Has anyone tried the Nutribullet?
I have been juicing for a few weeks but my brother has just got a nutribullet and he claims it takes juicing to another level :-)
Printable View
Has anyone tried the Nutribullet?
I have been juicing for a few weeks but my brother has just got a nutribullet and he claims it takes juicing to another level :-)
He's right about taking it to another level, but mainly because I'd say the Nutribullet isn't a juicer, it's a variety of blender.
Juicers typically extract juice from fruit, leaving everything but the juice behind. And surprisingly (or not, if you think about it) a LOT of the goodness in fruit, etc, is in skin, pulp, even bits like apple core, and pips.
With a good blender, you'll blend everything you put in into a smooth drink, but it's much more than juice.
So, blenders. There are basically two types. Low(er) cost blenders use sharp blades to cut the contents into ever-smaller bits. They tend, however, to not get everything, and slowly but surely, the blades lose their edge.
High end blenders use blunt blades, but very powerful motors to pulverize, rather than cut. Blade speeds are extremely high, like up to 38,000 rpm, or close to 400kph. These tend to blend pretty much anything, from fruit into a smoothie, or ice cream, to nuts like peanuts or walnuts into peanut or walnut butter. My blender is powerful enough to actually turn a veg collection into HOT soup. There is no heater, it's cooked merely using the friction caused by those blades. And takes under 10 minutes, from putting raw veg (say, carrots, coriander, a garlic clove and seasoning) to pouring out steaming hot soup.
So, Nutribullet?
Essentially, a small scale version of one of those high-power, blunt-bladed blenders. You will be making a drink which is enough for a couple of glasses, rather than a jug that will do two or three people for about 3 days, if you have a large glass each, every day.
I don't have a nutribullet, but I did look hard. I do have a high-end blender.
I made a mix today, for instance, which was -
- a couple of small carrots (rinsed, but complete, inc skins)
- a small bunch of grapes, complete. Large bits of stalk removed.
- a large slice of pineapple. Outer skin removed, but core left in
- a large apple, quartered, but complete
- a couple of peeled Clementines
- small handful of Kale (normally spinach, but I was out)
- few blueberries
- ice, and some water
The result is a glass each, and a jug full in the fridge.
The Nutribullet, as I understand it, will do the same thing, but with MUCH smaller quantities. I also don't know if the Nutribullet is powerful enough to cook soups, or make nut butter, or grind rice grains into rice flour, etc.
It should, however, make much the same smoothies, etc, as a heavy blender.
Oh, and if you're tempted by the type of blender I'm talking about, be warned, they're expensive. Think four or five Nutribullets.
So the Nutribullet is a way of achieving the tyoe of extremely well blended smoothies the heavy blenders will, albeit in much smaller quantities, at a MUCH more modest cost.
Personally, though, the "whole fruit and veg" drinks are WAY better than juice. You get far more of the fruit or veg, and hence far more of the goodness, so if you're after part of your five-a-day from the drink, you get MUCH closer with the Nutribullet or high end blenders than a juicer.
And whenever I've had a whole fruit drink from a low end blender, they haven't been able to blend it properly, and you end up with a load of bits in the bottom of the blender that didn't blend .... and some on your tongue when you drink it. I don't get that with the high end blender, and I'm told you don't with the Nutribullet, but haven't tried it myself.
I DO endorse the 'whole fruit and veg" drinks. I'm told the Nutribullet does them well, but I know my heavy Vitamix blender does.
Hello
I got one October 2013.
Didn't really expect much and some of Amazon.com reviews suggested usage problems.
Glad to be proved wrong.
It totally blitzes (almost) everything - exception so far is mixed seeds and dried goji - seeds completely blend, goji only partially blend leaving a very pleasant texture.
Reviews suggested leakage problems - just need to make sure not to overfill and you can really tighten down the lid - not a drop has spilled for me.
Other complaints are about cleaning - if the blades are rinsed immediately after use then no problem, if left until food is stuck on, then not so easy.
I've had juicers before, prep and cleanup were a real pain.
I've even tried whole kiwi fruit, nothing hairy in the totally smooth blended drink.
