Food Processors

[Karma]

Mine has become impossible to clean....the insides of the handles have black stuff (mold?) in it and a part has come loose that cannot be fixed. I use it weekly but am wondering if I can get along without it. I do have a good blender.

Same me thing with my salad spinner, it has finally bit the dust, I used it and really liked it but I could dry my lettuce on a kitchen towel.

do you replace things like this or do you wait and see if you can live without it?

[ApatheticNoMore]

I never got a food processor to begin with though I know many recipes do call for them, so it's a semi-useful appliance I suppose. I have a hand and regular blender. You could try the thrifts, salad spinners do turn up and them here and there. I don't often see food processors at thrifts. A crock pot solely tempted me today at the thrift store, but I haven't got it ... yet (it was the exact model my mom had growing up). No I don't own a crock pot. The salad spinner I decided I could not live without or even keep waiting forever for one to come to the thrifts (waited a few weeks after I melted my last one - going crazy :0! ). I have salad for lunch nearly every work day so there is that ... it gets used. Mostly I cook and have learned to cook without small appliances since I haven't had many (nah pots and pans and a non-digital food scale etc. don't count).

[lessisbest]

I'm an unrepentant kitchen gadget person, but my food processor is the one gadget I really hate to get out and use because I hate to clean it. When I do get it out, I have to learn how to use it all over again :confused:. Several years ago I won a recipe contest and $500 prize. I decided to either buy a stand mixer or a food processor with the winnings, and have never really needed/wanted the stand mixer (still don't own one), so I got the food processor - thinking I was missing out on something (NOT!). After all, all the cooking shows on TV use them......

I use my small Ninja food chopper all the time (easy to use, doesn't take up much space, easy to clean and it came with the purchase of a set of Ninja Blenders), and for 25-years before that I used a small (2-cup) Hamilton Beach Food Chopper (and it still works and is in use). So it will depend on what you are actually using the food processor for - yeast breads, pastry dough, special recipes that really NEED a food processor, or just grinding some nuts or a lot of onions.... I find my box grater or microplane graters serve me quite well, along with a good set of knives and one of the food choppers.

There are a lot of gadgets I've found I didn't really like/use/was over-rated, or our eating habits have changed and they are no longer needed. When we went gluten-free I gave all my great bread cookbooks and bread-making gadgets/tools/pans/clay bakers to my brother. Now he's enjoying them. And if I ever really wanted to use an item, I could borrow it from him. WIN/WIN!

[Karma]

I got rid of my kitchen aid stand mixer a few years ago, don't miss it at all! I think I will be fine without the FP, we'll see about the salad spinner. :)

[freshstart]

combined houses with my parents, mother semi-hoarder (maybe full blown, I hate saying that about her, lol) and terminally ill so she is not cooking. They had the extra big dumpster at their old house and filled it twice so I thought how much kitchen stuff could she possibly have left? OMG. She had what I would say is a normal food processor. Some one gave her one of those huge expensive ones with all kinds of attachments, it is so heavy, it needs to stay out but ugly so she wants it in a cabinet, very hard to clean, been here 2 yrs, neither processors used. We use a Cuisinart chopper and and hand blender a lot. Then I was looking for kitchen crap we actually need in her boxes in the basement. TWO more food processors! she's fairly frugal, so someone probably gave them to her. I tell her we now have 4, zero in use, can we pass these on to someone who would like them? Denied she had four, showed them to her, I had to put the two she didn't even know about back in the basement in case the two in the kitchen "broke". They'd have to spontaneously, magically break since they are not used. The other two are in a section in the basement that in my head is designated for GW, things she probably no longer remember she has, otherwise known as "hey, thanks for coming over, come take a prize or a dozen from our basement" section.

I had a salad spinner, never used it, gave it away. We now have 2 in the kitchen, in case we are making salad for 30 and you guessed it, two more in the basement. They are in my special section, not even going to ask, they are going. So 4 is apparently the hoarder number for my mom, if she has 4 she feels secure, IDK, I can't begin to relate. It's probably wrong to give a sick hoarder's stuff away that she has not given permission to do but if she has no memory of the item, is it so wrong?

[Tussiemussies]

I do love using kitchen appliances. I used to cook everything from scratch and couldn't go without my Cuisinart, which I have had since 1991. It has so many different disks that I bought from Amazon, it makes it great when you want that almost paper-thin onion slice for a salad. Unfortunately, I don't think that Cuisinart is making the machine with exchangeable disks anymore so I plan on trying to, keep mine going. I did need a new bowl and chopper, so we found a place online for them.

For the poster who has mold in the handle of, her food processor, I would use a baby bottle brush with bleach to try and clean it all out.

I use a baby bottle brush to clean my food processor and it makes it very easy.

Unfortunately kitchen appliances are one thing that I lack in being frugal. But I have used the appliances a lot!

[cdttmm]

I'm a lazy cook so the food processor sees regular use. Thankfully, it is dishwasher-safe because I'm also lazy when it comes to cleaning up. :~)

[Karma]

You can't get a brush into the handle or I would have tried it. I even looked online for info and everyone complains about it as well. Grrrrrrrrr.

[Tussiemussies]

Hi Karma, you might have posted this originally...what brand do you have? We have Cuisinart and did find someone online who sells the bowls and we replaced ours....

[SteveinMN]

My FP is about 32 years old and still going. Not in daily use, but when I have a lot to do it is the tool for the job. At least our FP is dishwasher-safe. If it died tomorrow, though, I'd seriously consider falliing back to the blender DW uses for protein shakes and a mandoline for the finer stuff. It strikes me as unlikely I could buy another one as good for even the inflation-adjusted amount this one cost back in the 80s. And I'm pretty handy with a chef's knife.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I resisted the crockpot at the thrift (yet again), it was a nostalgic appeal mostly, it was 70s crockpot and looks it! But I wondered how safe those old crockpots were and searched online and found crockpots may have lead. So meh, can't worry about everything, but don't like to buy things I won't feel good about. I'll stick with glass pans and stainless steel pots (maybe enabled cast iron would be better for some things, I don't know), and few electronic kitchen gadgets (because gadgets break too much).

[lessisbest]

I resisted the crockpot at the thrift (yet again), it was a nostalgic appeal mostly, it was 70s crockpot and looks it! But I wondered how safe those old crockpots were and searched online and found crockpots may have lead. So meh, can't worry about everything, but don't like to buy things I won't feel good about. I'll stick with glass pans and stainless steel pots (maybe enabled cast iron would be better for some things, I don't know), and few electronic kitchen gadgets (because gadgets break too much).

If you ever do get a thrift store (used) crock-pot, be sure to check the cooking temperature by placing 2-quarts of water (1-quart for a small unit) in it and using an instant read thermometer to test the temperature. You may find one that doesn't cook at a food-safe temperature, and that's as dangerous as lead leaching out of it, in my books. The low setting is designed to be 200°F, the high setting is designed to be 300°F with food temperatures maintained between 170° and 280°. The danger zone is between 40° and 140° where bacteria can easily and quickly grow.

A traditional crock-pot (where the heat comes from all around the insert) is safer than the brands that are two-piece (where the heat comes from underneath). I have one of those I received as a gift many years ago, so I have to be careful what I cook in it. The reason is that when the heat is all around the insert, the food cooks faster and more evenly.