I would greatly appreciate ANYONE & EVERYONE'S opinion on buying a food processor. I have no experience with one so what do YOU recommend? And does it come with several attachments?? I'm on a budget so none that are over $100 please!!

Please Help?

THANKS!!!!!

K.S.

-You CAN always get by with one of the smaller mini-units for like $20. It will handle 90% of your chopping/pureeing/grinding needs. Just my experience (I never owned a full-sized food processor...even when I was making Essene Bread! LOL).

-David Z.

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

depending on where you live, Costco can have some deals. I got an 11 cup cuisinart for $130... I use it almost every day

I have a small one that works better for a lot of things (like nut cheeses). We are a family of five and ended up needing a larger one that we paid about $60 for. If we needed it for just one or two people I don't think I would have ever purchased a big one.

It all depends on what you anticipate doing with the machine.

I've been using several different Cuisinarts for over 25 years. Since becoming raw I don't use my current 11 cup basic model as much preparing food for one. The things I do use it for are preparing pates and grating larger amounts of vegetables. You can sometimes find the basic model online for just over $100.

Cuisinarts is known to be a great food processor, I don't own one yet but it's on my list. I've seen it used on the computer videos. I have a vitamix that works wonders for most everything.

Why don't you go first to a friend which owns one, see a demo, taste whatever you prepared with the processor - and then maybe decide if you are going to use it or not. (I seen so many ppls buying things and then never using them!)

This way, you can eventually save money not buying something you will never use, OR going straight toward selecting the right kind/size/quality of tool which fits your needs.

Pls. excuse my English - foreigner.

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Medicine, Food Industry and Commerce are businesses.
Is their goal to make/keep me healthy or to make more profit?
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I just went out and bought the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth 70590 14 Cups Food Processor from walmart. I got it for 49.99. In her book "Living on Live Foods," Alyssa Cohen states that she is happy with her 40 dollar food processor--though she recommends a large capacity one (like 12-14 cup, is I think what she said). I asked on her message boards which brand she used and it came back that she uses both Hamilton Beach and Black and Decker. Nobody said which model. After doing my own research I found that the Hamilton Beach that I mentioned earlier got the best and MOST reviews, whereas I could hardly find any on the Black and Decker. So I went with the Hamilton Beach. I just tried it out and I think it works nicely. The "pitcher" part is made of plastic and seems a little flimsy and someone on Walmart's reviews said DON'T put it in the dishwasher--hers was warped after she did that (but the instructions supposedly say NOT to, even though Walmart's site says you can). Also if you use the slicing option it won't slice your food to the last bit. As in, there's a plunger to force the onion onto the slicing blade, but once you've pushed the plunger as far as it will go there is still some onion that won't slice because of a gap between the end of the chute and the top of the blade. But there wouldn't be all that much leftover onion to be a big deal and over all it is a great value for the money. Some people on the reviews said it worked pretty much as well as their cuisinarts. Others (including myself) think it's very easy to operate and easy to clean. Compared to the other shelf models that I saw at Walmart, the control dial on my processor was much MUCH nicer than other brands/models for the same price. However, I have only owned it for literally a few hours so also check out the reviews for that model at Amazon.com and walmart.com.


Hope that helps!

The instructions for my current food proccessor say not to put ice in it, and of course I ignored the instructions and tried to make banana ice cream in it and I cracked it. When I buy my next food proccessor, I'm going to make sure that it handles ice, even if I have to pay twice as much for it.

Update on the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth 70590 14 Cups Food Processor. It definitely will NOT chop frozen bananas! The whole thing shook so badly that the top flew off! So I would guess that means no ice either. But it did very well chopping up nuts for Alyssa Cohen's "Alfredo" sauce.

For those of you who insist on putting large quantities of frozen fruit (or ice) that are also sized large (ie. 1' x 1' ice cubes, or 1' slices of frozen bananas) into your blenders; take a suggestion from a chef & use a bar blender instead of your food blender or food processor..

Bar blenders are designed with blades that will efficiently break down ice & frozen fruit; but only if these ingredients are in a liquid medium..

It constantly astounds me on the raw forums that I visit the number of people who everyday ruin their expensive food processors & blenders..

Frozen ice cream should ONLY be made in an actual ice cream maker (using raw ingredients, but following conventional procedures), or as an alternative by running frozen fruits through a the homogenizing plates of a twin-screw juicer..

A twin-screw juicer has the power, as well as the SLOW speeds necessary to work large pieces of frozen fruit through it's homogenizing plates without ruining the electric motor..

