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I'm thinking about buying a juicer. I have this fantasy of greeting each morning with a glass of freshly-squeezed carrot and orange juice. Delicious.
Am I fooling myself? Of all the kitchen gadgets I've bought, the only ones we still use are the toaster, kettle and coffee maker.
Does anyone actually use a juicer on a regular basis? I fear that it'll be a waste of time, space and money. But I really want one. -
Right, what you've got to think about with juicers, smoothie makers, food processors: THE WASHING UP. It's not bothering to plonk a few bits of fruit in them that's the hassle, it's taking them apart and washing each component afterwards that's the bitch.
Maybe start with a lemon squeezer and work your way up. -
That's my main worry, that I'll be too lazy to clean the damned thing. We don't even have a dishwasher, so I'd have to do it by hand.
I'd quite like a food processor, too, but they take up so much space. I bought a mini food chopper that Delia recommended. Thought I'd use it to chop onions. It's not too bad to clean, but it turns onions into puree. It's probably very useful for making baby food, but we don't have a baby and still have our own teeth. -
Had a juicer, used it a fair few times, but the washing up really is a bitch. Fresh juice is gorgeous though! If you do get one, it's worth spending some money on it, bought a really cheap one ones that broke straight away.
Why don't you get a blender? You can make smoothies, if you don't want really thick smoothies, add juice to it. Much less washing-up and can be used for cocktail making as well! -
I have a Dualit stick blender that I use for juices/smoothies/sauces/soups. I think it cost about £60 but it is industry spec and made of stainless steel. Chop all your fruit up and put it in a jug. Whack the end on the blender and stick in the jug. Blitz for 30 seconds, take the end off and stick in the dishwasher or run it under the tap. That's it! Get it from John lewis and it'll come with a 3 year guarantee from them as well as Dualit's guarantee which I think is for 10 years. You can store it in your cutlery drawer or mount it on the wall if you're that way inclined as it looks really cool. Juicers/food processors are a massive waste of time and money and take up loads of space. One of the chefs I used to work with had a Dualit stick blender that he said he'd used every day for ten years, and I've had mine about 6 so I know they're really good. If you don't want to splash out £60 you can get a plastic one in Tesco's or Argos for about £5 that will do the same job but probably won't last very long.
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Another vote for hand blender. Here's the Dualit one for £62, but I recommend the John Lewis own brand one for £45. It is all stainless steel and very well built. It takes about ten seconds to wash up.
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@Siolae - I'd love to take the juicer off your hands if you no longer need it. That way I can try out my new juice-making lifestyle without investing a ton of money in a new gadget. Chances are, I'll be back here in a month offering it to the next person. We used to have a smoothie blender, but I freecycled it after we hadn't use it in a year.
@Misscara & @Alex - We do have a hand blender, but it's not as nice as yours. It definitely doesn't do carrot juice. It just about blends soups. Might be time to invest in a better model.
Thank you for all the replies. You've pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. -
We've had a juicer for 4 years and used it 3 times. It's a Phillips and we got it as a wedding present from someone who worked at Phillips and probably got it for free. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, except they didn't think about the ridiculous amount of washing up one glass of juice entails.
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I don't really understand the juicing fad, why not just eat fruit?
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I've done the juicing thing. I did lots of research on the best one, which I think is meant to be the 'Green Champion' masticating thing, around £300. I got a cheaper centrifugal one.
Much is said of juicing, the antioxidents and natural highs etc. I just know I got a terrible stomach ache from a cauliflower and spinach smoothie one day. I had to lay down and considered calling an ambulance. Laying in agony I looked in the juicing manual's introduction. It said it was normal to experience some mild discomfort when trying some of the stronger vegetable juices.
It wasn't so much the washing up that bothered me, it was the waste. You generally get maybe, a couple of teaspoons of juice per apple or carrot. You need a carrier bag full of fruit and vegetables to make a few juices. Juicing books have recipes for using the pulp, but honestly who can be bothered. I think a blender is just as good, and you use the whole fruit.
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Cauliflower and spinach smoothie??? I really hope that was a joke lost on me. (Wine has been involved this evening.)
I freeze the leftover carrot pulp and use it in soups. I'm sure you can use fruit pulp for jams or something. (Although I never have, and the waste did bother me as well. I do recycle my food waste though, does that even it out?) -
Thanks to Siolae's generosity, I have been enjoying my new juicing lifestyle for over two months.
It turns out that I'm not too lazy to wash up the juicer--it takes two minutes--but I am too lazy to chop the fruit.
I've decided to upgrade to a whole-fruit juicer.
Would anyone like the juicer Siolae gave me? It works perfectly fine, but you need to cut the fruit into pieces to fit into the feeding tube.
Whisper if you're interested. -
Ok, great, thanks, will do. See you Monday - Colette
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