Cheeeeeep kitchen appliances

[Shivananda]

As some of you are already aware, I know more about kitchen appliances than any human should. And because of that a number of people have asked fairly similar questions that go something like: "I'm a college student with no money, so while I want a Vitamix really bad I just can't do that right now, so could you recommend a good blender I could get for under $50?"

So I thought take a look at the offering available in a couple of national stores that are accessible to lots of people and see what they have available right now that I would actually buy myself, knowing all I do about this stuff, if I was on a restricted budget.

Today's store was Target.

Blender... after a quick look around the choice was obvious and clear... a Black & Decker 550 watt blender with a stainless steerl base, and big polycarbonate jar, on sale today for $34.95. As I said in another thread a 500-600 watt blender is the minimum power rating I would want to have today (Waring Classic bar blenders are 300 watt, KitchenAid 5 speed is 450 watt, Vitamix is 900 watt, K-Tec is 1500 watt. ) and this fills the bill for making smoothies and other blended drinks. Should be able to do green smoothies but I have not tried it.

Food processor... all they had out looked acceptable, but my first choice also quickly stood out... a Black & Decker 500 watt, 10 cup capacity, with a matte black base, displayed on an endcap (meaning that everywhere in Target stores today they have this item on display at the end of the regular shelves in Housewares.) for $49.95

Juicer... only one model on display, a Jack LaLanne centrifugal juicer for $99.95. NO SALE. This recent knockoff of the Breville Juice Fountain is woefully underpowered at 250 watts (the $150 Breville is 800 watts). And it is made by Salton, which manufactures a dozen diiferent familiar brands like George Foreman and Russell Hobbs and JuiceMan, but whose products lean very much to cheap and cheesy construction, easily broken, like this juicer. If this were $39.99 it might be worth it.

[misslinda]

Ah did you have to use the word "cheap" in that title

r u a used car salemen? ;)


anyway, i have the black and decker 4500 that was jsut replced by the newer model and got it for 19.99 at target. i have not had problems----i thought i did but it was b/c i did not know how to use the cup lock grip thingy majig.

Shiva da da, can I ask what all kitchen appliances you use?


:)

[juliebove]

Does anyone have the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth food processor? I believe it is a 14 cup. I got it because I'd read good reviews about it and because it claimed you didn't have to cut the food to size to put it in. I decided I need some sort of food processor after trying to make sprouted chickpea hummus with my immersion blender and finding that it just didn't have the power to do it. And since I eat a ton of salads and cut up raw veggies, it seemed like this would be the best choice for me. Alas, when it arrived (amazon.com) the very top piece was totally crushed. It is designed so that you can't use it unless all the parts are put on correctly. And since I didn't have this part, I couldn't use it. They also couldn't send me just this part. I had to ship it back and must now wait until they get it and then ship me another. I am worried though that it might not be very durable if the piece broke that easily. The piece wasn't just cracked. It was found as powdered plastic, little chunks and shards. It was so broken I couldn't even tell what it was. I had to try to assemble it to figure out what part it was.

My only other experience with a food processor was bad. I bought a small (but not mini) one and it never worked right. There was a flaw in the design and it allowed a minute piece of food to be thrown up into this spring mechanism. The thing would stop and wouldn't start up again until I got out the tools, took it all apart and cleaned out the little speck of food. After doing this three times, I finally took it back to the store.

[tvillemom]

Juliebove, I think I found your same processor at Walmart.....I was seriously looking at laying it away because everytime I use my processor, it leaks out of the top (where the base and the lid connect). Mine is a very old 7-cup Hamilton Beach processor. It works great(except for the leak), and has so far withstood making really thick stuff like Alissa's fudge balls. I hope your new one works just as well...I'll be waiting to hear if it's worth the purchase ;) .
Wendi

[Shivananda]

After my successful foray to Target, I thought Bed Bath and Beyond might be another productive place to shop for cheeeeeep appliances, but no. Although I found many great non-electrical items for a raw kitchen (including Snapware containers for bulk food storage in my new pantry) I found little to attract me if I was looking for a cheeeeeep food processor, etc., even if I had one of BB&B's ubiquitous coupons to use.

