Vitamix TSV 24/08/13

[Autumn]

Having watched both blenders demonstrated they seem very similar , except IW's is cheaper and has a 7 yr warranty . Wasn't impressed but the guy who demonstrated the Vitamix on Qvc , he couldn't even get the cream to whip up

 

[Jockscrap]

Oh, will have to try porridge and scrambled eggs!

The Vitamix is absolutely brilliant. It is impossible to really understand why anyone would spend that much on 'just a blender', until you have one and use one and see all that it can do. I've had one for three years, and it is in daily use...literally not a day when it isn't used, often multiple times a day. I justified the price by comparing it to a washing machine which you might buy for a similar sum, and it isn't used as often (in my house!) or has as long a warranty as my VM.

As for doing scrambled eggs, my advice is DO NOT DO THEM. It is the only thing I have regretted making in my VM and leaves the container anything but self-cleaning. The eggs themselves are great ... light and fluffy, but the container is left with what looks like PVA glue all over the blades which no amount of cleaning regularly can remove. I even used the trick recommended somewhere of coating the blades with a little olive oil first. I ended up using an electric toothbrush to clean the blades up. What a mess.

Apart from that, everything else is fab. I have the cheap long-handled spatulas from Lakeland which have a narrow head, making them perfect for scraping out every last drop from the container.

Family favourites are all the frozen desserts including chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice-cream. My favourite is a really tangy sorbet like dessert, made with black cherry yoghurt blended with mixed frozen berries. No extra sugar, just the two ingredients. Delicious!

 

[Snowstorm]

I have the high speed ninja. Wondering if I got this the ninja would be redundant. Am in a dither!

 

[kafflinka]

Thanks for the heads up on the scrambled eggs info. Jockscrap, I had only seen the demo on IW and not made them myself .......after reading your advice I won't bother!

I hope brissles sees your post. Thanks again

 

[May]

i love my vitamix ...it really is a great product..ive had it for 2 years and if somebody took it away i would feel lost......if you have the money and are really interested...i would say go for it...but if you are a bit strapped fpr cash atm ...save for it and wait for another offer ...there is sure to be one....

 

[Tiddlywinks]

I've gone for it... and am sooooo looking forward to the soups :mysmilie_13:

Just in case anyone is wondering about the warranty, the Vitamix website has this set in black for £489 with a 5 year warranty.

 

[bsj]

Haven't tried scrambled eggs, now i wont bother, did the the porridge yesterday, did make hot porridge, but was blended, no bits, not really nice at all and a bit harder to clean than normal, as in the porridge stuck around the blades, but came off after a couple of goes, its usually really easy to clean, regardless of whether its hot soup, or icecream, even hummus etc is easy to clean up.
I'm heading to lakeland today, so I'll pick up a long handed spatula.
But for anyone on the fence about this, I don't think the demo last night did it justice, the demos on qvc.com for the Vitamix are good, may be worth a look.
As for the one on IW, I did lots of googling before I bought my Vitamix, and there are a couple of cheaper options, but the general opinion is that they aren't the same as a Vitamix, they don't give quite as smooth a result. I opted for the Vitamix as I didn't want to be saying in 6 months time, 'i wish I'd spent the extra and bought a vitamix'.

The Vitamix is absolutely brilliant. It is impossible to really understand why anyone would spend that much on 'just a blender', until you have one and use one and see all that it can do. I've had one for three years, and it is in daily use...literally not a day when it isn't used, often multiple times a day. I justified the price by comparing it to a washing machine which you might buy for a similar sum, and it isn't used as often (in my house!) or has as long a warranty as my VM.

As for doing scrambled eggs, my advice is DO NOT DO THEM. It is the only thing I have regretted making in my VM and leaves the container anything but self-cleaning. The eggs themselves are great ... light and fluffy, but the container is left with what looks like PVA glue all over the blades which no amount of cleaning regularly can remove. I even used the trick recommended somewhere of coating the blades with a little olive oil first. I ended up using an electric toothbrush to clean the blades up. What a mess.