I ended up getting mine mail order from Selfridges, 'cos the TV company that took my order had actually sold out - Selfridges gave me the best tracking experience of an order I've ever received.
Noticed at the weekend that Robert Dyas are selling them.
Cheers
I tried a "Nutriblast" as they market them, at my brothers place and it was very thick, to the point where you could have used a spoon :-)
I appreciate that you get the goodness from the fibre but something's are better juiced, like carrots & citrus fruits, then thrown into the nutribullet to add Kale, spinach, banana etc.
How much were they in Robert Dyas? £99 on some obscure tv shopping channel. Edit. Same price at Robert Dyas - ordered :-)
You might want to read this first.Quote:
Originally Posted by PasPer2
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/10...ing-craze.html
If you are crushing or blending the whole fruit and retaining the fibre and bulk, it probably isn't so much of an issue, but juicing - just extracting the juice - may not be so good.
However, as Saracen pointed out earlier, the nutribullet is more of a blender than a juicer.
Currently drinking a Broccoli, pear, spinach, kale, kiwi, lemon and banana smoothie. Very tasty :)
Carrots blend beautifully. Citrus fruits. Well, they would blend just fine, but the pith tends to be very bitter. So, a lemon, for instance .... use a fine grater to remove the yellow skin. It's great as a flavouring. But don't grate into the pith. You could then peel the rest of the pith off and discard, or extract the juice. I tend to do the latter, using a manual juicer (kind of serated glass spike/bowl) if I want juice for later, or to store. If I want juice right then, cut lemon in half and squeeze over your other hand (to catch pips) into whatever you want lemoned, be it glazed veg, chicken stuffing or a cake mix.Quote:
Originally Posted by PasPer2
Other citrus veg, like oranges, in a smoothie, just peel to remove the pith and bung the rest, maybe halved, in the blender. I.e. all but the skin.
As for the "thickness", smoothies are quite thick. Of course, you can dilute a little with water, and if it's too thick, the balance between water/ice and fruit/veg isn't quite right, until you get it how you like it. You can, of course, add fruit juice instead of water, but be careful on what juice you use, if shop-bought, or you end up sugar-laden, or with loads of additives, which personally is what I'm trying to avoid.
My juicing favourite is 4 carrots, 2 apples, 1 orange & a lime. Can't wait to experiment with other bits and bobs. Might have to take the plunge and buy a recipe book :-)
Nutribullet comes with one, doesn't it? My Vitamix certainly does.Quote:
Originally Posted by PasPer2
Failing that, loads on the net. It'll certainly get you started.
Hi
I Just bought a Nutribullet. I am not sure if I am using it correctly I have followed the instructions, but to get the thing to work I have to press down with 2 hands really hard until i'm blue in the face, I must be doing something wrong as this does not seem right, If I put any more pressure on the cup I will break it.
Incoming mind dump....
After years and years of having different blenders, juicers, etc. I now just use a stick blender.
Just make the drink more 'loose' with some milk/yoghurt/juice of choice and by far it's the quickest, easiest and easy clean way of doing it. Also a decent one is like 40 quid and has other uses, not just 'health' drinks.
Also, don't bother with any specific recipe , just buy loads of fruit and veg and then blitz up things that are starting to look sad. With the obvious exception of onions, cabbage , potatoes and garlic :P
If you find the mix too lose, just thicken it up with some oats or weetabix.
I've got the Magicbullet from years ago... shopping channel purchase a very long time ago.. it gets used for so much stuff
Smoothies (I chucked the juicer attachment away.. it was a mess to clean and I want the whole content in the smnoothy) work well if you ignore the colour! Because with the good combos... they go brown!
Spinach go into most of them. Banana... water.. frozen fruit.
But here's the thing... ignoring health...
get some plain nachos on an over proof plate and begin heating under grill
melt some cheese and chilli flakes in the bullet with microwave lid on.. the when bulbbling.. swap to the blade and blitz
them pour the melted chilli cheese over the hot nachos, and if you have them.. slice some jalapeno's and drop those on too.. maybe a totato salsa if you've planned well.
ALso use the bulet to blitz ice cubes into snow for cocktails.
