When we started eating this super healthy nutrient-dense way, we both really wanted a super blender like a BlendTec or a Vitamix.
Joe and I would practically drool over them.
Everyday Joe would say, “We just HAVE to get one of those blenders, if we’re really going to do this.”
But they cost between $300 and $450. I’m not joking. Yikes!
Now it has been almost 12 weeks, and we still blend many recipes, but we alternate between our Cuisinart Food Processor (a refurbished wedding gift, still good as new!) and our BRAND-SPANKING-NEW OSTERIZER BLENDER OOH-LA-LA!
It cost $19.99. It works fine!
Here’s what I’ve learned about blenders: the super expensive ones are nice and do a good job, but even they have their frustrating moments.
Don’t think that buying a brand new expensive blender like the BlendTec or Vitamix won’t be without it’s frustrations. And for me, just knowing that I spent a pretty penny on it would make those frustrations even more intense and regretful.
With a cheap blender, you expect those gliches, and so it doesn’t really surprise you, and they’re really not that big of a deal.
Case and point: while visiting family out west this summer for almost a month, we were lucky enough to get to use both the BlendTech and the Vitamix blenders. I was totally convinced that Vitamix was the way to go, but surprisingly (and even though I resisted it) I ended up preferring the BlendTech. I just thought it did a better job quicker. Still. There were problems. Whenever you blend something that is thick and dry, like garbanzo beans for humus or a really thick green smoothie, you will STILL have to stop the blender (either brand) once or twice and whack the container to get the thick heavy sludge to slide back down so that you can blend it more finely. Even with the Vitamix plunger I still had to do this. In fact, I felt like it happened more frequently with the Vitamix (and I used 2 different Vitamix machines). One solution is to add more liquid so that it blends better, but adding liquid dilutes your concoction. So there you go. Same exact problem that you’ll have with a cheap blender, only with the cheap blender you expect it, and it may happen more frequently, but not that big a difference.
With the expensive blenders, I still had to thaw out my frozen strawberries in the microwave for about 30 seconds to a minute before tossing them in the blender. For some reason frozen strawberries are super rock hard, way more than ice. They end up just bouncing around the container and driving me crazy, not blending in. Pop them in the microwave for a minute, and they’ll soften up enough to blend perfectly while still being cool. Same exact issue I had with the cheap blender and the Food Processor.
Apples. Still works best if you just cut them up into smaller slices regardless of the blender you’re using. Besides, you want to remove the stem and the seeds (which contain cyanide, yikes!) before blending.
These have been my experiences. I would still love a super fancy blender, no doubt! But I can wait for a hand-me-down or a clearance sale, or for Joe’s best-selling novel.
Foods good to blend in:
The Cuisinart Food Processor
Humus
Heavy foods, thick foods
The $20 Blender
Green Smoothies
Fruit Smoothies
Banana Fluff
Peach Freeze
The $20 blender gets used every morning to make us 2 tall glasses of nutrient-rich green monster smoothies!
I like my blendtec and use it every single day. Every day. Yup.
Yep.
My cheapo wedding gift blender does the trick every time.
Those super blends tend do to more than make smoothies. We make peanut butter from nuts without a single glitch. Still not worth it for peanut butter though.
@karene is right about proper technique. As with everything there is an optimal way to use it. You can drive an expensive car into the ground the same as a cheap car. The problem is a blender is one of those things you’d think just works perfect no matter what you do.
I totally see where you are coming from and here are a few of my…tips. Too bad you had bad luck with the Vitamix. I bought one and have loved it! I did have some problems with very hard things like frozen strawberries until I actually red the handbook and realized I was not starting the machine at a level 10 and then turning it down, I also didn’t know to add the hard things at the bottom and soft at the top. After that it has been perfect and I blend those frozen berries everyday. It is A LOT of money and I have been saving a little grocery money every week just to pay off my debt to my skeptical husband…lol
I also have heard of not eating apple seeds but have listened to the advice of the amazing Chef Brad. He eats everything but the stem and has found no fact evidence or proof that it is harmful with arsenic. I cut them and use them right with his recipe for top of the morning fruit salad. He is amazing and I really try to follow his re-search but I can definitely see why people are worried and don’t eat them. Check it his website, he is incredible!
By the way, did you still want to do a blog swap?
Karene
I’m glad! My new $40 blender died on the second smoothie. Can you believe it?? (I went up from the $20 hoping it would be a “nicer” one…) I feel sad because I totally was ready to be a smoothie girl. I returned it but hate to waste money on another.
Those commercials are pretty legit.
P.S. You better watch out, because when we come visit you (I don’t know when, let’s just say soon), I’m totally making green smoothies for EVERYONE! HUZZAH!
I just like the will it blend commercials on youtube. Those alone would sway my vote to the blendtec. I mean if I ever need to blend my broom I’ll be set.
PS that green concoction looks like erp in a glass. I’m just sayin’.
I have no experience with a Bosch, and you’re probably only the 2nd person I know personally who owns one, but of the 2 people I do know (you + other friend) all I hear is 100% satisfaction!
So, when Joe writes that best-selling novel, I’ll probably buy one of each, a Bosch, a Vitamix, and a BlendTec. Just for fun.
Actually, the blender on our Bosch machine is powerful enough that we toss in frozen strawberries all the time without a hitch. Even our kids like tofu smoothies (we don’t stress the tofu part when we talk about them)—but the green would probably scare their socks off.
Almost makes me want to do a green smoothie just for the effect.
Anyway: blenders. Yes. The nice thing about the Bosch is that we use it primarily to kneed our bread (and making cakes, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and other things that you won’t be enjoying on your, erm, eating plan), so the motor is mega powerful. We’ve destroyed the blender cups before, but the motor part is still going strong after seventeen years of very heavy use. Of course, it’s a $300 machine, so… but if you think of the blender part as just an accessory to the mixer part, it’s like getting a blender for free!