Every time that a raw foodist places large quantities of frozen fruit with minimal amounts of liquid (the proportions needed to create a soft serve like frozen raw dessert) into the carafe of a blender, or the bowl of a food processor, they are risking permanent damage to the motor..

At the very least the bearings of the blender or food processor are going to undergo extremely high stress levels, leading to future failure..

Commercial Robot Coupe food processors are NO more able to chop up frozen fruit or ice cubes than are consumer models; & they have motors that are light years better then do Cuisinarts, etc..

I realize that many raw foodists are on limited budgets & cannot afford to spend several thousand dollars at one time in order to purchase a Vita-Mix style blender, an Excalibur dehydrator, a twin-screw juicer, several different size food processors (3-cup, 7-cup, & 11 or 14-cup), a spice grinder, a spiral slicer, a mandoline, a set of high quality knives, & all of the nice hand tools that will allow one to save time as well as raise efficiency in the raw kitchen..Much less a specialized ice cream maker..

However, and make NO mistake about this, certain tools ARE NOT appropriate to use for certain tasks in the raw kitchen..

Thick, hard to move mixtures should always be done in a food processor as opposed to a blender..Blenders were originally invented & designed to process liquids, not solids..As people graduated to wanting to process more & more solid ingredients in blenders, this led to the invention of the original Vita-Mix blender..However, even blenders with the power of the Vita-Prep 3 NEED a certain amount of liquid in the carafe in order to create a vortex in the ingredients..Without a vortex the ingredients will do one of three things..First, the blades will throw the ingredients against the sides of the carafe where they will stick, allowing the blades to spin freely..Second, a small pocket only the size of the blades will form & the blades will also spin freely without accomplishing anything..Blenders ARE NOT designed to spin without resistance, & should not be allowed to do so for any longer then absolutely necessary..Third, the blades will not be able to move the ingredients very much, if at all; & the blender will bog down, becoming damaged as a result..

Raw hummus seems to give a lot of people fits, leading to blender & food processor failure..Conventional hummus is made with cooked chickpeas, which are relatively soft..Raw hummus is made with soaked & sprouted chickpeas, which ARE NOT as soft..In addition many raw foodists seem to want to reduce & or eliminate completely the olive oil that constitutes a large percentage of SAD hummus..Since the soaked & sprouted chickpeas in raw hummus are already harder than the cooked ones in SAD hummus; one CANNOT reduce or eliminate the olive oil in raw hummus without replacing it with another liquid of some type..To NOT do so puts tremendous stress on the blender or food processor, & is a recipe for immediate or eventual failure..

Another area of the raw kitchen that leads to many, many food processor failures is the making of raw candies..ALL conventional SAD candies are cooked..Period..Cooking sugar allows the molecular structure of the white sugar to melt & re-crystallize; & depending upon how long it is cooked, to evaporate to one degree or another..This produces candies with crystalline structures that range from soft & gooey to hard & crystalline..

Trying to duplicate these SAD candy creations in a raw form is, IMO, a waste of time..No matter how hard that one tries you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT duplicate the identical taste & mouth feel of a SAD candy in a raw version WITHOUT cooking white sugar..Substituting other sweeteners such as raw honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, & others will often give you a luciuos, sweet-tasting dessert..But, the culinary machinations necessary to create these raw approximations of SAD candies are also, IMO, too much..In order to create a raw candy that comes even slightly close to approximating it's SAD counterpart it is necessary to blend or process the mixture with so little liquid sweeteners & fats that one risks damaging the blender or food processor EVERY time that you make one of these raw candies..

The other thing that really bothers me about ALL raw desserts, not just the candies, is that raw sweeteners do not have the same level of sweetness on the tongue as does white granulated sugar..So on a 1:1 basis raw sweeteners, on average, do not taste as sweet as white sugar..So this leads to most raw desserts being as sweet, calorie wise, as their SAD counterparts..What's the sense of purchasing all of the expensive ingredients to create raw desserts only to have them turn out to be just as laden with sugar as the very SAD desserts that they are replacing??..

The last area of the raw kitchen that is problematic is the creation of raw frozen desserts..SAD ice creams are made with cooked ingredients and refrigerated in an ice cream machine for a reason..These processes allow for the creamy mouth feel that people have come to desire..You can come pretty darn close to SAD ice cream using raw ingredients & without heating anything over 110 degrees Fahrenheit..But again, the fat & raw sweetener content of these raw ice creams will be pushing the levels of a SAD ice cream..

