Juicing?

michelefauk

Hi
I wondered if anyone can help. I recently picked up a juicer off freecycle, fab condition, almost new with all instructions etc. Great, I thought, a chance to save some pennies as my children drink a fair bit of juice, as do I.
I have just had a go, put 8 large apples in and got ...about 3 dessert spoons of juice! I even scraped the pulp out and put it back through again, but maybe a couple of drops more and that was it. Not even a glass full

AM I doing something wrong or is the norm? if so, it is a very expensive way to drink juice. Added to that my DD2 (3) refused to drink it and said it was yukky!

Can anyone help or should I put it back on freecycle??

becky_sleaf

michelefauk wrote: »

Hi
I wondered if anyone can help. I recently picked up a juicer off freecycle, fab condition, almost new with all instructions etc. Great, I thought, a chance to save some pennies as my children drink a fair bit of juice, as do I.
I have just had a go, put 8 large apples in and got ...about 3 dessert spoons of juice! I even scraped the pulp out and put it back through again, but maybe a couple of drops more and that was it. Not even a glass full

AM I doing something wrong or is the norm? if so, it is a very expensive way to drink juice. Added to that my DD2 (3) refused to drink it and said it was yukky!

Can anyone help or should I put it back on freecycle??

I had one & decided it was a complete waste of time after a few goes. It was going to cost a fortune in fruit to get just one glass full! I would stick it back on Freecycle.

donner_kebab

Hiya! I have recently got a juicer too! I read online that you should never use Granny Smiths in the juicer as they are not very good to juice. Was this the type of apple you used? I am gonna try it with some red ones I think, as before I had used the Granny Smith ones with some carrots and ginger but didn't get hardly any juice! Well couldn't taste the apple and put a lot in there! I usually use oranges, carrots and ginger now. That tastes yummy!

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there

Might seem a silly question but does your machine have 2 settings? only mine does...a bit like a rocker switch -1 for soft fruits and 1 for hard fruits.. i get a decent glass out of a couple of eating apples and an orange ..hope it helps

Farway

I have one, found as you did that it depends on the fruit variety you use

Riper juicier fruit is best of course, carrots are good, and if you get the large "horse" type of carrot can be cheap as well, tasty & useful to bulk up more expensive fruits

Celery always works, try celery & apple

Sparky67

I don't think that using your own juicer saves money on buying juice, but it is fresh and much better for you. It can taste different to the shop bought stuff too so your kids might take a bit of getting used to it. Fresh apple juice especially is really not like the carton stuff.

Not all apples are good for juicing - try Royal Gala. Plus check whether you have more than one setting on your juicer. Some juicers get more juice out than others too.

I love my juicer, but the OH has gone back to the carton stuff (he likes the cheap made from concentrate stuff, and you just can't beat the price of that, whereas I like the more "premium" stuff).

When there's only me drinking it, its better juicing fresh from a nutrient point of view, rather than using stuff that's been sitting in the fridge for ages.

Citrus juices are good as a starter as they don't taste too different from what you're used to from a carton. Try gradually adding other fruits or carrots.

MoJo

I only use my own apples in mine and get a good glassful from 2 or 3, but these are fresh, straight off the tree apples. I generally find supermarket apples too dry, even for eating.

Why not try some other fruits/veg before you give it up?

michelefauk

Thanks for all your suggestions.
I used the apples which were in my fruit and veg box this week, I think they were Braeburns. Will try a few more varieties, cant stand celery but I like most other fruit and veg so might do some experimenting. The thing is, i keep thinking 5 or 6 apples to get one glass of juice, costs about £1 for the apples, I could buy nearly 2 litres for that! I know it is much better for you, and as someone said the taste is great (still trying to convince my 3 yr old that!)

thanks again everyone

anniewoo

I bought a juicer a couple of years ago with the aim of making fresh,healthy juices every day.I used to make an apple/cucumber/carrot combo,which did taste gorgeous I admit,but it took ages to clean the machine afterwards and I got so fed up with it that it has been sitting in the cupboard ever since.

Maybe I should Freecycle it because I can't see me using it again.Another of those bits of equipment that are used a few times and then relegated to the cupboard,lol.

Bargain_Rzl

I'd think Braeburns would be pretty much the same as Granny Smiths in terms of their juiceability (is that a word? Well, I've used it now, so it must be ) Anyway, they're quite hard apples and I'd imagine wouldn't be nearly as good as a "wetter" fruit like Red Delicious...

(having said that, I don't have a juicer - so what do I know? )

phizzimum

michelefauk wrote: »

Thanks for all your suggestions.
I used the apples which were in my fruit and veg box this week, I think they were Braeburns. Will try a few more varieties, cant stand celery but I like most other fruit and veg so might do some experimenting. The thing is, i keep thinking 5 or 6 apples to get one glass of juice, costs about £1 for the apples, I could buy nearly 2 litres for that! I know it is much better for you, and as someone said the taste is great (still trying to convince my 3 yr old that!)

thanks again everyone

We've just got our juicer out of the cupboard...must be a spring thing!

OH made a juice with apple pear cucumber celery and ginger...DD's normally wouldn't go near celery or ginger but they loved the juice and keep asking him to make some more. So it really is worth experimenting - even with things you wouldn't normally try.

It's certainly not a cheap way to make a drink...but having said that it does make me realise how cheap the made from concentrate juice is, and that the freshly squeezed stuff isn't as overpriced as it seems. It's a bit like making your own biscuits or cakes - it makes you think more about the ingredients that go into the shop bought ones.