Also make soup in it often.. .... pinch of a stoick cube.. some water.. vegetables (brocolli and celery) ,, micro wave until soft.. swap microwave lid for blade.. whazz it up... drop some blue cheese in.. whazz...soup... 3 minutes
Same with butter nut squash etc
it is AWESOME for baby food..... in short.. ours gets used a LOT
Pasta sauce...tomato plus herbs, and chilli.. microwave.. then blade and whazz.....pour over pasta.
BUT.. as son as the volume required goes into two or more mugs... as Abaxas says... hand blender for many things.
now THAT is a good idea... I will try that.Quote:
Originally Posted by abaxas
Good bit of kit use it a lot for making curry pastes and sauces worth a go if you can find one cheaper think the cost at rrp is a little high tbh
Isn't the Nutribullet just a very expensive blender? I have a blender I bought for £20 from Tesco years ago which does everything the Nutribullet does...
It won't, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oriforc
As per long post earlier, cheap blenders rely on sharp blades. Expensive ones, and smaller but still relatively pricey ones like nutribullet use blunt blades, and rely on sheer grunt from powerful motors.
My big blender blends just about anything, including blender-wreckers like ice, or celery with the tough thready bits on the outside left in.
There's even a demonstration video (originalky done with a Blentec blender, but Vitamix machines have been used too) where they demonstrate 'blend anything' by blending iPhones. Don't try that with your £20 Tesco job unless you're finished with it.
Ah I did wonder why the price was so inflated for what essentially appeared to be a blender. thanks for clearing that up :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Saracen
It's really about the sheer power. Want almond milk? Blend almonds and water. Want rice flour? Blend rice. Want hot cheese sauce? Blend cheese, milk, maybe flour. It comes out piping hot, but it's just due to friction, there's no heater element involved. Want peanut butter? Blend peanuts, and nothing but. Compare to the ingredient list on a shop-bought jar. Want less salty peanut butter, use unsalted peanuts and add the salt you want. Want soup? Chuck in the ingredients you want, blend for 6 - 10 minutes, piping jot soup with NOTHING but fresh ingredients. Want smoothies? Blend vegetables, fruit, water, ice, maybe cashew nuts for creaminess. Want ice cream, blend frozen fruit, cream and maybe a little honey.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oriforc
That's the tip of the iceberg. A few brief pulses, and they chop. A bit more and they can create sauces, or a pesto. Blend frozen stuff, like fruit, with yoghurt, get frozen yoghurt. Same machine creates ice cream in a minute or two, or hot dip, sauces etc in under 10. Hot chocolate dip, maybe. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of variants.
But things that will blunt and wreck cheap blenders with sharp blades, won't blunt these because they start out blunt, and blend by, if you like, smashing stuff apart using VERY high speeds, and very powerful motors. Yet, they still put a 20-year warranty on the motors. They're expensive, but versatile, powerful, and built to last and last. Like my Kenwood chef mixer - bought, IIRC, in 1971. It's now showing it's age a bit, but it is, after all, some 44 years old. ;)
It's kind of like I posted in the kitchen gadgets thread - if you're going to buy a tool, buy the best tool you can afford, and note that, with kitchen gadgets in particular, you do get what you pay for, especially on the high and low ends.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oriforc
Quote:
Originally Posted by Saracen
Wow that's nearly convinced me to buy one :)
I have a vitamix and that thing was worth every penny. We got it from costco online, it comes with way more accessories for the price that way. Never had or heard of the others.
I will add that it is easy to clean, powerful, with the different accessories you can do wet or dry goods. We make almund flower among other things with it. Smoothies come out great. Does everything we need it to do very well.
Time to unpack my Nutribullet from moving boxes - had not thought to make peanut butter with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Saracen
Just to be clear, mine isn't a Nutribullet. It's a big blender. The basic principles are the same (blunt blades, powerful motor) so I don't know why a Nutribullet couldn't do peanut butter.Quote:
Originally Posted by snedger
BUT .... the difference may be in the shape of the blender 'jug', and that my Vitamix comes with a 'tamper' that you can use to push stubborn material (like peanuts) around to help turn them into the sort-of emulsion that is peanut butter. And you do use it to make peanut butter. The jug shape may also vary the way contents are directed onto the blades. Nutribullet might not suit peanut butter.
