Do I *need* a juicer?

[ChristineG]

Hi Everyone! I am thrilled to be here! I have been reading a lot of your posts and am so grateful for your wisdom and experience. I have learned so very much from this site already...a lot of stuff that I haven't come across in the books I've read so far. I think I can actually make yummy raw breads now that won't get all fermented and gross! Anyway, I digress. Dh and I have been veg forever, but have just recently stumbled upon raw foods. We are so excited and feeling terrific! I was able to find a used excalibur dehydrator for sale about 45 mins from my home and have been enjoying that a lot. We have owned a VitaMix for years, so that is another big 'raw' type purchase that we don't have to make.

The only other thing I am wondering about is a juicer. Do we *need* a juicer? (I know we won't die without one. ;) ) I am just wondering what the general consensus on here is...totally necessary, nice to have, take it or leave it, not necessary? What do you think?

[codajess]

Only if you want juice! And Hi, welcome!

[rawpriestess]

I've had several juicers, and I don't think they are necessary FOR ME, as I don't drink alot of juice, I prefer the whole food.

but it depends on what kind of juicer you were thinking of.

[moonstone523]

I have a juicer, nothing fancy, and don't use it much. I prefer smoothies with my blender, cheap blender none the less, and now I just bought a 2 cup food processor which I am having fun with.

I find my citrus juicer gets used numerous times a day, but the juicer, maybe once a week or once a month.

Now if you want a fancy dancy juicer that does many things, then maybe you might reconsider, but I think you could do without. :cool:

[Coriander74]

Hi :)

I caved last year and bought a Juiceman, and it's wonderful in the summers having fresh juice in the morning. There's nothing like making your own juices - my whole body perks up having that first thing in my day!!

Smoothies are also wonderful using the blender, but my blender is from probably around 1855 (it was my parents) so it's not the greatest :D

[Halo Aglow]

Well I am glad that I got my juicer because I like drinking different kinds of juice... (duh huh?). :D But you can give yourself a trail period to see if you'd probably use your juicer a lot by just making juice with a blender and then straining it out with a nutmilk bag. If you end up loving the juice but getting tired of having to strain it out all the time, you'd probably love a juicer.

I have both the manual Healthy Juicer (for when I want wheatgrass and other green juice) and a Breville for the other stuff. I truly appreciate them. As like Coriander74, my whole body really loves fresh raw juice. It's like tasty magic happy potions! ;) :D

[ChristineG]

:o Thanks everyone! Now I just have to decide if I *want* a juicer. I love the idea of zinging up juice in the VitaMix and straining it with a nut bag! We hardly ever drink juice, but it might be nice for a treat once in awhile. :o

[Up LEAP 100 Billion]

A juicer is great for getting your greens in you, or any vegetables that don't taste great and would take a long time to eat (most vegetables usually have a long "munching and chewing" time) whereas you can put veg through the juicer and drink it all within 10 minutes. The last 2 days now I have juiced all the vegetables for each day all in one glass in the morning. So 8am today I juiced head cabage, head romaine and 1 red sweet pepper. It's the first "food" I consume and gets the vegetables out of the way quickly for the day and can then enjoy the rest of the day eating all the lovely fruit I have in it's whole state. I don't really think theres much need to juice fruit - it tastes great in its whole state and is a lot more convenient then keep getting the juicer out.