LOVE the Vita-Mix!!! It’s more than a blender, for sure. I make super thick & smooth pizza sauces, puddings, etc. as well as grinding nuts into nut butter & making fruity sorbets that are just made from frozen fruit & a little water, & they end up thick – to eat with a spoon. It also blends up kale (stem & all) in my green smoothies. If you can’t afford it, by all means, there are other blenders that do wonderfully well for smoothies & other blender jobs :)
my cuisinart blender is great. not quite as powerful as a vitamix, but fine for my purposes (and budget). a food processor is not the same as it won’t be able to do anything past a certain “liquidity.” (i.e. no smoothies)
i also like the fact that it has a glass container, not plastic… sets my mind at ease for leaching. =)
At first I liked my L’Equip, but now I do not recommend it. It has a “12 year warranty” but mine stopped working after only 2 months – on Thanksgiving no less!!
I just posted this info on another thread, but since you asked about this one specifically I will repeat. I got my L’Equip dehydrator from Harvest Essentials. When it broke, I called H.E. & they referred me to the manufacturer and would not take a return or exchange of the product. I had to pay to ship the dehydrator back to the manufacturer myself so they can try to fix it. Also, H.E. would charge me a 15% restocking fee to return the defective piece of junk, and I would have to pay the shipping to return it, but only if I still had the original packaging. Noone from H.E. would ever return my calls (they only communicate via e-mail apparently), and Kitchen Resource (the manufacturer) has the worst customer service EVER!
My husband and I are also new to the RAW lifestyle and I wanted to know what should a good RAW foodist pantry have? We keep running out of things to eat! I guess it shows that we weren’t eating as many fruits and veggies as I thought we were :)
If anyone is from Europe (from Spain, even better), and can pass me some links/stores/distributors where I can purchase organic raw ingredients, I would greatly appreciate it.
About the dehydrator, I agree with Zoe, we are still transitioning. And although I love fruits and veggies as they are, the idea of having a salad everyday seems a bit monotonous. I read about the Lequip dehydrator. Does anyone have one? How is it?
ItGirl – in addition to ebay you can check your local thrift shops for a dehydrator on a budget. I’ve heard good things about the Nesco dehydrator but not sure if it has temp control.
Another option might be to look for toaster ovens that have variable temp ranges (Proctor-Silex model 31145 on amazon.com is around $35 + shipping and the dial has several temp points below 200, if you set it on the lowest maybe you could test it with a meat thermometer to make sure you stay under 115?) I’ve heard of others successfully using their toaster ovens to dry breads/crackers and such.
I lovingly disagree with lovefoodlaughter about the dehydrator.
It is true that once you have been raw for a few years you may not be drawn to dehydrated foods. But for starting out, a dehydrator is extremely valuable as a bridge between cooked and raw. It also helps to keep food costs down. A batch of bread is so chesp and filling. Much cheapers than buying lots of fruit for example.
Also much cooked food is dry: bread, biscuits, pie crusts etc, and if you’re not making dehydrated food then all your raw food will be wet. Delish and lovely, but wet, and when you’re transitioning you may start to crave dry food and reach for some crisps (chips in the usa?) or bread. Having a raw pizza, raw bread, crackers and crisps on hand takes care of that little problem, and helps you to feel full and satisfied, until you have been raw for long enough not to desire dehydrated food, and be OK with just salad and fruit.
Also when you have friends and relatives who are worrying about you eating raw, there is nothing that reassures them that you are ok and don’t have an eating disorder quite like some amazing raw dehydrated burgers, bread or pizza. It helps them to understand and maybe even join in.It is raw food but they can make a ink with it as it is more reminisant of cooked food.
Any way, we have a Dead Food List which lists foods which are commonly sold and used in raw food which are in fact not raw on our website here:
Hey you. Don’t worry about the dehydrator, it’s really far from a necessity. The best way to start out, in my opinion, is to focus on fruits. In the morning, just drink a lot of water until you genuinely feel hungry, and then eat as much fruit as you could possibly want to until you’re sated. Bring fruits around with you all day long, to classes, etc. (Apples, bananas, oranges, papayas, persimmons, etc, and a knife to cut them with if you so desire). For dinner, have a salad with lots of greens in it. See? So easy. And delicious. And no equipment whatsoever! If you’re in college, you probably don’t have much time to worry about food prep. My advice: just don’t! You’ll be healthier and have more energy the more whole raw foods you eat!
2 posts found
angie writes, Jun 9, 2008: (2017 posts)
(Topic: Being Raw / Blender Help!!)
LOVE the Vita-Mix!!! It’s more than a blender, for sure. I make super thick & smooth pizza sauces, puddings, etc. as well as grinding nuts into nut butter & making fruity sorbets that are just made from frozen fruit & a little water, & they end up thick – to eat with a spoon. It also blends up kale (stem & all) in my green smoothies. If you can’t afford it, by all means, there are other blenders that do wonderfully well for smoothies & other blender jobs :)
pianissima writes, Jun 9, 2008: (1209 posts)
(Topic: Being Raw / Blender Help!!)
my cuisinart blender is great. not quite as powerful as a vitamix, but fine for my purposes (and budget). a food processor is not the same as it won’t be able to do anything past a certain “liquidity.” (i.e. no smoothies)
i also like the fact that it has a glass container, not plastic… sets my mind at ease for leaching. =)
Renoir writes, Dec 12, 2007: (288 posts)
(Topic: Being Raw / New to Raw Food...)
