Will a food processor save time? Are they worth getting?

ginger_chocolate

Thanks for the feedback everyone - I might see if I can get a cheap second-hand one and see if it makes any difference. I'm thinking it probably makes sense to use it to chop large batches of the veg I use most often (onions, carrots etc) then freeze them in bags. I really struggle to find time for meal prep at the moment, even if I try and batch cook as much as possible, but I'm reluctant to resort to buying ready chopped packaged veg (or worse, ready meals), so trying to find a compromise.

joedenise

I tend to open freeze vegetables before bagging so that they are free flow so less wasteful than individual bags of portion sized amounts.

happydenial

I freeze any and all chopped veg directly in sandwich bags - never had any issue with veg sticking together and causing waste, a quick whack on the kitchen counter soon separates it! 

Katiehound

I don't use mine that much but it is great (or grate!) for making coleslaw using the slicer & grater blades. I add the veg as I go along so it only needs a wash at the end.

Also good for Michael Moseley's aubergine brownies. the recipe says use a stick blender. I had a cheap Wilko one- used it for this- straight to charity shop! I just let the aubergines cool a tad before tipping onto chocolate and then whizz up

Good for processing fat & flour for pastry

Mine looks a bit like the Kenwood compact processor at £39 from 'the river company!'- it's an Moulinex

euronorris

I got a ninja one at Xmas using a voucher I won, and I use it lots. DH uses the dough blade and mix function to knead bread dough. I've used it to turn cream into milk. I've also found it very useful for chopping large quantities at a time. And.....grating things like carrot and courgettes, you can get through them in seconds, which I find really useful as I hate having to grate multiples of them by hand.

ragz_2

DH uses the mini chopper if he's doing onions, I can slice pretty small with a sharp knife so I don't bother. Used to use it for garlic, but we buy frozen chopped in blocks now (cheaper than fresh). We have a food processor but it's used once a year, if that! I am loathe to part with it though. I was convinced I needed one! It really doesn't save time unless you're prepping large volumes, but it is good for the 'breadcrumb' stage of pastry/crumble mix. 

ginger_chocolate

it is great (or grate!) for making coleslaw

excellent work

Siebrie

skogar said:

A lot quicker to make crumble topping in the food processor rather than rubbing it in.

I was taught to use 2 knives to mix the flour and the butter. Just throw the butter and flour in a mixing bowl and cut through it from either side, sliding along each other, almost like scissors; your hands start off crossed and then pull to the side they belong

joedenise

Siebrie said:

skogar said:

A lot quicker to make crumble topping in the food processor rather than rubbing it in.

I was taught to use 2 knives to mix the flour and the butter. Just throw the butter and flour in a mixing bowl and cut through it from either side, sliding along each other, almost like scissors; your hands start off crossed and then pull to the side they belong

My late MIL used to make pastry like that but I could never master it.  I always did it by hand until my arthritis made it difficult now I use the FP for the rubbing in part and then make the actual pastry by hand as I do it by feel and often the FP does it too much.

London_1

I used my blender to grate some granulated suger the other day I normally only grate for about 1012 seconds ,but the phone rang so it went a bit longer and hey presto I've now got a 'free' bag of icing sugar as the Granulated which should have been ok for caster got ground a bit longer best part is I had got the bag of granulated to turn into caster as it was slightly damaged and had been reduced to 13p at the back of the supermarket shelf so half the bag is now caster sugar and the other half fine enough for icing sugar happy days  

JackieO xx