The Thing About Juicing

I’ve had a few friends ask me about juicing. While I’m still relatively new to juicing (started in January 2013), I can offer up some thoughts for those looking to get into juicing.

  • A decent juicer for beginners will run you between $80-$120.
  • Most juicers come with a recipe book to get you started. I find this book highly useful.
  • Pulp. The juice is extremely smooth. There is almost zero pulp in the juice output.
  • Waste. Because of the point above, if you don’t use the excess pulp/skin for anything, it can get pretty wasteful.
  • Fiber. Because the juicer separates all the skin/pulp, you lose a lot of fiber & nutrients that are found in the skin or outer parts of the fruits & vegetables.
  • Plan ahead. Read the recipe book. Choose one or two juices you are going to make. Write down exactly what you need. Then go buy it. More experienced juicers can probably get away with just salvaging whatever is left in their fridge, but as a beginner, who knows what kind of juice you’ll end up with.
  • Make 2-3 juices at a time. To reduce prep & cleanup time, I like to make 2 or 3 juices at one time. I only have to rinse a few pieces of the juicer, and not fully clean it each time. I’ll make one day a week my juicing day. Make 3 juices. And sip between the 3 all week.
  • Storing your juice. I’ve heard it’s better to store juice in a glass jar (as opposed to plastic). I’m not sure why, but that’s what I do.
  • Label your juice. If you store your juice in an empty jar, get in the habit of labeling it. I bought some masking tape & a Sharpie, and will write the type of juice on the container. This especially comes in handy when making 2-3 juices at once.

Don’t Waste The Pulp

Use the pulp for other things. Don’t let it go to waste. You can use it to make vegetable stock for soup, or just as an additive for your soup to give it texture. You can also use the pulp for baking. Ginger, apple & carrot pulp would be great with cookies or cake of the same flavor.

Fruits & Vegetables Great For Juicing

  • Apples & carrots are my two go-to ingredients. They go great together, as is, but also serve as a good starting point when adding other ingredients to them. They both yield a lot of juice.
  • Pears, oranges & grapefruit also yield a lot of juice, but I have yet to make any killer juices with them.
  • Lemon is great to add to many juices because it helps your body absorb the nutrients.
  • Ginger can be added to many juices to add a little spice. Only small amounts are needed.

Juicer Cleanup

Before I bought a juicer, I heard about the notorious cleanup. I was expecting it would be lengthy, difficult & an overall pain in the ___.

I’m not going to say it’s a walk in the park, but… it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. There are 4-5 components that all need washed separately, so it takes some time to take the juicer apart, and wash each one. I do believe they are all dishwasher-safe (check your specific make/model), but since I don’t use a dishwasher, I can’t speak to that.

The mesh strainer is the most difficult to clean, and you have to be careful not to cut yourself on the tiny blades. But it’s still not all that bad, in my opinion.

Overall, cleaning takes me about 10 minutes. And I just leave the 5 parts out separate to air dry (lots of counter space comes in handy here).

My advice: Clean it right away. If you wait, the food will get hard, crusty & stick to the plastic parts. It’ll be much harder to remove.

Is Juicing Expensive?

In my opinion, yes.

I noticed my grocery bill go up when I started juicing. You need to buy a lot of fruits vegetables to get a significant amount of juice. And if you like to buy fresh, local and/or organic fruits & veggies, you’ll definitely notice a spike in your bill.

I still buy fruits & vegetables that I eat raw, cook with dinner, etc. So when adding additional ingredients that are solely for juicing, it can get expensive.

What Are Your Thoughts?

I’m definitely still a novice, so I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. What did I miss? What are some other great things for juicing beginners to know?

2 thoughts on “The Thing About Juicing”

  1. One thought about making & storing… You actually lose a lot of nutrients when you don’t drink it immediately. Every thing I’ve read about juicing recommends you drink immediately. The longest I ever store is making a big batch in the morning and splitting between breakfast and lunch. Glass does help over plastic though 🙂

  2. You nailed it man, love the idea of not wasting the pulp and using it for soups, cookies etc. Even the clean up part ….all to a T ! Even though I don’t have my juicer any more because I found that I can buy a carrot juice for 4.99 and don’t have to spend time over it and cleaning up. I still miss the ginger and beets part. I don’t think you mentioned beets they are pretty good for juicing too.

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