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biscuit
Raw Newbie
Hi, as my less than great blender is dying, I have an excuse to buy a vitamix. I have wanted one for ages but I am a raw fooder on a budget and must think about investing so much money into a blender. I know people love the vitamix and rave about it, but are there any drawbacks? I use a juicer and a blender as well as a hand blender to make recipes not usually very complicated as i enjoy eating simply but I do grind nuts/seeds and make complicated things occasionally. So would anyone recommend buying a food processor AND a vitamix? or just a food processor? or just a vitamix? I really love the idea of having a vitamix and being able to just throw things in and blend them really easily- I have alot of trouble scraping down the sides of my blender at the minute and then hand blending as my current blender has been totally abused hehe its not built for anything but casual use even though it was quite expensive! one last question does the vitamix have a stick inside which you can move around to help things blend?because that looks so handy :) sorry for rambling on its just a very expensive decision!
Comments
I have both a Culsinart food processor and a Waring Xtreme blender,BUT… I Wish I had the blender that Bryan Au uses… Check out his equipment on his website. wwwlrawinten.com. Also, my blender has two cups and one has the plunger stick you asked about… I have never needed to use it…
I have a Vita-Mix and love it. I don’t have a food processor, but for making nut butters, or foods with very thick texture, would not do well in the vitamix only because it will get hot quickly. I recommend a juicer or food processor for thick foods. But I love having a vitamix. It is awesome for making really smooth creams, puddings, smoothies, purees, you name it! Yes, it does have a stick in it to move things around (called a tamper), which is really helpful. People do make nut butters, it’s just harder becase if you put too little in you have to scrape the sides a lot and if you out a lot in it heats up. I have to Vita-Mix 4500, the older version, which is probabl why I can’t make butters. But you should ge the 5200, which is built for nut butters etc. Also, if you want to ultimate experience, Get Fresh! just announced the new Vita-Prep, which has a 3 Horsepower instead of the Vita-Mix’s 2 horsepower. But that is probably really expensive. Go for it, good luck with your blender! You’ll have a lot of fun with it, trust me. :)
biscuit – I don’t know what I would do without my Vitamix, I use it way more than my food processor. I got mine on eBay and I’m thankful for it every day. I have a 4300 and it did come with the blender stick. You could even try Craig’s List, because they’re made so well even older versions tend to run great. Good luck!
will it make pates? i make those from time to time and does it really blend raw carrots/courgettes and other hard fruits and vegetables like squashes????your mkaing me want to buy one though definately!! and yes I have been eyeing up the new vita prep on shazzies website :D
Of course it will make pates. It will blend carrots and squash, though it is so powerful that it will make juice out of them verus pates. Add nuts to the mixture and you have a pate! But blend the squash and nuts separately, as they won’t blend that well together.
I have a Vitamix and a Solostar juicer and I’m now looking at a food processor. Each tool serves very different purposes. To be honest, my vitamix is my least favorite tool. I constantly have to tamp stuff down and it’s very hard to get all of the finished product out of it. But it IS very good at grinding stuff and making puree’s. I guess it really depends on what your needs are.
I have Vitamix and Cuisinart… Juiceman Jr. I never use the juicer (unless I don’t want the fiber in my juice… but it’s a pain to keep it clean). I always use the vitamix and cuisinart. Both are very different (to me). The Vitamix is great for creamy dressings, pies, and can do some food processing, but I’ve never used it. The food processor is good for salsas, pates, and such. It does have attachments for shredding, julienne, slicing, but I rarely use those… if I had to choose only one… hmmm… the VitaMix because it comes with a longer warranty. hehe But, right now, I use my food processor for various dishes.
Drawbacks to the VitaMix? The price… but a long warranty. The tamper is very useful and the hole on top is good for adding more food in… and it is heavy enough to handle its own torque (unlike the BlendTec).
I just bought the Jack Lalanne blender. It’s only $119 on the internet and it’s awesome. I never used the Vitamix so I can’t compare it. The recipe book says you can make nut butter with it although I have not tried it yet. It comes with 100 year warranty.
a vitamix in my opinion is a must have.
i bought a blend-tec and am thrilled with it—just another option! they cost about 325.
i have a Cuisinart food processor and in the mail is a vitamix for me. I find the FP doesn’t handle making soup or smoothies that well as it doesn’t like to have to much liquid it it, or else it likes to leak it, that is where the Vitamix will come in hand.