Should I Buy a Food Processor?

ChihiroSen

Thanks everyone. I think I’m going to hold off as I don’t have much counter space or a dishwasher and it seems those two things are vital if I want it to be time saving. Glad I asked for advice!

carly

Longwalker said:

Yes and no 

If you are a serious cook from scratch and batch cook - go for it, thats their strength - processing large amounts quickly. If not then good knife skills would be the best option

It makes preparation quicker but washing up takes much longer in my experience.

thriftwizard

I did have a big Magimix food processor back when there were 7/8 people living here, but found it such a beast to wash up after cooking that I gave it away & reverted to using good knives & handwhisks - I do like to feel what's going on with my dough/meringues/whipped cream. However the DDs exerted a fair bit of pressure a few years back & I invested in a smaller, more basic Kenwood food processor & that does get well-used, especially for chopping & shredding. As do the hand-mixer and my trusty Bamix, which can do half the jobs the Kenwood can anyway! But it can also turn "bendy" veg into soup in the pan in seconds, meaning optimum nutrition, hardly any washing up!

YorksLass

I have a small cheapie one (Kitchen Collection) that was used a lot when the offspring were here but now, with just the two of us, probably not so much.  And I hate cleaning it.  It's easier (for me) to chop by hand with just a knife and chopping board to clean up afterwards.  And I prefer to make cakes and pastry by hand anyway That said, I do use it for making hummus, whipping cream, chopping or grating large amounts of veg and mincing meat.  However, it may well be useful for you but be aware of the size and whether you'd be keeping it in a cupboard or on the worktop.

What does get used a lot is an ancient Moulinex blender/liquidiser (for soups and smoothies) with a coffee grinder attachment (to make caster sugar from granulated).

-taff

I have a small kenwood processor [ old fashioned one] that I use infrequently, but my sister got me something from lidl, it was 20 quid and it had a stick blender, then the top of the stick blender comes off to use in a mini container chopper and a jug type thing. I use that at least once a week. Very handy for making anything that needs chopping, finely or not, liquidising in the jug or blending with the stick. It's a good all rounder that doesn't take up much space. I leave mine in the box and take out when I need it.

CapricornLass

I use my food processor quite a bit.  Grating chocolate, producing breadcrumbs, chopping of onions and other veg in bulk (single onions are chopped with a knife), some cakes, pastry making, preparing icecreams before they are churned....  As Florenceem says, brilliant for batch baking and batch chopping.  I wouldn't be without it.  I don't use it every day, but when I need it, its invaluable.

goldfinches

I agree with those who say they're a PITA to wash up and I find that my Braun has any number of nooks and crannies that trap bits in the dishwasher so I have to clean it by hand which really puts me off using it. The other thing about mine that I loathe is that not all the attachments fit back into the bowl so it's really difficult to store neatly and tidily.
 I have a KitchenAid stand mixer and find that much easier to clean up so it gets used more plus it kneads dough, makes pastry, whips egg whites and so on which duplicates a lot of the food processor functions.
The thing I do use is my mini-chopper which came with attachments that turn it into a stick blender or a whisk as well.
Another thing I have noticed is that buying myself the Microplane range of choppers, slicers and their mandoline has really reduced the times I haul out the food processor because the Microplanes are so easy to use and give such good results so you might have a look at those instead. 

As an aside, I noticed you said you don't want to spend much time standing and I've seen these cookbooks that are written for people in your situation that you might find helpful The Healthy Back Cookbook and Crip Up The Kitchen  simply for the discussion of the pros and cons of various bits of kit and how to modify recipes to suit you. I put "perching stools for kitchen disabled" into the big river site and got an enormous array of designs and styles for fairly reasonable prices offered so perhaps you might look there as well.

Siebrie

I have a mandolin with several graters/slicers/dicers (Aldi, €14, I believe); a Moulinex handmixer with 2 types of whisks, a stick blender and a small liquidizer attachment (a bowl-and-knives thing); a Moulinex stick blender.

Those I use regularly; they take up little space and are easy to clean.

Rosa_Damascena

elsien said:

I have a full size food processor and it is barely used. I might make a bit more use of it if I have the space to do lots of batch cooking and freezing, but I don’t.  I find that at the time I’ve got it out used it cost to put it away, the one meal it’s just as easy to use a knife.

Me too. I chop carrots, celery etc for fridge snacks and soups and its quick enough to do this with a knife.

I use the spiraliser occasionally for carrots and courgettes. I bought a food mixer and used it precisely once before realising what a faff washing it is. My stand mixer hasn't been used at all, but my electric whisk gets used relatively frequently because it doesn't require any construction and is oh-so-easy to wash. So I wouldn't recommend forking out on a food mixer if you can chop in a position that is not physically taxing.

DullGreyGuy

It's a bit of a jack of all trades device.... it can do kneading and whisking but not as good as a standard mixer. It can slice and grate but not as well as a mandolin. It can blend but not as good as a blender (stick or liquidiser). 

Used to have one, didn't do big batch cooking often enough to justify its shelf space. Occasionally the Mrs morns its absence (she's the one that wanted rid of it) when she has 4kg of mushrooms to finely chop or such but they are very rare occurrences for us.