High Power Blenders

For some time I have wanted a high power blender, but since my son was born I have REALLY wanted one.  It has gone from a want to a necessity, at least with MY son.  I am sure there are plenty of people out there with kids who never touch a blender ever & don't understand what I'm talking about.

Before he was born I was wanting to make home made formula for him (because I am unable to breast feed), but it didn't work out.  Had it worked out a blender was a must & the better quality the blender, the better quality the final product.  But once he was just over a year old I started making him all sorts of healthy drinks.  My son definitely prefers to DRINK his calories than to EAT them.  And I know a lot of people love pediasure, but my son can't tolerate cow dairy (which it is made out of) but I also just don't like those type of nutrition drinks that are sold (all of them, not just the pediasure).  I believe we can make drinks that are far more healthy than those created by scientists on our own with a blender. 

The base drink for my son has changed a few times, but it's always some sort of milk (goat, rice, almond, etc, he can't tolerate cow) & I blend it with fruits, veggies, & supplements typically.  Not to mention the rice & almond milks I also make in the blender.

As for WHICH blender I wanted, that was always undecided, up until very recently.  I had sort of assumed I should go with the VitaMix simply because it's the original & it's been around for so long.  I've seen people online saying they've had their VitaMix for 20+ years with NO issues at all.  That's pretty awesome!

Of course there's also the BlendTec & I've seen an infomercial with Montel Williams (I think that's his name??) & there's the new Ninja one that I "think" is a competitor, but I could be wrong about that.  Peronsally I don't trust infomercials much.  And I also don't trust really new stuff, like the Ninja.  So for me the issue simply comes down to the VitaMix & the BlendTec.  I should add that I've heard really good things about the NutriBullet, BUT it's much too small for my needs. 

So I was still leaning towards the VitaMix & I had told hubby I wanted it for Christmas.  Then one day we were at Costco & BlendTec was there, doing demos.  I told hubby to ask the guy why you should choose a BlendTec over the VitaMix.  The guy said he didn't want to & wasn't going to bash a competitor, but he did mention the fact that the BlendTec was designed to fit under most kitchen cabinets & the VitaMix doesn't. 

As for things I had learned on my own in the past: the VitaMix has TWO jars, a dry jar & a wet jar.  Being that my kitchen is VERY small & we don't have a lot of storage space I have to admit I don't like that idea much.  The VitaMix has a "stick" (I can't remember what it's called.....a dowel??) that some people love & some people hate.  The BlendTec has preset buttons for specific things (ice cream/frozen yogurt, ice crush/milkshake, soups/syrups/fondues, sauces/dips/dressings/batters, whole juice, smoothie), although you don't HAVE to use them.  The VitaMix doesn't have preset buttons.  The advantage to having them is when you want to recreate something or when you want to tell someone else in the house how to make something you made.  So I see it as a benefit in my household since I am not the ONLY person using the blender & I often want to recreate something I already made.  There is also the simple fact that the BlendTec is less expensive than the VitaMix.

But the final decision maker for me & my hubby?  We like to watch this show on TV called "how I made my millions"  It shows how wealthy people got started & how it went from there.  It's very interesting, at least to us.  And guess who was on there?  Right after we saw the BlendTec demo at Costco?  Yep, how the BlendTec guy got started & got wealthy.  So what was the bottom line?  The BlendTec guy (I can't remember his name, sorry) had invented a blender jar unlike any other.  He patented his jar & began production & just as he was about to roll them out for sales he discovered that VitaMix already had the exact same jar out there.  Of course he sued VitaMix for patent infringement & he won & VitaMix paid him a ton of money for that.  But simply the fact that VitaMix would blatantly steal his patented idea like that really made me lose respect for VitaMix & when I mentioned it to my hubby he said he felt the exact same way. 

So yes, we are the proud owners of a BlendTec.  And we LOVE it & couldn't be more pleased.  I LOVE that it can liquidy & "juice" veggies & fruits.  It blends the rice down so well for the rice milk that I'm actually getting more milk out of my rice milk batches & I am sure the milk is better nutritionally for that reason. 

Since buying it (it's my Christmas gift, but I opened it early, LOL, couldn't wait!) I have started each morning with a smoothie for myself.  Our last blener, a Cuisinart, could never blend small amounts of things well.  So I was never able to just blend for myself personally like I can now.  I put in a little almond milk, a handful of blueberries (one of the very few fruits my bladder can tolerate), a banana, a green (I was doing spinach, but now doing broccoli), flax seeds & chia seeds, & sometimes I also add protein powder.  It's super yummy!