Vita-Mix?

[Lucas]

I have been looking at the site for a while, but it seems to be an awful lot of money for a blender. Does anyone here have one, and what can they say about it?

[Erin Pavlina]

Boy did you come to the right place (and person)

Steve "forced" me to buy a Vitamix almost 12 years ago. It was expensive and I couldn't really see the point of it. But 12 years later, our Vitamix is still sitting on our counter and we use it nearly every day.

This is a powerful piece of equipment. we use it mainly to make smoothies, but we also use it to make fresh vegetable soup (just throw in the veggies and water and in 2 minutes it has made hot soup). I love to make ice cream in it. Takes just 30 seconds. All fresh ingredients, nothing chemically.

It can make nut butter if you just throw nuts in there. Fast, easy, less expensive, and more nutritious than the store bought kind. We use it to make batters, dressings (good at emulsifying), dips, sauces, shakes, sorbet, and interesting drink concoctions.

We're very attached to our Vitamix. A regular blender just couldn't do what our Vitamix does.

If you use this code, they will give you free shipping (u.s. and canada) on your Vitamix.
06-001023-02

I have to also say that I've never met a single person who regretted buying a Vitamix. Great warranty, great product, great company behind it too.

[thadroe]

Originally Posted by Lucas

I have been looking at the site for a while, but it seems to be an awful lot of money for a blender. Does anyone here have one, and what can they say about it?

For every single one of the reasons Erin listed above, I LOVE owning a Vita-mix!

I too had a hard time pulling the trigger to buy one because of the price, but I've owned it 4 years now and never regretted paying that much for it.

Thad

[Savage]

I pushed us to buy a Vitamix in 1994, even though we could barely afford it at the time. But I have to say it was the best appliance purchase we ever made, well worth the money considering how much we use it.

It's an extremely powerful and sturdy machine. Most commonly I use it for shakes and smoothies, which it can blend up in 20-30 seconds. It will even pulverize the strawberry seeds, so the end result is smoother than you'll get with a normal blender. I made smoothies in a regular blender for a long time, and the Vitamix makes them much better. It's like having our own Jamba Juice.

Even after 12 years, we still use it every day, more than any other appliance aside from the refrigerator and stove. In fact, I'd sooner give up the stove than the Vitamix.

What I like is that the Vitamix is versatile enough to adapt to our various dietary changes. I bought it when I was vegetarian and Erin was still a meat eater. It works for any kind of diet because it can handle so many different kinds of foods. I especially love using it for fresh spinach soup.

They have a money-back guarantee too, and if you use the free shipping code Erin provided, the worst you'll have to do will be to ship it back, but I'm sure you won't want to let it go once you see what it can do.

It seemed odd to me that a really high-end blender should cost so much, but the company prices this machine based on the benefits it provides, so in that respect I think the pricing is fair. What's really a waste of money is when you buy something, use it 10 times, and then shove it in a cabinet and never use it again. Our Vitamix is always out on the counter, since we all use it.

Sometimes the kids even run up to me when they see me using it and say, "Make us a shake! Make us a shake!"

[thadroe]

Even after 12 years, we still use it every day, more than any other appliance aside from the refrigerator and stove. In fact, I'd sooner give up the stove than the Vitamix.

I used to have like every appliance known to man on my counter. Now the only thing on my counter is a Vita-mix and a toaster oven.

...you know a kitchen appliance is good when they don't need some crazy dude with an accent pitching it on an informercial.

Thad

[Holoscientist]

I once got a Vita-Mix but returned it. It is definitely one powerful blender, but I didn't find its extra functionality (such as soups and juices with fibre) useful because I care about the texture of the food I eat. I guess I like either to drink or to chew my food, and the texture of Vita-Mixed food is somewhere in between. Whereas for smoothies, even with some softer nuts (presoaked almonds, cashews), the Vita-Mix is overkill and a conventional blender serves me adequately.

For the price of a Vita-Mix I would instead consider a good blender plus the Omega Juicer 8003/8005, which can juice anything from soft fruits to greens and grasses, and also grind nuts (which you can then throw into the blender for your smoothie).

[elainevdw]

How noisy is the Vita-Mix? Granted, I don't live in an apartment with paper-thin walls like I used to, but a certain someone who lives with me doesn't have a job at the moment and therefore doesn't wake up very early. I would love to have a smoothie in the morning without facing the wrath of the hibernating bear!

Though I suppose, if it only takes 30 seconds to make a smoothie, he can deal.

