When I left my job in Des Moines, my amazing co-workers were kind enough to throw me a little going-away part complete with my favorite snacks (peanut butter M&Ms, pretzels and cheese/crackers). They also gave me a little gift – a gift card to Williams-Sonoma. Gift cards typically burn a hole in my pocket, but this time I decided to take my time deciding what to buy for my kitchen.
Since I have a pretty well-stocked kitchen, it took me a while to decide what I wanted to get that would be useful and a little bit fun, too. I had been contemplating jumping on the juicer bandwagon for a while now, and this seemed like the perfect time to make the leap. Once Williams-Sonoma started carrying the Breville Compact Juicer, which comes in at an affordable $100, I was sold.
We’ve been juicing for a few weeks now, and I’ve been gathering a few thoughts as we’ve gone along. I was ultra-curious about juicing and wanted more information before I made the leap. Hopefully my observations can come in handy for someone else in my shoes.
What I Like:
-The Breville Compact Juicer is smaller than other models and sits nicely on my countertop. It’s easy to store, fairly easy to clean (just takes a few minutes more than using a blender, but it’s not bad) and makes great juice.
-It’s a great way to use up produce that would otherwise not get eaten duing the week. This is especially true for extra apples, oranges, carrots, and celery that I seem to always have a surplus of at the end of the week.
-It’s a great way to get a few servings of fruits and veggies in the morning with breakfast. Typically I make the juice at night so I don’t have to mess with clean-up in the morning when I can barely make myself a cup of coffee. The juice stores well for up to a day, so that seems to be a good solution.
-I find that Joe and I enjoy drinking juices made with produce that we don’t usually like to eat. Example: I hate eating raw carrots. They take so long to chew! I also don’t care for the texture of mangoes or papayas. But Carrot, Mango, Papaya juice? Love it!
What I Don’t Like:
-I feel a little guilty every time I make a juice when I see the amount of pulp and extras that get thrown away. I can’t help but feel wasteful. I know that some people have used the leftover pulp in baked goods and such, but it seems like that’s just forcing things a bit. Have any of you found good solutions to this problem? This summer when we have a garden, I’m hoping to use the pulp as compost.
-Although I feel great when I drink a glass of veggie and fruit juice, I think it’s important to remember that juice should still be consumed in moderation. Unless you’re making a juice comprised 100% of green veggies, juices still contain quite a bit of sugar. Yes, the sugar is healthier in form, but I wouldn’t get carried away drinking multiple juices a day.
Overall, the pros outweigh the cons by a large margin. Joe and I have both loved playing around with new combinations and flavors throughout the week. As it stands, we probably use our juicer 3 days a week, maybe 4.
Since Joe is allergic to raw apples (crazy, right?!) we’ve been looking for other fruits and veggies that juice well (aka produce a lot of juice per fruit) and found that our favorite base to start with is carrots. Bags of large, whole carrots are extremely cheap so we buy four or five bags for juicing each week. Then, we add in other fruits and veggies, like oranges, pears, tropical fruits (mangoes, papaya), lemons, limes and beets.
The combination above was one of our favorites. Here’s an estimation of how it was made:
Orange, Pear and Carrot Juice
Ingredients
60% carrots
25% oranges (peel removed)
10% pears
5% lemons (peel removed)
Do any of you juice? Or are you considering buying a juicer like we were? If so, I would love to hear your experiences!
Madison