I did do a search and if there is a previous discussion of juicers, I missed it. Please accept my apologies and link to relevant thread if this is an old discussion!
I encountered a juicer at the breakfast buffet on a recent trip abroad. What a treat!!
I decided to explore one for our house, but I’m wondering:
If you have one, how often do you use it? I’m curious if CCers found a juicer provides a “treat” or if it’s more daily/regular usage.
When I did some preliminary research, it seemed as if I could easily spend a lot more on fresh fruits/veggies to feed the juicer than I currently spend on fresh fresh/veggies that we enjoy eating whole. We do eat quantities of fresh fruits/veggies already in whole or cooked form daily so the juicer isn’t needed for optimal fruit/veg consumption. I wondered if using the juicer most days would increase my grocery bill?
If you have and use one at your home, brand and model recommendations, please!
Thanks for your sharing your experience and suggestions! (CCers have much better advice than the on-line articles!)
Most things I have read would indicate that yes, your fruit and veggie grocery bill is likely to increase - the quantity of produce needed to produce “juice” as opposed to eating a piece of whole produce is much more - assuming you want a fair serving size of juice.
Also plan on your produce calorie count increasing, right?
This article also mentions what I thought might be true - that depending what produce you use, you risk losing the valuable fiber in produce when juicing.
I’ve never had a juicer of my own. But I will tell you…we had several donated to the charity thrift shop where I work…newish…in the original boxes. Guess people tried them and didn’t use find them all that useful.
I prefer smoothie types of drinks made with fruits. I have a Nutra Bullet 900 that I use. I think that’s a lot easier than a juicer!
My husband juices every morning. He grows some things in our garden(kale, beets, carrots, oranges, etc…) but seems to go to the produce mart every day. His first juicer was a Jack LaLanne juicer and now he uses an Omega. I do feel better when I drink it regularly.
H bought a juicer - Breville, new in the box for like $10 at a garage sale and was going to sell on eBay. D1 saw it and was interested so he gave it to her. So the original owners never used it and now D1 who took it has it in her basement and has never used it! Sort of seemed like a great idea in concept but practically, not always the case.
I had a juicer along time ago (don’t remember the brand) and it was a pain to clean…and I always felt I was throwing away lots of good stuff (skin, pulp). It also didn’t do well with veggies, so it was limited to juicing fruits (maybe new ones can handle veggies?). When you look at the sugar content of many fruit juices, it is often shockingly high, and with no fiber to slow absorption…hello sugar rush.
Now I use a Vitamix which is great, but makes more smoothie type concoctions than thinner juices…easy to mix in veggies with the fruits (and other things like nuts, nut butters, seeds, etc.)
I don’t have the kind of juicer that makes drinks, just the kind that gets juice out of your lemons and limes. Though I’m sure it would work fine if I drank fresh orange juice or grapefruit juice. I thought my brother was silly to get me it, but I use it all the time. I have zippo interest in juice or smoothie breakfasts.
I Have a Hurom Slow Juicer; I purchased it about give years ago. It was fund to use for about five minutes; it’s a PITA to clean, as somebody mentioned above, your caloric intake will increase, and honestly, there’s nothing better than whole food i.e. eating an apple, a beet or a carrot - and all that waste after the juice has been extracted, is sinful! There are only so many carrot cakes you can eat, LOL!
A vitamix gives you all the stuff you throw away with a juicer. And again, juicing is extra calories with little benefit. You throw away the good part, the fiber. With the vitamix, you get that and then you can make a margarita. As pretty much no one should be drinking fruit juice, I don’t see the point. Any drinking of calories is a potential calorie bomb, even the vitamix recipes that are full of fruit with the odd leaf in for good measure.
We have a Jack Lalanne juicer that my husband insisted on getting. I think he’s used it twice because I made him clean it. What a pain it is! We also have a VitaMix and that is a breeze to clean.
We have a Vitamix. When we first got it, we used it a lot but honestly, I have a hard time drinking my calories. I don’t think it’s been used once in the last few years but my DH refused to get rid of it “just in case”. Our cheap smoothy maker gets much more use by DH and DD.
We have a juicer and a vitamix clone, and I use the vitamix thing way more. I just like throwing everything in there and mixing it up. Way easier to clean, less overall work.
I have at least one smoothie a day, spinach, carrots, celery, frozen mixed berries, veggie protein powder, seeds, cashew milk, and whatever fresh fruit we have laying around that needs to be eaten.
Thanks to all! It seems a unanimous consensus. I was concerned about all the negatives mentioned above. I guess I will just have to return to the hotel and enjoy my juice while they clean the machine and supply the fruits and veg!
I will explore a Vitamix. None of these gadgets had been on my radar before.
We (vegetable) juice regularly and keep our masticating easy-to-clean Omega on the counter. We drink the juice as a beverage with meals, not as a meal substitute. We never throw out vegetables. As soon as any get soft or not salad-worthy, we juice them and enjoy them in a glass. There are lots of recipes for using the fiber in breads, cookies, stocks, etc. No need to waste that part.
I have a Blendtec. I bought it instead of a Vitamix because it fits under cabinets. There is a counter on it so I know that I’ve made over 600 smoothies. I used it almost every day when I had boys at home. I use it myself occasionally when they’re not home. It’s a good way to use up over-ripe bananas (freeze) and things like chard stems (also freeze), and to incorporate greens, chia seeds, matcha powder, turmeric, etc. It has a high capacity, which works well when there are 2 or 3 of us. And I’ve learned that smoothies can be frozen in glasses, and thawed overnight for future breakfasts. Very easy to clean.