Apart from that, everything else is fab. I have the cheap long-handled spatulas from Lakeland which have a narrow head, making them perfect for scraping out every last drop from the container.

Family favourites are all the frozen desserts including chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice-cream. My favourite is a really tangy sorbet like dessert, made with black cherry yoghurt blended with mixed frozen berries. No extra sugar, just the two ingredients. Delicious!

 

[iloveshopping]

I have a juicer but don't like all the pulp wastage. Can I just chuck whole or halved apples into the vitamix and produce apple juice - presumably cloudy apple juice?

 

[Jockscrap]

Bsj...the spatulas come in a pack of two, and are made in all one piece of white moulded plastic. They are called jar busters if you want to take a look on the Lakeland site.

Iloveshopping: the VM isn't a juicer, but it does blend very very smooth liquids. I haven't tried what you are asking, but I think you would end up with just a raw apple purée. The halved apple added to say, a cup of orange juice and bit of ginger, would make a lovely smoothie type drink, but it won't be a juice like you would get from a juicer. All the pulp (and presumably a lot of the fibre and nutrition) lost through juicing would put me right off using one. With the VM, you know you are wasting nothing.
One of my favourite smoothies is in the Jamie Oliver 15 minute book, and it almost fizzes like a soft drink. Cup of orange juice (I just use it from a carton), piece of ginger, dash of lime, a carrot and a handful of frozen mango chunks (I get from Tesco). This makes one large glass and is probably enough for two unless, like me, you aren't willing to share!

 

[iloveshopping]

Thanks for replies . l got the red just before it went to advanced orders. I can always return it if I find it no better than my blender, handheld blender (30 Years old). If I keep it, I will be emptying the fridge of veg every week and pulverising it all and freezing it. Can't believe I've just paid so much for a blender.

 

[Jockscrap]

The red is gorgeous. Remember it isn't just a blender you have bought. As it sits out all the time, and is so easy to clean. I use mine all the time to grate a little cheddar or a lump of Parmesan, chop an onion, make icing sugar from granulated sugar etc. I make a very simple cheese sauce just by whizzing some plain flour with milk then simmering in a saucepan for a few minutes before adding cheese...no lumps, no butter, perfect. I haven't tried doing it all in the VM but it would probably work well.

A bit of an alternative use, but I wash my Gore-tex jacket and other waterproof clothing with pure soap flakes rather than soap powder. You are supposed to dissolve about half a cup of flakes in very warm water, but it is a bit of a nightmare. They all gloop together into lots of sticky lumps, and take a lot of stirring and messing about before they can be used. So now I put very hot water in my VM, add the soap flakes and whizz for a few seconds and pour the resulting perfect soapy mix in to my washing machine.

I make lattes by heating skimmed milk in the micro for a bit, add to instant coffee powder in the VM, and blitz for seconds. (I turn the variable from 1 to 10 then back down again, fairly quickly), resulting in a lovely frothy, faux creamy coffee. I am no coffee expert, but this tastes good to me!

I hope you have a lot of fun experimenting and love your purchase. In my mind, the true price of something is its actual price divided by the number of uses. Over a few years of regular use, that makes the VM good value. But I do understand that ’oh my goodness, how much have I spent on a gadget?!' feeling, and your friends will think you are mad...unless they've a bought one too!

 

[iloveshopping]

LOL Jockscrap. I'll be telling no one about my purchase until I've tested it out for a while. Lucky for the EP so that my credit card won't look so poorly.
It does sound a fantastic product and I'm looking forward to making iced latte coffees like I had in Cyprus last summer.
I caught most of the last presentation and can see I'll be making more soups as no more peeling of the veg.
Like your tip for the soap flakes. I think we should start a new thread of vitamix tips

 

[Snowstorm]

Gosh. The testimonials here at very strong. I caught the live show last night and also watch the one ideal world prior. In all honesty the ideal world demo was far better. I also checked out you tube this morning and watched seen demos there and there were some clips which compared both. In essence the omniblender on ideal world is very good but doesn't produce as smooth a result as the vitamix. I have just used my ninja to blend some chicken livers for pate and it works like a dream. Very powerful. I just keep seeing blender in my head when I look at vitamix and omniblender!

