Comments on: Saving Pennies or Dollars? Juicing and Blending

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:51:26 +0000

Peels in applesauce give it a nice reddish color, so I always leave the peels on. (I also don’t bother to remove the seeds, since my stepson can always be counted on to mash the cooked apples through my old food mill/strainer thingy.) Applesauce for me is just about no work at all. But I also don’t really love random fruit/vegetable juices.

By: lurker carl

lurker carl — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:01:45 +0000

I guess I’ve been around enough people with feeding tubes that liquified foods have zero appeal.

By: Carole

Carole — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:19:37 +0000

I personally have never “juiced”, but it may make sense for some people. A frugal mindset pays off over the years not from any one thing but from the sum of all the little things one does that are frugal.

By: Riki

Riki — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:48:54 +0000

I love smoothies!

My typical recipe is: 1/2 c vanilla yogurt, 1/2 c soy or regular milk, 1 cup (or a bit more) frozen fruit, a banana, and a handful of spinach.

Can’t taste the spinach at all.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:38:18 +0000

I do blender smoothies instead because I want the vegetable/fruit fiber that you lose when you juice. I buy tons of whatever is in season then freeze it for future smoothies.
Blending or juicing, I figure anything that ups your intake of fruits and veggies can’t be a bad thing.

By: krantcents

krantcents — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:36:36 +0000

Never quite made it to a juicer, but I used to make smoothies for breakfast all the time.

By: almost there

almost there — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:57:29 +0000

Having watched the documentary “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead” recently my interest was raised as to juicing. In the movie two men lost weight by going on a juice diet of only fruits and veggies for 30 days, one morbidly obese man lost over 200 lbs. I looked into the Breville juicers featured on their site and they aren’t cheap. But for the results I guess one gets what on pays for. It seemed in the film that not much prep went into the food as it went into the hopper/feed tube. One should watch it, as it is pretty entertaining and heartwarming. And those Aussies always have great expressions such as a guys weight going up and down like a brides nightie. :)

By: Talyssa

Talyssa — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:55:00 +0000

it seems like the newer juicers may be better than what you had – mine doesn’t require any prep other than making hte fruit small enough to fit in the hole – an apple will go straight in, a large orange might need the skin peeled off or to be cut in half. pulp is quite dry and although I do prefer to peel my oranges so the dry pulp doesn’t absorb some of hte juice (which may be ALL in my head) its not needed.

the cleaning is still kind of a hassle – but its not any more hassle than I have found a blender to be. This was not a terribly expensive one, its a well reviewed costco breville.

I think if you had my juicer your example wouldn’t involve all that prep time – unless you still care about the apple sauce, in which case I’m not sure it would even work for that because the pulp is pretty dry

By: Priswell

Priswell — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:34:45 +0000

I love my juicer. I use it every day. To me, it’s not a waste of time, and if you rinse it right away, it’s not that hard to clean – but it’s a Jack La Lanne, and it’s built for easier cleaning. I’ve used some less expensive models and they’ve got too many nooks and crannies inside the machine that make it nearly impossible to get all the fiber out.

I compost the pulp, as well.

By: JS

JS — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:02:10 +0000

We inherited a juicer from a family member, and we also found it to be a huge pain to clean, so we got rid of it when we moved.

If you make a lot of smoothies or protein shakes, countertop blenders are awesome. They’re not as powerful as a regular blender, but they’re much more compact and easy to clean, and the blender jars usually come with lids so they are portable. It’s definitely a want instead of a need, but if it saves you from stopping at the juice stand or conveinence store, I think it’s a good purchase. We got a Magic Bullet at our wedding shower and use it all the time.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:49:00 +0000

Seriously, can we ever have a post about food without the Nutrition Nannies jumping in to police other people’s choices?

Also: “You would not, for instance, sit down and eat 5 oranges”

Speak for yourself.

By: valleycat1

valleycat1 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:27:29 +0000

I’m with #3 & 4 – we had a veggie juicer for awhile but I felt awful throwing out all the solids for just a little bit of juice. For the quantity of juice you get from most vegetables, I question whether it really is only pennies a glass (though most likely would be less than $3.44), unless you have a big garden.

And I agree with Trent – clean up is an issue, especially since we don’t have a disposal.

Have a nice big salad or make fruit smoothies instead.

By: Dorothy

Dorothy — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:17:24 +0000

Cheryl is spot-on. Juices are far too calorie dense. You would not, for instance, sit down and eat 5 oranges, but you could easily chug the juice of 5 oranges, bypassing the fiber and quintupling your caloric intake.

Drink water; eat whole fruits and veggies.

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:38:08 +0000

Drink water and eat whole fruit.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:19:12 +0000

It depends on the kind of juice you’re buying from the stand.

Apples are fairly inexpensive and produce a decent amount of juice. Pomegranates are the opposite.

But I love the taste of fresh squeezed juice – although like Trent, my juicer is such a pain to clean I don’t use it as much as I’d like.

By: EmilyP

EmilyP — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:12:10 +0000

I think carrot juice would be another fun one to run the numbers on, as carrots are cheap but bulk carrot juice is hard to find. But I don’t have a juicer myself, so I don’t know how much juice you can get out of a $3 5lb bag of carrots.