Juicers - Breville Juice Fountain

[LaniB]

So I have a question about juicers. I don't have one.

I've been about 80% raw for the last month or so, and 100% for the last week. I have not been juicing but I have been making green smoothies.

I think I might like to start juicing soon, but I have a mortgage to pay and don't want to go into debt for raw food equipment. I also want to buy a good quality food processor which I'm also lacking at the moment.

There is a Bed Bath and Beyond right next to me and I've got tons of 20% coupons. They carry the various Breville juicers, which I know is a centrifugal juicer and apparently not as good as the masticating juicers (and probably other varieties).

So my questions:
1) how important is it that I juice? (as opposed to green smoothies in the vitamix)

2) is the Breville a bad machine? I read pretty good reviews of it on Amazon.

3) What's the difference between their various machines? I tried to sort it out and all I can see is a name and price difference, bugt I'm sure there must be more to it.

4) Does anyone here have one? How do you like it?

5) If I get a Breville and later want to upgrade to a pricier masticating juicer, would I be able to sell the Breville and get anything for it?

As an additional consideration - I also have a severe lack of counter space in my kitchen so I'd prefer to get a smaller piece of equipment that would work better in the space, all other things being equal or close to equal.

Just some thoughts ... I was somewhat thinking of picking up the Breville at Bed Bath and Beyond just to get started.

[Aleesha Sattva]

why not just juice with your vita-mix? it'll make higher quality juice than a breville will and it won't take up any additional funds or counter space!

brevilles are good (as far as centrifugals go)... but i can't imagine you'll get much on the resale of one.

[michigan roman]

- juicing imo does two things , one it allows you to get extra nutrients to rebuild cells with because you can ingest the juice / nutrients of say 200 leaf of kale as juice as opposed to only being able to eat say 20 in whole leaf form . two if you want to cleanse by fasting the juicer is perfect . i believe in fasting so like juicers for that purpose , but if i werent a faster i wouldnt play around with the cost / mess with a juicer

- ive read thousands of opinions at forums / sites since going raw 6 years ago plus looked at all juicers / blenders / processors at stores and can say breville has a very good long term reputation

- but concerning centrifugal juicer type MANY healers dont like , cancer healers have said many times they couldnt heal patients using centrifugal juice where as healed them when changed to slow turned juice . i guess the aireation and heat caused by centrifugal juice damages plant nutrients

- ide guess if you payed 150 or whatever for a breville centrifugal 6 months to year later you could get around half that , but have to mess around with the hassle of selling it . if you , after my above statement on why a juicer , still want juicer ide get the 250 omega i think its 8005 at bbb . with coupon itd be around 200 . it gets GREAT reveiws from 100's of raw foodist ive talked to . its said to clean easily . its a slow turning juicer so healthier juice . it does greens well . i bought a brand new comercial champion juicer a year ago and it turned so fast aireating juices i didnt like and gave to my mom . my next juicer will be the omega . but im holding out looking for a HEAVY DUTY manual one with big old lever to crank down on to crush produce , im tracking it by looking at manual things like they use to press sausage or grind meat or press fruit .

- in terms of processor evety raves about cuisinart and kitchen aid and say youll want the bigger ones for capacity . but to me its a luxury and i can do with a knife and cutting board without hassle of cleaning processor or the cash gone . i use big serated edge knife so when i miss and hit fingers its less apt to cut than a straight edge knife

[RawMark]

I have the Breville juicer as well as a Champion, which is what I use these days. The Breville makes good-tasting juice. It's faster to juice things, but more time-consuming to set up and to clean. The Champion makes better-tasting juice, though it has a lot of foam on the top compared with the Breville. The Breville doesn't provide as much nutrients as the Champion, apparently, though I have always noticed that I feel good after drinking juices either way.

Somehow, oddly, juice from the Breville ends up being sweeter than from the Champion. Juice from the Champion is stronger-flavoured, too. Ginger, for example, seems to have twice the bite.

[michigan roman]

heres link to omega at bbb



http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=14526986&RN=693&

[LaniB]

You guys are awesome!!! Thanks!

I think I have a 20% online coupon for Bed Bath and Beyond, so I'll take a look at it in a little bit (after I finish making the raw corn torillas that I plan to have for dinner tonight with my tacos ...)

[Katterin]

I ended up going for the greenstar elite 5000 as I only wanted to buy once. It is a dual gear juicer. Although clean up is a bit slow - (maybe 5-10 mins having only used it 3 or 4 times so will get quicker) I've been really impressed. There is a bit of foam produced when juicing greens but this happens in most - alternating hard and soft foods work well to keep this to the minimum.

I agree that with machines like this a little bit of ginger, lime or lemon goes a long way! Plus you can make nut butters etc, and I think the champion does this too.

It really depends on your budget - I wanted the best I could get but will be paying it off for the next month :)