Easy to take on the go

Simply bottle-up and go. Some machines even allow you to expel your juice directly into the container of your choice!

Sneak in those veggies!

Often times, you can sneak in vitamin rich vegetables, such as spinach, cucumber and carrots, without even tasting them. If you’re not a huge vegetable eater, this is a game-changer for your tastebuds and your health.

Healthier than store-bought juice

In the sea of juices in beverages isles, it can be difficult to read every label to make sure there aren’t hidden ingredients in the juice that’s even labeled “all natural”. With homemade juice, you know exactly whats going into your cup and into your body.

What’s the difference between fresh and traditional?

Simply put, almost all store bought juice is cooked.

Due to FDA requirements and general safety concerns, most fruit and vegetable juices must be “super heated” or pasteurized to kill off bacteria that would form if the liquid sat on the shelf too long. This goes for juice on the shelf and in the refrigerated section. This process lengthens shelf life, but it also kills lots of essential nutrients you would receive if you had juice from fresh.

With more health movements on the rise, there are brands of “raw” juice available at select grocery stores. However, it has a tendency to be more expensive because of smaller batching and short self life.

Look out for “juice drinks” or juice beverages

Buyer beware of sugar lurking in juice that may even have the titles “natural” “real” or “healthy” on the label. Any juice that has “juice drink” or “juice beverage” in the title is more than likely mixed with water, sugar and other additives. It is not 100% juice and by law cannot be called so. Stay far away from these processed beverages. They can sometimes have as much sugar as your everyday fast-food soda. When in doubt. fresh is best!

Essential tools for Juicing 

There are many ways you can get started with making your own juice at home. Because juicing has become more popular, lots of companies have begun flooding the market with affordable equipment to get the most out of your fruits and veggies. This includes, centrifuge juicers, slow juicers and citrus juicers. For the sake of this post, sticking to ctnerifugeal juicers, but i will touch on the other two for your information.

centrifuge juicer (3 links)

centrifugal juicers are the most economical and versatile juicer for the everyday user. centrifugal juicers have a chute to feed your produce through, with a very sharp blade and mesh basket. it spins very rapidly, using centrifugal force to separate the juice from its pulp. the pulp is pushed into a reservoir and your fresh juice is poured into a spout on the opposite side of the juicer. these types of juicers produce every quickly, and can withstand lots of fruits, veggies and herbs, with the exception of produce such as potatoes, unpeeled oranges and bananas.

this is the kind of machine i use to make my own juice, and what i’ve used to create the recipes i’ll be sharing with you below. these machines are easy to clean, don’t have a ton of parts and easy to find. most centrifugal juicers run from about $45 up to $100. i have attached two really on amazon ones here. click the photos to learn more about them.