The least expensive full size food processor they had was the 7 cup Cuisinart Pro Classic at $99.99, the last of the square based units based on the original French design by Robot Coupe. As I posted earlier, I can buy two 10 cup Black & Deckers for that price at Target, and the B&D's will probably last longer and work better.

Blenders? The KA Ultra Power at 500 watts, and 40 oz jar for $99.99 is underpowered and small by raw kitchen standards, but the Cuisinart CBT-500 at 600 watts, and 50 oz jar is better, also $99.99. But the prize for cheeeeeeep goes to... the Hamilton Beach Wave Action for only $19.99.

It's 400/500 watt, a huge 56 oz jar, and although probably not good for any dry grinding, because the 500 watt "peak power" should only be used in short bursts, it actually did a pretty good job of turning some frozen fruit, ice, and a banana into a smoothie. My only caveat would be to NOT use a hard frozen banana or big chunk of fruit, but allow it to thaw slightly first.

My point being, if you only had $20 to spend right now, it's way better for making blened beverages and sauces than nothing.

The Jack LaLanne/Breville comparison I've already mentioned before... Jack LaLanne is shoddy junk, a 250 watt ripoff of the Breville design for $100, whereas the Brevile is 850 watt, well made and only $150. It's worth waiting for. (And Alissa sells it in her store).

Later I'll post my real life test of the 3 seed (coffee) grinders I found there, after I've ventured out to the flower show to smell the posies. :)

[RowanC]

You can find everything you need at a yard sale.

Blenders for $5
Cuisinarts for $10

Last year I bought a 5 tray Excaliber for $10 and a 9 tray for $30.
I resold them and made a little cash.

Why make more trash for the landfill when there are perfectly good appliances out there for very little money?

I bought a new blender this year for my Christmas present.
I should have saved my money.
My old $5 green one from the 60's made a better smoothie than this new "powerful" Kitchenaid piece of junk!

Other good places to look are

www.craigslist.com
and
www.freecycle.com

[Shivananda]

I just noticed this special online... the LeQuip RPM 900 for $130 (w/free shipping) at discountjuicers.com It has a 900 watt motor (50-75% more power than typical kitchen blenders) and is variable speed from 500 rpm (for stirring) up to 20,000 rpm, which is more than twice as fast as regular blenders go. That's what you need for finely blended green juices, etc. And it has a big 7 cup jar, with a "tamper stick" like the VitaMix for poking frozen fruits when making smoothies. And it has a 6 year warranty. Locally they sell for $190, so that's a nice cost savings. And it's very close to duplicating VitaMix specs, but at 1/3 the price. Yes, the VitaMix is a great machine if you can afford it, but if you just don't have that kind of money right now, this would probably be a good intermediate step.

Disclaimer: I have not actually used this particular machine in Shivananda's Test Kitchen (STK) , but it seems well built, and both LeQuip and discountjuicers have been reliable in my previous experiences with them.

[Shivananda]

You can find everything you need at a yard sale. Blenders for $5 Cuisinarts for $10

True, and while supporting your overall sentiment for recycling, a blender and a food processor (Cuisinart is a brand name) are two appliances I'd be reluctant to bring into my kitchen from a yard sale.

Why? Because they are two of the hardest kitchen appliances to get totally clean, especially the parts that touch the food. The only one worse is a juicer.

Maybe you don't care about accidentally ingesting toxic substances from machines that have been who-knows-where, but I do.

[stRAWberry fields forever]

I am relatively uneducated in the area of kitchen appliances...if one were to purchase a powerful blender such as the LeQuip RPM 900 or a vitamix, is a food processor needed?

[RowanC]

Mine all come perfectly apart and are easy to clean.

I must just be lucky! whheeeeeeeee!

[rawfigure]

Well this is off the Cheeeeeppp subject but I found a Omega 8005 on sale on the internet for 212.00 free shipping, got it used it today for first time. Nice recommendation !!

[Shivananda]

I am relatively uneducated in the area of kitchen appliances...if one were to purchase a powerful blender such as the LeQuip RPM 900 or a vitamix, is a food processor needed?

