Has anybody ever heard of a Vita-Mix? My boyfriend's mother has one, and it seems like a miracle kitchen machine. You can go from making smoothies with fresh strawberries to milling your own flour. I'm thinking of getting one, but they are expensive (about $700CDN)so I want to make sure it's worth the investment. Has anyone in the forum had any experience with them, and if so, would you recommend it for a homestead kitchen?

-- karen kleiss (karenkleiss@hotmail.com), July 14, 2001

Answers

Response to blending away

The Vita-mix is the most used appliance in our kitchen. Have had one for 18 years and just got another one at a yard sale that had never been used for $30.00. Would not be without one. New ones are not but about $500. Don

-- DON (dessertmaker2000@hotmail.com), July 14, 2001.

Response to blending away

I didn't get the bargain that Don did, but I got one in very good condition (except for replacing the rubber gaskets) off of eBay for a whole lot less than new. They're hotly contested items there, so you won't find one dirt cheap, but you can save some money on them. The way that they're built, unless someone was trying to frappe gravel in them, used condition is usually just fine, but do read the descriptions and ask questions of the sellers. And if possible, look for a seller with a high number in parenthesis after their name -- this is how many positive sales they have had to satisfied customers.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), July 14, 2001.

We bought a Vita-Mix some years ago and have used it extensively ever since. We grind flour and make smoothies in the summer out of frozen strawberries and bannanas. Ours went bad after four years and I called the fatory and they said "send it to us it is guaranteed." They repaired it as good as new for no charge and replaced some parts free that were not supposed to be guaranteed. In this day and age it is hard to find a business you can reccomend but I reccomend this company.

-- Dennis Vailes (dvailes@henderson.net), July 14, 2001.

You won't be sorry when you get your Vita Mix. I love mine. I make flour, puree soybeans to make soymilk, icecreams, hot vegie soups from garden scraps, make nut flours, and I was out of powdered sugar once so I put granulated sugar in the dry container and it make excellent powdered sugar. I LOVE mine. God bless! Pam

-- Pam Harsh (harshhaus@aol.com), July 14, 2001.

We "LOVE" our Vita Mixer. It is the one appliance that I use daily. We have had ours for 2 years. I don't know about the gaskets b/c I never take it apart. To clean it I just rinse it out. We bought it at the Ky State Fair. We stood at the demo table for about an hour and we have been hooked. I like being able to use just tiny bits of various leftover stuff and turn it into soup or desert. I could go on and on but I can't sing it's praises enough. If I remember correctly you can sort of lay-a-way it. You would have one year to pay as you like with no set payment amounts. It is well worth it's price.

-- Ria in Ky (MinMin45@aol.com), July 14, 2001.

Our health food co-op has the best prices on Vita Mixs' (except used) that I have seen anywhere.

-- D. Gillette WA (goldnrod@crosswalkmail.com), July 17, 2001.