Juicer

rainbow_carnage

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.

sincers

That's spooky, I was just looking at food processors on Amazon.

Emma

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.

JaneDoe

I was given one for free. I used it once. Massive pain in the arse to wash up.

rainbow_carnage

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.

Kaz

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!

Siolae

You are welcome to my juicer. It has sat on a shelf gathering dust for about 4 years now.

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Alex

Another vote for hand blender. Here's the [Dualit one](http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000P46MYY) for £62, but I recommend the [John Lewis own brand one](http://www.johnlewis.com/230994086/Product.aspx) for £45. It is all stainless steel and very well built. It takes about ten seconds to wash up.

Kaz

Can you make juice from apples and carrots and such with the hand blender or will they be too hard?

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rainbow_carnage

@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.

andy

This hand blender tip is fantastic! I'm in.

sincers

I also have a hand blender, but have often felt I'm missing out by not having a full-on robot chubby blender. Pretty much all of that Oliver's 30 minute dinners uses a blender. And if its good enough for him.... I bet he doesn't do his own washing up though.

Ali

You must have seen the Comet TV ad for Juicers

nick_m

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.

miss annie

I don't really understand the juicing fad, why not just eat fruit?

dorothy

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.

Kaz

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?)

rainbow_carnage

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.

Colette

Ok, great, thanks, will do. See you Monday - Colette