The Vitamix type blenders do make superb peanut butter, mainly because it's 100% peanuts, and absolutely nothing else, unless you choose to add it. It uses the oil naturally in the nuts.
I know Nutribullet has a heavy duty motor but not having one, I don't know if it's heavy enough for peanut butter. Please check it out before risking frying your Nutribullet.
Time to start saving.... my nutribullet has been great but recently shot its springs everywhere
The NutriBullet is great, but please only buy from reputable sellers (e.g. Costco, Argos etc) because there are a lot of dangerous, non-authorised and fake NutriBullet's being sold offline and online.
One of NutriBuller's main claims is that it keeps the nutrients from 'stems, seeds and skins where some of the usually neglected essential nutrition lies....'
Yeah, I have a Nutribullet and blend daily. My default is a whole banana, couple hands full of strawberries (with the stalks still on), a whole carrot, handful of black kale, some khia seeds and a bit of water. Supposedly good for energy levels but I don't know about that, still tired all the time lol.
Bought the Sage Boss to Go from John Lewis for smoothie making. I have to say, while its a bit more expensive, it was worth getting. The cups even come with To Go lids so make smoothie, put into bag, gross everyone out on the train with your morning green smoothie :)
Pardon the pun but I am about to bite the bullet on one of these.....
Any recommendations for the best one under £500 (possibly £600).....will want to make almond flour, soups etc.
I went for Vitamix. I don't remember model number (can look it up when I'm at home) , but it's not one with "programs". Essentially, the controls are :-
On/Off switch - on, to blend, and blip the switch to pulse.
Speed - 1 to 10. This one's there the skill lies. On 1, it's basic chopping, and the faster you go ypu can work though things like hummous, guacamole, sauces, etc.
High/low - On high, the speed control is overridden and you go into NOISY max blend mode. A few minutes on that and ypu have hot vheese saucr, hot soups, etc.
There is at least one other long-standing high-end make, Blendtec, and I considered it but eventually went Vitamix for a couple of reasons. One was availability in UK. Vitamix is (or was, at least) stocked by John Lewis and I'm often in there. Also, very good warranty. Finally, Vitamix were tunning a promotion with a free "dry goods" jug. This is for blending things like grains into flour, and while you can do so in the msin jug, both the design of bkades and shape of container are designed for dry rather than liquid contents. It changes the way the blades throw blended material about. Buying that separatrly was about £120, so getting one free swung the deal.
Therd are several cheaper variants. One I think is called Ninja, and there's also one heavily promoted by some brash US "chef". They both APPEAR to offer similar to Vitamix and Blendtec at much lower prices butcI've no idea whether they deliver or not. Maybe they do, but I went for the Vitamix despite the price. I have no regrets ahout that. It's superb .... though VERY noisy on full speed. If I'm in the same room, perhaps vooking pasta while it's doing a hot sauce, I have been known to wear earplugs. Seriously, I have.
Edit - John Lewis do still stock Vitamix but a quick look doesn't show the one I got. It's on the vitamix UK site, though.
Oh, and it's tall, too. If you're planning on locating it under wall-mounted cupboards, it probably won't fit with the standard jug on top of the base. The jug is 34cm tall on it's own, without the motor base. I leave the smaller dry goods jug on the base with the bigger wet goods jug beside it.
At £500, you're talking about full-sized blenders, not Nutribullets, which are MUCH smaller. From memory, I think my standard container is about 2.0 litre. It certainly can make an 8-portion smoothie in one go.
Cheers, after procrastinating for hours last night, I eventually went for the Pro 300 plus a dry jug :)
I won't pretend I didn't dither about a fair bit too because, after all, it's a fair bit of money for a "blender", and I'm sure a lot of people will think you've lost the plot.
For me, the critical thing is whether it'll get regular use. If it will, then you paid a high-end price to get a high-end device that should give years and years of solid service. There is, after all, a reason lots of restaurants and coffee shops, etc, use these.
I use mine for lots of things, and I've barely scratched the surface.
