Beach juicer. The feeder tube is sooooo small that I have to slice apples into about 12 wedges to get them to fit. By the time I chop everything small enough, the juice from the apples is all brown. Plus there's a lot of foam from the juicing process with this juicer, so I had to buy some cheesecloth to filter the juice with. More pain than necessary really.

Great juicers do exist, but you have to spend quite a lot to buy them. Both my juicers were gifts from my dad, and both quite cheap. Good luck on your hunt! Let me know if you find a really great juicer, because I'd like to have a good one some day.

Also, I see you like citrus juice. You can buy an electric citrus juicer for under $20, and they are so useful! I use mine nearly every day for fresh orange juice, and I can juice lemons in a snap for recipes, instead of using bottled lemon juice. It was definitely one of the best kitchen investments I've ever made.

[Paragon]

Hi Yoggy, and thanks for the advice!.

I have been looking at a couple, and this one HERE looks really good and simple, and is manual too though this of course means it will be a little slower.

Thanks again.

Peace..

Steve

[cedarblue]

i have the breville juicer, 'antony worral thompson' branded one.

its really good, i just can't stand washing the parts up!

keep juicing, they're so good for you, especially green ones

( have been considering getting a manual one though, as a power-saving move)

[Gorilla]

i have a manual juicer, i got bored of using it though, it's a lot of work and a lot of washing up

[Rawj]

I am trying to find a juicer. I would prefer one that isn't too expensive,but not so cheap that is will break easily. it will probably get used a lot because myself, my roommate, and her kids would all be drinking the juice. I would prefer one that I can put most fruits/vegetables into it whole.

[Yoggy]

Well the Hamilton Beach juicer is about as cheap as it gets ($30), and it seems to work pretty well, but I wouldn't highly recommend it because the feeder tube is soooo small! I have a small apple slicer that cores an apple and slices it into 8 pieces. And those slices are too big to fit into the feeder tube! So it takes aaages to slice up 6-8 apples (my usual amount), and some of them are usually brown by the time I finally juice them (or if I juice each apple as soon as I slice it, the juice is brown by the time I've juiced the last apple). But it does separate the juice and pulp pretty well, and it comes with a brush for cleaning, so if you don't mind the tiny feeder tube, then it's overall not a bad juicer. Good luck in your hunt!

[Est]

Help everyone!

I'm getting tied up in knots trying to figure out what I need to buy.

I *don't* want to get anything for chopping/preparing vegetables (so not a food processor?)

I just want to be able to chuck some pieces of fruit (bananas, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries - maybe diced apple or a few orange segments?) into a jug and have a smoothie come out.

I don't mind peeling/chopping hard fruit before putting it in.

So do I need a good jug blender, or do I need a smoothie maker? Are there any crucial differences between the two things?

A good jug blender (Russell Hobbs do a 1000W model, for example) should be able to cope with "stickier" mixes like the mush I throw together for burgers... wouldn't it?

Current jug blender is ancient and only 500W. It can't even do a smooth banana shake without lumps - and that's after I've diced the banana quite small before putting it in! It also gave up on my garden burger mix (thought it was going to explode! ) and I had to mash it all up by hand in the end, causing some bad temper! So I'm very keen not to make the wrong purchase.

So... jug blender or smoothie maker - which is it I need? (Or is there something else out there that would be good either?)

[emmapresley]

est..i have a juicer..a food processor and a hand blender.

i empathise with your angst about it all though..i recently bought a liquidiser thing and it was just awful..what i'd ideally like is a new food processor..(i've had mine for almost 15 years and the blade isn't as good as it used to be..sometimes i have to finish whatever i'm making off with the hand blender..which is a pain and more washing up) but they cost a whole stack of money i don't have.

those hand blenders are pretty good for soft fruits..i've made smoothies before with mine..just need a jug/pot deep and wide enough so the stuff inside doesn't jump outside.

if you have spare cash, i'd go for the food processor!

[veggiemaya]

does anyone have a Healthyjuicer? if so, do you like it? it appears to be a manual one..is that not a good way to go?