[thadroe]

Originally Posted by elainevdw

How noisy is the Vita-Mix? Granted, I don't live in an apartment with paper-thin walls like I used to, but a certain someone who lives with me doesn't have a job at the moment and therefore doesn't wake up very early. I would love to have a smoothie in the morning without facing the wrath of the hibernating bear!

Though I suppose, if it only takes 30 seconds to make a smoothie, he can deal.

Unfortunately, it's noisy. But yeah, it will do the work fast.

Thad

[duhshuh]

Originally Posted by elainevdw

How noisy is the Vita-Mix?

It is very noisy... but, like Steve and Erin have said, it is well worth the money. I originally started using it for smoothies and shakes but I have since found many more uses for it, such as grinding flour.

[shellbell1969]

Please let it be known that Vita-mix is the best kitchen appliance - bar none! There is really nothing to compare it too. There are several blenders on the market, but then again, a Vita-mix is more of a Whole Food Processor. It is more of a multi-tool. I have used every blender like tool and there is absolutely nothing that can chop, dice, mince, crush, puree, homogenize, or perform bio-available feats like this machine. What I do see from others that have a negative response is simple. These people do not understand what they have and how to use it. No offense, it is just reality. What I am ultimately talking about - recipes. If you do not like what you make in a Vita-mix then you are not going to like a Vita-mix. Again, the main cons are that they either do not know what it is, cannot make anything good, or flat out do not know how to use it. I am just trying to let everyone know that I was all of these people. I recently came across Vita-Mix Recipes for Vitamix and it has really provided insight on how to use my machine more, and better. And because I am using it more than ever, I am really getting good at it! I only wished I knew about the site earlier. I think the site is kind of new but they have hit the nail on the head on this one. I apologize if I mentioned another site and should not have, but I do not know any other way. I just bet there are 1000's of people just like me that have a Vita-mix just sitting there collecting dust. Never again will that person be me!

By the way, the site has a membership fee of 24.99/year, and that includes unlimited downloads. I used promo code "Vitanow" and it knocks off 5 bucks to 19.99/year. I just tried the code and it still works.

Thanks and have a good year!

Shell

[Cron]

I never had one, I have friends who do and who praise it.

Don't buy it new.

It is one of those items loads of people buy, get tired of, and put for up sale at a significant discount in used property venues like the classifieds in your local paper, ebay, etc.

[Erin Pavlina]

You won't get the warranty, though, if you buy it off ebay used.

You can buy a used model on the vitamix website and still get the shipping discount and the warranty. You might want to do that.

Use shipping code: 06-001023-02

[TheHulaQueen]

I totally agree - the Vitamix is THE kitchen tool for me. We use ours at least twice a day. Sometimes more. I LOVE it!!!

I make:
Juice
Smoothies
Nut pates
Dips
Dressings
Soups
Nut milk
Coconut cream
Ice cream
Sauces
Icing
Crackers (which I then dehydrate)

I could go on and on for half an hour. I bought mine at 24 as a gift to myself and it's 10 years later and it's going strong. Other friends went for cheap blenders and have often spent more than me having to buy a new one every few years.

VITAMIXES RULE!!!!

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Lucas

I have been looking at the site for a while, but it seems to be an awful lot of money for a blender. Does anyone here have one, and what can they say about it?

I don't own one personally (although I have one on my "maybe" list of appliance purchases for later on), but last time I was in a shopping centre I happened to notice that the Boost Juice Bar I was buying a shake from had several blenders with a VitaMix label on them that they used for processing their beverages.

They looked nothing like the VitaMix on the page that Erin linked to above (I assumed that's because these particular VitaMix's were made for commercial usage), but I did notice that they were extremely efficient in the blending process (a rough estimate would be less then 30 seconds to blend a shake) and they looked reasonably sturdy/well constructed.

Incidentally, I wouldn’t recommend buying shakes from a Boost Juice Bar unless it’s your last resort for sustenance. They’re pretty expensive, they aren’t all that good, they lack nutritional value, and you can make better, more flavourful and nutritious shakes yourself with just about any bamix or blender (I will give them points for their customer service though –- it’s pretty decent).

Looking for a shake recipe? Here’s one of Steve’s shake recipes that I happen to like:

Here’s my own banana shake recipe: Blend 2 frozen bananas (quartered), a handful of walnuts (about 10 walnut halves), 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and about 1 cup of cold water in a Vitamix for 30-45 seconds. Delicious!
You could try a regular blender, but I’m not sure how well it will work. The Vitamix can turn a block of wood into sawdust without breaking a sweat.
Variations: use rice or soy milk instead of water; use almonds, cashews, pecans, peanut butter, or almond butter instead of walnuts; use 4-5 dates or 1/2 cup of raisins instead of maple syrup; add 1-2 tablespoons cocoa or carob powder.