If, and I stress IF you put in the effort to get to know it and use it regularly, you'll never regret buying. But if you don't, it'll be a bulky, expensive kitchen doorstop and you'll find yourself on the list of those that think you lost the plot,
So, bite the bullet and use it. Lots. ;) :D
Have fun.
having now received my Vitamix Pro 300, I must say that my first couple of hours with it almost made me send it back...
The on/off button would not stay off (just sneezing near the machine turned it on) and an acrid smell was being released from the base while the motor was on....
After a fair bit of on/off toggling, the button rectified itself (oddly) and the smell seems to be a temporary thing.
So far I have made a fair amount of almond flour (and some almond butter by accident :) ), a few LCHF icecreams, herb crusts, some roast lamb soup (made from leftovers) and have also been mincing my own meat (considerably easier, tidier and better to clean then the Kenwood chefs grinder).
I can see it being the go-to gadget in time :)
I just wished I had watched one of their promo videos on youtube before wading in.....there are some really good tips in them.
Mine gave that smell the first few uses but it didn't last long. I assume it was something like shipping grease on the gears that burns off any excess. Anyway, I haven't noticed that since. To be honest I'd forgotten that but, yeah, it did it.
As for the switch, that certainly doesn't sound right. The very last thing I'd call mine are anything but positive as hell. They're a very distinct, heavy "clunk", both in feel and sound. But if it really has resolved itself .... okay.
Keep an eye open for Vitamix days on QVC, too. They (Vitamix) periodically have one of their product demonstrators do an hour's presentation with everything from doups and hot sauces to ice creams snd frozen yoghurts, flavoured coffee to chocolate sauce, nut butters to nut milks, spice grinding to flour making, to salsas, guacamole, and so on.
I certainly keep finding new things. Some are obvious, some not.
Like sugar. Ever noticed that caster and icing sugar seem to be significantly more expensive, per kg, that standard granulated? So, a few seconds with the Vitamix turns geanulated into caster. A few more seconds and you have icing sugar.
TIP - Be VERY careful to ensure the top is propetly fitted, especially with icing sugar, or you'll be clesning fine dugar powder of everything in the room, for weeks. Snd no, I didn't, but I know someone that did. :D
Oh, and the same principle works, IMHO, for turning coffee beans into either coarse ground or fine ground depending on how you like to make coffee, like cafetiere or expresso maker. I find coffee stays fresher longer if you buy beans and grind your own than buying ready-ground.
Safety note...
Be careful grinding sugar as icing sugar suspended in air is explosive (classic fuel air mixture, and sugar is a hydrocarbon). The same is true of flour, fires and explosions in flour mills is well documented (although I appreciate that a vitamix is not grinding industrial quantities! :) )
So while I was in the US, I got to try a low end Ninja blender (my sis and bro in-law also had a big Vitamix, but use the Ninja more often for a quick morning smoothies). I quickly became hooked by it's simplicity and ease of cleaning compared to blenders of the hold with their sharp blades. I wanted to buy it, but wanted a 220V one, so decided to wait till I am in the UK to buy it.
The Ninja I used is probably the BL-450 in the UK, which is a 900W, single speed blender that operates by the user physically pressing down the container on the base. I find that 10-15 sec is usually enough to make everything smooth, though I usually go for 30 sec just in case. The BL-470 which I think replaced it has buttons and no longer the person to hold the container down to blend, though TBH that never bothered me much.
Then for an extra 15 pounds, there is the slightly more powerful 1000W BL-480 which comes with some other fancy settings like regular / turbo / pulse mode, and a mode where it automatically decides how long and how fast to blend.
If the goal is just to make smoothies and perhaps peanut butter, is there any reason to have more than one speed setting? In fact, under what circumstances would you use a slower setting to a faster one?
Thanks :)
The more varied settings are used for, for instance, chopping, or blending nuts to a rough mix not smooth.
If it's smoothie-only, go single speed. If you want salsas, dips, chopping, gringing, etc, go multi or variable.
Basically, it's about desired texture, about exactly what you're trying to make.
Note: answer is from the perspective of a big Vitamix owner.