At first I liked my L’Equip, but now I do not recommend it. It has a “12 year warranty” but mine stopped working after only 2 months – on Thanksgiving no less!!
I just posted this info on another thread, but since you asked about this one specifically I will repeat. I got my L’Equip dehydrator from Harvest Essentials. When it broke, I called H.E. & they referred me to the manufacturer and would not take a return or exchange of the product. I had to pay to ship the dehydrator back to the manufacturer myself so they can try to fix it. Also, H.E. would charge me a 15% restocking fee to return the defective piece of junk, and I would have to pay the shipping to return it, but only if I still had the original packaging. Noone from H.E. would ever return my calls (they only communicate via e-mail apparently), and Kitchen Resource (the manufacturer) has the worst customer service EVER!
nenufar07 writes, Dec 6, 2007: (6 posts)
(Topic: Being Raw / New to Raw Food...)
Hi everyone!
My husband and I are also new to the RAW lifestyle and I wanted to know what should a good RAW foodist pantry have? We keep running out of things to eat! I guess it shows that we weren’t eating as many fruits and veggies as I thought we were :)
If anyone is from Europe (from Spain, even better), and can pass me some links/stores/distributors where I can purchase organic raw ingredients, I would greatly appreciate it.
About the dehydrator, I agree with Zoe, we are still transitioning. And although I love fruits and veggies as they are, the idea of having a salad everyday seems a bit monotonous. I read about the Lequip dehydrator. Does anyone have one? How is it?
kminty3 writes, Dec 4, 2007: (360 posts)
(Topic: Being Raw / New to Raw Food...)
the nesco dehydrator has served me well and I think I paid less than 50 dollars for it. There has not been a recipe I’ve been unable to make with it
bellamojo writes, Dec 3, 2007: (19 posts)
(Topic: Being Raw / New to Raw Food...)
ItGirl – in addition to ebay you can check your local thrift shops for a dehydrator on a budget. I’ve heard good things about the Nesco dehydrator but not sure if it has temp control.
Another option might be to look for toaster ovens that have variable temp ranges (Proctor-Silex model 31145 on amazon.com is around $35 + shipping and the dial has several temp points below 200, if you set it on the lowest maybe you could test it with a meat thermometer to make sure you stay under 115?) I’ve heard of others successfully using their toaster ovens to dry breads/crackers and such.
Good luck!
Zoe writes, Dec 3, 2007: (1645 posts)
(Topic: Being Raw / New to Raw Food...)
Try ebay.
Cheaper ones often have a hole in the middle, if you get one of these donut shaped ones, you’ll get frstrated when you want to make pizza and bread.
Zoe writes, Nov 30, 2007: (1645 posts)
(Topic: Being Raw / New to Raw Food...)
I lovingly disagree with lovefoodlaughter about the dehydrator.
It is true that once you have been raw for a few years you may not be drawn to dehydrated foods. But for starting out, a dehydrator is extremely valuable as a bridge between cooked and raw.
It also helps to keep food costs down. A batch of bread is so chesp and filling. Much cheapers than buying lots of fruit for example.
Also much cooked food is dry: bread, biscuits, pie crusts etc, and if you’re not making dehydrated food then all your raw food will be wet. Delish and lovely, but wet, and when you’re transitioning you may start to crave dry food and reach for some crisps (chips in the usa?) or bread. Having a raw pizza, raw bread, crackers and crisps on hand takes care of that little problem, and helps you to feel full and satisfied, until you have been raw for long enough not to desire dehydrated food, and be OK with just salad and fruit.
Also when you have friends and relatives who are worrying about you eating raw, there is nothing that reassures them that you are ok and don’t have an eating disorder quite like some amazing raw dehydrated burgers, bread or pizza. It helps them to understand and maybe even join in.It is raw food but they can make a ink with it as it is more reminisant of cooked food.
Any way, we have a Dead Food List which lists foods which are commonly sold and used in raw food which are in fact not raw on our website here:
http://www.purelyraw.com/deadfoodlist.htm
And a comprehensive list of raw food ingredients here:
http://www.purelyraw.com/ingredients.htm
deborahann writes, Nov 30, 2007: (361 posts)
(Topic: Being Raw / New to Raw Food...)
Welcome! Check out the Grr… thread. It will answer a lot of your questions.
LovefoodLaughter writes, Nov 30, 2007: (36 posts)
(Topic: Being Raw / New to Raw Food...)
Hey you. Don’t worry about the dehydrator, it’s really far from a necessity.
The best way to start out, in my opinion, is to focus on fruits. In the morning, just drink a lot of water until you genuinely feel hungry, and then eat as much fruit as you could possibly want to until you’re sated. Bring fruits around with you all day long, to classes, etc. (Apples, bananas, oranges, papayas, persimmons, etc, and a knife to cut them with if you so desire). For dinner, have a salad with lots of greens in it.
See? So easy. And delicious. And no equipment whatsoever!
If you’re in college, you probably don’t have much time to worry about food prep. My advice: just don’t! You’ll be healthier and have more energy the more whole raw foods you eat!
Welcome to a truly wonderful world!