To CHEAT the whole process of making a raw ice cream without using a refrigerated ice cream maker by just putting frozen fruit with the bare minimum of liquids (and some recipes call for NO liquids!) into a blender or food processor is to risk damaging the machine every time that this is done..If you do not own & use a twin-screw juicer with homogenizing plates; and you do not want to purchase a specialized machine just for frozen desserts, then my advice as a chef is to GIVE UP the idea of raw ice cream..Continued use of a blender or food processor to make frozen soft serve ice cream will sooner or later wreck your blender or food processor..

Hopes this helps someone,

Bruce



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2008 07:02PM by baltochef.

Some people use their Champion Juicer to make ice cream from frozen fruits such as bananas. I'm not sure if that also has a negative impact on the machine as it could on blenders or food processors. Maybe Bruce could give some feedback on this.

Bruce,

Thank you for your research and opinions, you gave us a lot to think about.

After the failed frozen banana experiment, I let them soften up a bit (40 minutes) When I had tried them in the food processor, they were frozen SOLID and certainly not cut up or anything. After thawing them a bit I ended up putting them in my 600 watt Oster Beehive blender--the best "cheap" blender all around. It's not a crappy piece of plastic blender (it has an all metal drive system and is solid and sturdy), but certainly is no "bar blender"

I added oh...a cup and half maybe of refrigerator-cold almond milk to the six frozen bananas. I blended it carefully, pulsing on low, until I was able to flip it to high. Mind you these bananas had softened up quite a bit and were no longer rock solid, but still were very cold. The result was DELICIOUS!!!! No added sweeteners or ANYTHING! I see nothing unhealthy about that, since it was only bananas and almond milk. And it put my blender under no unusual stress. It came out in a very thick frozen milkshake consistency--sort of like Wendy's thick shakes. Yummy!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2008 08:32PM by musicbebe.

I bet the K-Tec Total will blend ice and frozen bananas. If it can blend an iPhone and golf balls, it ought to blend ice.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2008 08:41PM by Bryan.

Bryan

Regarding the Vita-Prep 3, Waring XTreme, & K-Tec Total blenders (and any others of equal power)..........

I'm not talking about blending reasonable amounts of ice or frozen fruits in a smoothie where the ratio of frozen product to liquid medium is at least 3 to 1..

I'm talking about ratios of 2 to 1 and less..In almost every post that I've read where someone trashed their expensive blender the circumstances were such that the user filled the carafe with either too much & or inappropriate ingredients that made it virtually impossible for the blender's electric motor to overcome the dead weight inertia when first starting out..

A lot of people don't realize this, but for several micro-seconds any electric motor is using between 80-90% of it's rated amperage just in order to get the motor & it's shaft up to speed from a cold standing start..When you add the weight of whatever is attached to the shaft, along with whatever resistance that the appliance that the motor is installed in has to overcome in order to perform it's job; it's easy to see how easy it is to damage the motor when starting it up if the cafafe or bowl is too full, or has ingredients in it that are hard to move..

Just because a blender can chop up a cell phone does not mean that that is an appropriate use of the blender..Just because a ceramic knife is harder than steel, doesn't mean that I'm going to cut a tin (steel) can in half with it..

The maximum capabilities of a Vita-Mix blender or Cuisinart food processor aside; using these machines all the time at or near their maximum electrical load ratings will only shorten their lifespans..

If the main reason that you have purchased your blender for is to make thick smoothies using large quantities of frozen bananas, & or large ice cubes; understand that the blender MUST have a shorter lifespan, then if it were used for these purposes on a less frequent basis..

Most high-powered blenders like the Vita-Prep 3 should have at least a 10 year, if not much longer, lifespan if used everyday under moderate load conditions (with occasional maximum load use)..The same blender used everyday under maximum load conditions might have a lifespan as short as 1-2 years..

Bruce

I have a Cuisinart food processor which I bought from Macy's for $70.00. It's easy to use and easy to clean. I also have a Vitamix blender. I love both my machines.

What I use each for depends on what I'm making. If I'm making soups, I like to use the Cuisinart because it can leave things more chunky. I sometimes like my soups a little more hearty or thick. The Vitmix blends it more quickly into a broth like consistency.

The food processor really works great for hummus and other raw spreads and dips. I use my Vitamix blender for smoothies, nut milks and salad dressings.

I really feel that my food processor saves me a lot of time and work. My Cuisinart brand machine has lasted much longer then some of my friends other manufacturer's products.

Now I saw the Wolfgang Puck food proccessor demonstrated on HSN and they made an ice cream using cherries that were frozen solid, but baltochef is right, they added milk to it so I don't think it would work without milk. The reviews say that it is cheaply made.