Hi, there is some overlap, so you can start with the one you think have the most need of and add the other later.

Food processors are primarily designed to chop food, although they can also slice and shred. Making a finely textured pate out of soaked sunflower seeds in a food processor is very quick, a matter of a mere minute or so, as is shredding a pound of carrots for carrot cake or veggie burgers. The long curved blades are often serrated slightle, so the chopping action can be pretty intense. Chunked carrots can be chopped into carrot meal in no time.

Blenders are primarily designed to blend liquids, and can also chop solids suspended in liquids (such as chopping up frozen fruit and ice for a smoothie), or can chop small quantities of food, like a cup of salsa or maybe flax seeds. In a blender unless you add liquid the contents will often not circulate very well. And the blades are tiny compared to a food processor, so a sunny pate would not work very well.

So if you are primarily interested in making drinks, and sauces, the blender is what you want. And if you want green smoothies tou want probably 600 watts or more power.

But if you are most interested in finely chopping vegetables, or slicing and shredding, plus making smooth sauces without totally homogonizing them, the food processor is probably the first thing for you to getto get. It's just not so good at blending liquids. 450 watts or more power is good for a food processor, although the approx 700 watts of my 11 cup KitchenAid is akin to a V8 engine in a normal size car... makes it go way fast without any strain or fuss.

With my own very personal approach to preparing food I find the food processor more essential, so much so that I have two of them in my kitchen. And now that I'm all raw, I use fine chopping instead of cooking to make tough foods more eatable. The blenders I have (I have 2 ) are not really used all that much anymore ( I used them more when I was using dairy and soy)except for salad dressings and occasional smoothies, and the blender "ice cream" I mentioned earlier. And of course, for killer margaritas when company comes. That's why I sometimes need two. :) :) :)

[Shivananda]

Mine all come perfectly apart and are easy to clean.

Yeah, well maybe. But I bet I could come over to your place with a microscope and a black light and disabuse you of that notion pretty quickly.

The weak point of all rotary blade food prep appliances is the point where the power shaft passes through the container and attaches to the blade. That seal, and the underside of the non removable blades in many blenders tend to accumulate crud and bacteria. Blenders with removable jar bottoms are bestter in this regard, because you can at least get in there and scrub with a toothbrush, but the sealed in blades of the VitaMix and Waring Classic are essentially impossible to clean to top sanitary standards, OK, so throw them in the dishwasher you say! Yeah, and that works fairly well for a while, primarily because of the high temperature and alkaline environment, but it also tends to dry out the bearings and seals quickly, causing the jar to get noisy and leaky and eventually fail.

So, not knowing WHAT my neighbor might have been mixing up in that blender he's getting rid of cheeeep (Somehow the old SNL "Bassamatic " commercials come to mind), I'd rather start off fresh, thanks.

[RowanC]

You are really thorough!

I guess I'm just an old country girl who isn't too paranoid about a lttle bit of dirt.

I figure if I wash it in good hot soapy water, it's as clean or cleaner as the stuff that comes from the factory. I mean, honestly, who knows whose nose was being picked while they were making the parts? You could pretty technical here.

And, with my MCS, things that have already outgassed for a year or two are better for my health. I'm more concerned about that than I am a little spaghetti sauce stuck in the motor.

Anyway ::shrug:: to each his/her own.

I prefer to do the earth less harm by reusing and recycling as often as I can and not buying into the consumerism that is rampaging. I also prefer not to make more trash for the landfills by constantly buying new new new stuff. Especially when I logically cannot SEE $100 worth of materials in a few pieces of plastic, metal, and glass.

It's obscene, really, in my opinion. Almost as obscene as those big ole 3 story 4,000-square-foot 2-person 5-car-garage houses they're tearing down the forest to build "for the view!" which they cut down to build the danged obnoxious house!
Beats me... just doesn't feel right.

Soooo.. we'll have to agree to disagree here.

You buy new...
I'll buy yours when you get a new one...
and we'll both be happy!

[Shivananda]

You buy new...I'll buy yours when you get a new one...
and we'll both be happy!

It's a deal. I sell them on eBay, though, so don't be surprised by a little competition. Highest bidder wins.