[Source]

Bruce’s shake tips - Fruit alternatives:

To add some variety to the above recipie, you can substitute one reasonably sized (unfrozen or frozen) mango for the 2 frozen bananas, and add a few ice cubes to the ingredients if you’d like your beverage reasonably chilled (unlike bananas, freezing mangos can be pretty messy). 3-5 ice cubes usually do the job for me, but you can always add more if you want your beverage cool like a mountain stream (10 points to anyone who can tell me where that reference is from ).

And for the record, I prefer Kensington mangos for their flavour, although they may not be available in your area (I live in New South Wales, Australia). Organic mangos are also a good choice if you can find them/are prepared to pay for them (although they are usually about the same price as non-organic, just a bit smaller in size). I find the organic mangos are much sweeter and slightly juicier then non-organic produce.

A mango/banana fruit mix goes pretty well, as does a few peaches (instead of, or as well as the banana and/or mango... the peaches add a rather subtle, mellow taste, from my experience).

Other ideas/tips:

As for other additives, I would personally advise against the use of cocoa powder (haven’t tried carob powder yet) as it seems to overpower the other flavours and make the shake somewhat bitter (although it would come down to your personal preference -- give it a try at least once to see if you like it).

Oh and while I used to freeze the bananas I used for this recipe, I’ve stopped doing that now since A) it’s easier to just add in a few ice cubes rather then putting the bananas in the freezer (your mileage may vary), and B) apparently freezing certain foods (such as fruit and vegetables) can have a negative effect on the nutrients. I don’t know how credible that claim is, but the ice cube solution works well enough for me to not have any problems going along with it (it would seem to make sense, since I've read severe temperature changes can alter the state of many foods/destroy nutrients).

If you have any decent shake recipes (or variations to the above recipe), I’d love to hear them! (Although you may want to start a new thread a put them in there rather then de-rail this thread any more then I have. )

[Healthyfit]

Awesome! I just bought my vitamix!!!

[cgs]

I'm looking on Vitamix's website, but I don't see any place where I can buy a used model.

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

You won't get the warranty, though, if you buy it off ebay used.

You can buy a used model on the vitamix website and still get the shipping discount and the warranty. You might want to do that.

Use shipping code: 06-001023-02

[Erin Pavlina]

Look for the reconditioned models. Those are the used ones. They have a warranty too which is awesome. I think they're in the $300 range.

[cgs]

Thanks Erin. I didn't know you could get reconditioned ones. I already have a 3600 model coming that I bought off eBay for $150 - I'll see how I like it, and if its not that great I can always do the trade in credit and get a reconditioned one.

[MamaDuck]

Chiming in late to say I love our Vitamix, we had one growing up and it is still used today. Plus, I love the easy cleanup (toss some hot water and soap in it and run it for a bit if I remember correctly) vs. the scrubbing under the blades and junk with a regular blender/food processor.

[shellbell1969]

The Vita-mix is the best kitchen appliance! There are several blenders on the market, but a Vita-mix is more of a multi-purpose Whole Food Processor. I’ve used every blender like tool and there is nothing that can chop, dice, mince, grate, crush, puree, homogenize, or perform bio-available feats like this machine. This machine will completely liquefy seeds, stems, cores, and peels. I've owned a Vita-mix for 9 years and initially I did not use it that much because I could not make recipes like the guys who demonstrated the machine when I bought it. I have discovered that this machine is so powerful and liquefies food so good that you need to use so much less ingredients because there is so much more flavor when an item is completely liquefied. If you do not like what you make in a Vita-mix, then you are not going to like a Vita-mix. I finally have found the actual demonstrator recipes at Vita-Mix Recipes for Vitamix. This site has a free FAQ section and provides insight on how to use my machine more efficiently. You can buy a recipe or you can become a member for a year for 24.99. I used a promotion code (vitanow) when I joined and it drops the price to 19.99 for a year’s membership. The recipes on this site have helped me fall back in love with my Vita-mix. I now feel like I am getting my moneys worth! If you've thought "I like my Vita-mix, but I do not use it as much as I should," or "I can never make anything taste as good as the stuff made at the live demonstrations," then you are going to love this site.