Equipment, The Necessary Essentials for Juicing

If you’re going to start a juice fast, it’s important to know ahead of time what kind of equipment you’re going to need as this may require a bit of an upfront investment. Let’s start with the larger ticket items first: 

The Juicer:

Obviously, you’re going to need a good quality juicer that does a good job extracting juice and can handle all the various types of produce you will be using. To save on time and cleanup, I also recommend selecting a juicer that extracts the juice quickly, and one whose parts are dishwasher safe.

I have personally owned a Breville Juice Fountain Plus for about 7 years. This particular model cost $150.00 and has been worth every penny. It’s a well made juicer, and it works fast. Plus, after use, I can simply toss the parts in the dishwasher, making cleanup a little more manageable. Additionally, if I happen to need any replacement parts, they are easily available online at Breville’s website. (In the 7 years I’ve had it, the only parts I’ve had to replace are the disc, which after so much use became dull; and I ordered a larger juice canister to hold more juice. Other than that, this machine seems nearly indestructible.)

Citrus Juicer:

Another appliance I would highly recommend having on hand is a citrus juicer. Citrus produce is a foundational ingredient in most juices. You can run citrus produce through a regular juicer, but the natural oils in the rind will make your juice bitter, so you’ll need to peel each fruit beforehand (which will be very time consuming).

To make things easier, I personally own a commercial grade manual Citrus Press. I simply cut the fruit in half, lower the handle and I have delicious, fresh squeezed juice. In fact, even when I’m not juice fasting, this appliance sits on my kitchen counter year round because I love having fresh squeezed orange or grapefruit juice in the morning. Once you try the real thing, you’ll never go back to bottled juice again. This model cost $150.00, has no electrical parts – so it’ll never break, and is incredibly easy to clean.

If that sounds a little steep, an alternative option is an electric citrus juicer. You can find one for about $30.00 and it will work fine as you’re getting started. I owned one prior to investing in my citrus press, but I will say that over a period of two years, I went through about 3 of them, just due to the sheer volume I was running. It seemed the electric models couldn’t keep up with me. Plus, I found them to be harder on the wrist than a press. If you can afford it, go with the press. But if not, a less expensive model like this electric one will do the trick.

Other Kitchen Tools:

Obviously, regular kitchen tools like knives, cutting boards and colanders are a necessity. I’m not going to itemize those, but in addition to the standard tools you’d find in a kitchen, I have found that having the following on hand makes things a little easier:

• Vegetable Brush – with the exception of citrus, it’s not necessary to peel your produce prior to running it through your juicer, but a vegetable brush will help clean your produce a little easier.
• Funnel & Ladle – once we get to bottling, I’ll explain more, but it’s good to have these on hand.
• Large gallon-sized pitcher or bowl – during a juice fast, you’ll be making large batches of juice. Since the container on your juicer will only hold about 32 ounces, you’ll need a larger container you can transfer to. More on that later.

If buying a new juicer or citrus juicer is not an option right now, check your local classifieds or consider borrowing one from a friend.

Be sure to join me for or my next post, How Much Time Will This Take? 

Here’s to your health!

Linda G. Riddle