[Est]

Thanks emmap

This is the blender I was considering:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...xt>BLENDER.htm

No spare cash at all for a few months - do you reckon this would cope for smoothies/burger mixes for a while? Then in summer I could look at a food processor (any particular brand you'd recommend?)

I must admit, I like the idea of being able to grind nuts to flour, and make sorbets etc - 'twould be most good. I had a look at a Vita Mix online and it was love at first sight!

[emmapresley]

food processor wise the ones i've seen are about 180 quid

the jug blender i got was from argos..the blades were scoddy..i sort of lied and told them i hadn't used it..but i had and just err..washed it really well before taking it back. the blades didn't do ANYTHING to the stuff i put in there..it didn't touch the sides or anything it wasn't the same brand as the one you're looking at..but a similar design..i'd just check that the blades are gonna be good enough to pulverize whatever you're sticking in there. just check the blaaaades!!!

[Est]

Ok!

[cedarblue]

i have an old food processor that needs updating as i've lost all the grating/slicing attatchments, a hand blender too.

i've seen some budget blenders in asda for less than £10.

i prefer to smoothie than juice really as the fruit & veg keeps all the fibre which is whizzed out in a juicer.

[Aurore]

my mom bought a blender for about 40€ and it works just great, so iguess it doesn't have to be expensive to work. i also prefer a smoothie to a juicemaker, i like eating the "whole" fruit.

Est : looks good enough to me. we have an electric kettle from the same brand and it's great, so if i can judge a brand on a single product, i'm sure this blender will do fine.

[Marrers]

I got one of these in TKMaxx a while back for about £35. If you have a branch nearby keep your eyes peeled for kitchen electricals. They sometimes have kettles, toasters, blenders etc.

[Est]

If you have a branch nearby keep your eyes peeled for kitchen electricals.

There is a branch in town - good idea Marrers, thanks

[Jet City Woman]

I want to buy a juicer at some point. I plan to go raw within the next couple of months, and I'd like to make raw juice. So I think I need a Cold Press Masticating juicer if I'm correct. Something that won't heat up too much.
I want to get a good one that's going to last me for a LONG time, because I LOVE juice. Especially veggie juice
Anyway, I found http://www.greenpowerjuicers.com.au/ <-- this kempo one. Apparently that's good, and I can get it in Australia delivers for $700.
Anyone have any feedback?

[Mahk]

^Me, I'd need to see some serious reviews from independent reviewers (not from a site that can also "conveniently" sell you the product or has links to other retailers that will) directly (not just quotes from them) before I could part with that sort of money.

This site gives a basic summation of other review sites and mentions their names so you can go explore further. Sorry but I don't think the Kempo has any mention.

[Before I was able to load the site I was urged to install "Microsoft Silverlight". Being a paranoid web surfer I looked into it first and verified that it was indeed from Microsoft, not an impostor, and it seems benign at least if you consider web "cookies" benign, that is.]

[Sarah_]

Mm, all I've got is the Magic Bullet.

[Carmen]

I have the Jack Lelayne juicer which I paid around $95. It works very well, in my opinion. I don't put it in the dishwasher, but give it a quick rinsing, re-assemble and then give it a quick spin to get the moisture out. I am very pleased with the amount of juice it makes and the pulp is usually pretty dry. I typically freeze the pulp and use it in other recipes. Carrot apple is my favorite combination.

[Klytemnest]

I acquired Skin Cancer some time ago & well, I've decided to use the best juicer out there. You can avoid a lot of this world's dieseases, by what & how you eat.

I'll dig up some more info on this later.

K4J

Hi K4J,

I first became interested in juicing when my voice teacher was diagnosed with breast cancer. I found out some information on the Gerson Institute and their program of treating patients with juice (something like 12-13 glasses of juice per day). I wonder if this is what led you to juicing as well. Did you actually use juicing as a cancer treatment, or do you juice merely for general health?

Hope you are well,

Rami

[Haniska]

I asked for a Jack Lelane juicer for Christmas, is good? I mean, a whole freaking apple.

[Korn]

Has anyone here tried this juicer?

Here's an ad for it:

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