Choosing a Juicer

So you want to juice. First things first... you need a JUICER! Not a blender or chopper, etc. If you use anything but a juicer you will get baby food, a nice bowl of pureed goodness (if you are lacking all your teeth then this might be a great choice for you).

When my husband and I decided to start juicing we were not sure if it was a "fad" for us so we didn't want to invest a lot of money in a juicer. A year later and we are still juicing! We burnt up two juicers before we bit the bullet and bought the real deal. It took about two months of researching before we decided on the OMEGA VRT350HD. There are numerous product reviews, YouTube videos, and all kinds of facts about this juicer across the internet. Basically, we chose this one based on a few key points we were looking for:

1. Easy to clean
2. Quiet
3. Durability and warranty
4. Doesn't take up to much space
5. *Most Important* what kind of Juice Product it delivered.

The good little nutrients that health guru's are always mentioning are easily killed off in food preparation and cooking. This is also a problem with blender and juicing products. In the case of juicing, if the machine gets to heated while extracting the juice it kills off phytonutrients and some vitamins. That is why choosing a juicer was so important. Let's face it, we do this in the name of health and if I'm not getting my healthiness out of the deal I'm NOT doing it!

My advice start off with a cheaper juicer and make sure you are committed and when it becomes apart of your daily routine, INVEST in the real deal.

About the Juice

No matter what juicer you choose, you need to know that only a select (really expensive few) will be pulp/fiber free. You do not want fiber in your juice (I will explain in a later post). The best dollar I've ever spent were on these beauties!

The hubby found them at Family Dollar and they come in packs of two for $1. We use these to filter the juice that comes out of the spigot. It catches all the escaping pulp and really makes the juice smooth. You can also use cheese cloth and strain it that way but it is a lot messier and you have to keep buying the cheese cloth. With these strainers you want to clean them with your scrubber (same one used for the machine cleaning); do NOT put them in the dishwasher because they will rust.

The Juicing Kit

Happy Juicing!