[kitchen-dining.hsn.com]

The Ultimate Chopper can chop concrete (at least it does on the infomercial) they seem to no longer be sold new but with 1.5 million units out there, they will be on eBay forever.

BTW there is a recall on the Ultimte Chopper, it seems that it can start when the lid is off. They tell you how to inspect your machine.
[www.cpsc.gov]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2008 02:47AM by Lillianswan.

Some points that I wish to make that I've been dancing around in regards to this thread's topic of proper blender & food processor usage, & longevity are this:

My grandmother, who turned 104 in late November 2007; was born into, & lived the majority of her life in an era where TIME was the major component of kitchen life..In other words, it was an accepted fact of life that whatever task that was trying to be accomplished in the kitchen would require a certain amount of time for that task, and that was that..

By the 1930's and 1940's inventors had turned their attention to creating labor saving tools to reduce & or eliminate a good portion of the time that women spent on tasks in the kitchen..But, it wasn't until the late 1950's, the 1960's, & the 1970's when electrical appliances truly began to be a common sight in the average kitchen..By the end of the 1990's the average home kitchen was chock-o-block FULL of labor saving electrical appliances of every description, as well as a myriad of hand tools that the cook of the 1950's could only dream about..

The advent of all of these tools in the kitchen has led to a pretty serious decline in the basic understandings of food preparation..When you know how to use your hands & simple tools to prepare food competently, then you will have a much better understanding of what your electrical appliances are & are not capable of..

Many, many of todays cooks, both SAD & raw, just do not have the experience to KNOW when to turn off an electrical appliance before it is damaged..Part of this is due to a lack of experience; & part of it is due to believing all the hype that the commercials seen on television promote..

The average commercial today for a kitchen appliance in 2008 is so over the top compared to the commercials of the 1960's, 1970's, & 1980's, that the difference is immense..Commercials in those days showcased & promoted the product without a lot of excessive hype..The manufacturers kept their claims conservative because they did not want the consumer to abuse the machine..This meant that their returns due to misuse would be limited..

Today the exact opposite is true..The average kitchen appliance commercial being shown on TV today is produced in such a way that the maximum limits of the appliance are constantly being showcased..Whether it's a 60 second spot, or a 30-60 minute infomercial, the demonstrations are nearly always pushing the tool to it's limits..

Between the general lack of kitchen knowledge for the average cook, & the way that modern advertising showcases products; it is no wonder that so many raw foodists think that their food processors & blenders are capable of just about anything..Couple this with the fact that SO many people seem to feel that their lives should be perfect, that nothing in their lives should EVER go wrong, & that if something in their lives DOES go wrong; then "Well I shouldn't have to be responsible for, or pay for, the consequences"..

Now add in to the above that these people nearly ALWAYS expect the manufacturer to replace their burnt out food processor or blender (and many, many other appliances as well!!) at no charge to them, and the result is the high cost of those appliances..

Most modern electrical kitchen tools would cost AT LEAST 25% less, in some cases as much as 50% less, than the current prices if consumers would take responsibility for their own actions..Since the likeliehood of such a sea change in attitude is remote at best, we can only expect the prices of appliances to rise in cost..

Finally, who here would take their very expensive, very sharp chef's knife and use it like a meat cleaver to chop solidly frozen food on a cutting board..NO ONE!!..
Because, the blade would become damaged almost instantly..So why do people think that the even thinner blade of a food processor is capable of accomplishing this??..For the life of me I do not understand this..

A bar blenders' blades are optimized to break down ice & frozen fruits in alcoholic drinks..The blades of the Vita-Mix blenders are of a more multi-purpose design, as are generally all other blenders..As a result they will not process ice & large pieces of frozen food nearly as well as the bar blender will..That a Vita-Mix (or any other comparable blender) seems to do so so effortlessly is due more to the power & quality of it's motor, than to the design of the blades being optimized for hard, frozen foods..

So the points I'm trying to make are this..

First--If your blender or food processor is truly defective, then by all means return it & demand satisfaction..But, if you have abused your machine the please don't expect the manufacturer to pay for your mistakes..Accept responsibility, purchase another appliance, & endeavor not to abuse the new one in the same way as the old one..

Second--Slow down a little..It is the absolute curse of modern life that we all seem to want to cram 30 hours of high octane life into every 24 hour day..Wanting & expecting this out of ourselves all the time is the type of behavior that leads to appliance failure..Not doing tasks slow enough to appreciate what is happening in the moment, being always pushed for time, is how mistakes are made..

Respectfully,

Bruce