Tell me how awful your thermomix is please

[anourishingsoup]

A very lovely lady is trying a very hard sell with her thermomix appliance. It doesn't appeal to me in the first place and I wouldn't spend that money on an appliance even if it did. This woman needs the money and I'm starting to soften a bit to the idea, checked online and every review on every forum is raving about theirs .
Tell me how it's overpriced and collecting dust in the back of your cupboard, and how it's just an MLM.

Look at Magimix CookExpert - get the Magimix Food Processor bowls & blades included plus the CookExpert induction base & bowl. Can programme it too.
Larger bowl than Thermomix, can dosaute, stir fry, soup, sauces, curries, stews, steam, mash, puree, slice, grate, blend, dough, yoghurt!
Really versatile.
30 year motor guarantee from established & trusted company.
Can do taster/demo days at various cooking schools & get discounted off the machine if you buy I think.

Mary Berry was big user of the food processor.
Linda Hewitt has Instagram account with lots of recipes for the CookExpert.
I don't have one sadly, but will get one when I have saved up one day!

What happened to the first?

I’ve got one. Use it a couple of times a week for bread making and cake batter etc.
Yes, it’s great. Would I buy another one if it broke? No.
if you can afford it it’s a great piece of kit.

Ok thank you! But does it brown the meat or not? Because that’s what always put me off slow cookers, nothing gets properly browned so you lose a lot of flavour. If the Thermomix does browning then that is a big step up.

Just googled and find very mixed views on forums. Sounds like many people find meat just stews and ends up grey rather than brown - I’m guessing this is because the bottom of the thermomix isn’t as wide as a big pan so can’t get the moisture off as quickly. Some people say the more powerful recent models do brown but some say not.

I wouldnt have one becauss I can't see the point of them. But apparently they're meant to be wonderful. They don't actually do anything. Or do they?

Honestly I love mine to pieces and I don’t even cook meals it. It and the air fryer are both used multiple times a day (3 adults 1 child).

This morning whilst prepping a salad for dinner, I made pesto & cooked and shredded poached chicken breast in it. I also made a high protein smoothie with frozen berries for my breakfast.

If I’m doing chicken breasts in the air fryer for dinner, I’ll make a quick mushroom gravy in it to go with dinner. It’s so good for all kinds of sauces and chopped salads.

Porridge and pancake batters are ready quickly.

If we’ve got guests over for a play date I can rustle up a traybake or cake incredibly fast.

I don’t sell them and never will, but it is very useful.

I’m on my 3rd, and 4th (I have 2). I didn’t replace them because they died but because they brought out new models.

the current ones are WiFi enabled and have no chips. I’ve always enjoyed cooking but Thermomix took it to next level. I used to make all my own bread in it (but I’m now coeliac so don’t bother.). There’s not much you can’t do with it, especially now it has the slicing grating attachment (but I don’t have that)

This is an accurate summary. I’m a confident cook & it’s a fantastic sous chef. They are common in professional kitchens for this reason. My husband is not confident & likes the “paint by numbers” approach.

If you’re in between it may well frustrate you more than enable you.

I eat healthily/carefully (little bread/pasta/rice) and still find it useful.

They are easy to clean up, all parts of my TM6 go in the dishwasher.

I love cooking and as far as I can tell it’s almost an essential piece of kit for professional chefs (it’s used on the Great British Menu) and last time I had lunch at Dinner I lost count at 12 thermies in use!

yes, it does brown the meat and, although as the poster below says, the bottom is small, the meat is constantly stirred (not by you, by the thermomix) and it’s properly browned.

Interesting! Doing a bit of research it looks like they do an at home demonstration for free. So maybe I could ask them to show me it browning mince. More research required!

If it doesn't appeal to you, don't buy it just to be nice to someone who needs the money! There must be other people she can sell to.

Completely agree with this. The people I know who love their Thermomix are either I) very novice and not really interested in cooking but keen to move away from ready made or II) professional level (even if not actually professional).

If you enjoy cooking but don’t require a sous chef, you might not use it much

I looked at the Lidl knock off one and couldn’t work out why anyone would spend £300 on it let alone a four figure sum. My hob, oven, various pans and hand held blender, masher etc do all of these things with far more precision because I can adjust accordingly.

I have both the Cook Expert and Thermomix, the Cook expert is collecting dust in the garage but the Thermomix gets used everyday.

Only yesterday I said to my husband that if the Thermomix broke I would get another one straight away. You can cook almost anything in it. Well worth the high price tag.

Does it have horrible PFAS etc?

I’d buy one tomorrow except for the fact apparently I can’t without some weird woman coming round to cook a risotto. I don’t particularly like risotto and I work full time so haven’t been able to get one. The whole business model seems bonkers.

We are a family of six and I use mine several times a day. I’m a good cook and use mine like a sous chef. It does bechamel whilst I make the bolognese for lasagne, custard, risotto, paella, soup. I tend to use it to chop and brown my onions so my eyes don’t water. It’s also great for the harder things that need sugar at a controlled temperature - honeycomb, toffee etc. The step-by-step function is good too: my not especially competent in the kitchen husband now makes us a batch of turmeric and ginger juice every couple of days. I definitely cook more from scratch than I would have time for otherwise.

You can buy them on Amazon - hopefully directly, without the weirdo thermo-demo party. I'm sure most people can figure out how to use it without the rep.

I am torn. I'd like one for things like making dough, fine chopping, grating and grinding etc. But I don't think I'd really make good use of the versatility - and they're too expensive not to use properly. And I won't engage with sales people. Too much for me. A friend got a thermomix to cut out upfs and save time and she mostly uses it to bake or make extremely indulgent sauces, but it all looks amazing. She also became a consultant. I certainly don't begrudge her any money but I do worry that she's in an mlm.

I think if it were an mlm it wouldn’t have lasted so long. My grandmother had a thermomix that my mother remembers her buying when she (my mother, now nearly 70) was young. My grandmother used hers up until her death at 93 - it must have lasted her 45 years!

Exactly this!

i have a few friends who are very competent cooks who wouldn’t be without theirs and so im
keen but I want yo be able to buy from a shop without fuss.

I’d imagine it would be awkward if you ended up not buying one though 😬 They’d be visibly pissed off. I’ve heard about in-home sales people refusing to leave until you agree to buy

I was intrigued so looked up on Amazon. THE PRICE!!!

Mine is on its last legs now but has done approx 13years. I will replace when it stops working. I’m not a very good cook at all - but I use the thermomix several times every week and think I’d struggle without it now. It’s a shame they don’t just let you order without the middle man. And it’s a shame it costs so much.