 

[May]

i go to many websites that have loads of recipies for vitamix ...their own website looks great too.....

 

[Jockscrap]

As a quick guide to get you going when your new toy arrives, one part liquid to three parts frozen makes an ice-cream type dessert. The liquid can be milk, cream, yoghurt etc, and the frozen can be frozen strawbs (big bags in Costco), ice cubes, mango chunks, mixed berries etc. Play about with the combinations and see what you like...no recipe required. If making ice-cream, I use the recipes in the Vitamix cook book, but reduce the sugar and increase the milk powder to make it creamier. I usually half the overall quantity too, to make two large bowlsful.

Certain veg have virtually no taste and are ideal for adding to smoothies for extra goodness. My veg of choice is spinach, which you can buy frozen in to individual lumps. I add one lump to my smoothies, and you truly do not taste it at all. If you add berries, especially black currants, brambles etc, the smoothie will end up dark purple, disguising the rather dodgy colour the spinach can turn it.

Bananas can be cut in to big chunks and frozen, for adding to smoothies. Adding quite a bit of frozen fruit and veg to the smoothie is a good idea, as the processing does warm it up after a minute or two, if there isn't much in the way of frozen in it.

Can you tell I love my VM lol!

 

[Snowstorm]

Am holding out. Look forward to see what the newbies think. Am sure it will be back!

 

[bsj]

Jockscrap;Bsj...the spatulas come in a pack of two, and are made in all one piece of white moulded plastic. They are called jar busters if you want to take a look on the Lakeland site.

Got them, thanks for the tip!

 

[bsj]

As a quick guide to get you going when your new toy arrives, one part liquid to three parts frozen makes an ice-cream type dessert. The liquid can be milk, cream, yoghurt etc, and the frozen can be frozen strawbs (big bags in Costco), ice cubes, mango chunks, mixed berries etc. Play about with the combinations and see what you like...no recipe required. If making ice-cream, I use the recipes in the Vitamix cook book, but reduce the sugar and increase the milk powder to make it creamier. I usually half the overall quantity too, to make two large bowlsful.

Certain veg have virtually no taste and are ideal for adding to smoothies for extra goodness. My veg of choice is spinach, which you can buy frozen in to individual lumps. I add one lump to my smoothies, and you truly do not taste it at all. If you add berries, especially black currants, brambles etc, the smoothie will end up dark purple, disguising the rather dodgy colour the spinach can turn it.

Bananas can be cut in to big chunks and frozen, for adding to smoothies. Adding quite a bit of frozen fruit and veg to the smoothie is a good idea, as the processing does warm it up after a minute or two, if there isn't much in the way of frozen in it.

Can you tell I love my VM lol!

Can I just add to that, when you first get it there is a DVD in the box, its well worth watching before trying anything, when I first got mine I was almost afraid of it, but the DVD explains everything, shows all the things it does and how to do it. The manual also suggests that you follow a few vitamix recipes at first to get used to the machine. I found this helped.

 

[May]

i love it....:mysmilie_492:

 

[iloveshopping]

I've just had a bit of buyers regret and have been researching the omniblend. However I think I am still in favour of the vitamin because for its narrow base which will be useful for small quantities.
I've also had my current blender out just to confirm that it doesn't do all I want it to like chop onions. It just failed to chop the onions! I use a press thingy at the moment which I have to replace every year. Will be interesting to see if the vitamix does better.
Will be keeping my food processor as it does excellent grafted carrot.
Juicer and also thirty year old stick blender (with regret) will have to go and possibly current blender.