Your favorite blender for smoothies

Hey gang,

I am in need of some advice. Not being a lover of fruit I find I do like to freeze it and then mix it up as a smoothie. Problem is when we moved from Maine I was packing up the cupboards and figured I have not used our blender in fifteen years and sold it at the yard sale. Now, alas, I need a blender for my five a day. I have been using the food processor but it just is not very tidy.

Any recommendations that are affordable yet sturdy enough for frozen fruit?

Thanks.

Here's the one Alton Borwn used to make smoothies in his diet episode, but unfortunately it's almost $500.00. I'm sure it's nice though...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RR ... B000RRKQKA

We use a Braun stick blender for our smoothies. It's great if you are using frozen fruit, not so much if you want to blend ice cubes. . .

I love my immersion blender and use it for all kinds of stuff - smoothies, sauces, salad dressings, soups, etc.

There are a few people in my office that use one of those magic bullet type things for smoothies. Not that exact brand, but something that they got at Target or the like. They seem to do an excellent job.

Vitamix would be the golden standard, but a Cuisinart or KitchenAid do pretty well too. However, I had a Black and Decker that was made to do smoothies that did a wonderful job. It was around $25-$30 at Target and it worked as well as the Cuisinart we have now. I gave it to my in-laws when we moved, should have kept that one!

Never thought to try the immersion for smoothies...do you have to thaw the fruit a little or can you use it frozen? Mine came with a blending jar so it would be easy to do...just never occured to try.

Yes the vitamix would be the gold standard but I just don't have the gold. Thanks for all the recommendations. If I could hold out for the Christmas sales I am sure house hold appliances come on sale then.

Watch for Kohl's...they usually have really good appliance sales around Thanksgiving and they do have the new one opening soon in Fern Creek that should have some good sales too.

Madeline I do try and defrost the fruit a little beforehand. I either put some in the fridge the night before or nuke it on a defrost setting for just a few seconds to make it not rock-hard but keep the chill of the fruit.

My wife Colleen is an avid smoothie maker. After burning up several cheap models, she really likes the current Oster model we have

Blender.jpg

I like it because it has a square peg metal clutch instead of plastic teeth that most cheap blenders have.
If you can find one, the Oster Classic Beehive is a tried and true blender with a big powerful moter.

Beehive.jpg

Good luck!

Thanks Dan. After doing some more research the Beehive is the blender I was leaning toward. Like the look and the whole metal vs. plastic. Will give it a try and report back.