to buy a 1200 blender to save money

[twoopsie]

I really want to buy a thermomix as it chops, weighs and cooks. So basically I can just chuck stuff in, hit a button and have soup. Also does dough and would make choux pastry without any effort.

I'm thinking it will save money as will be the kind of thing that lasts a lifetime, make stuff easily that I waste money on when time is short, won't need to o keep buying cheap blenders that fall to bits in 18 months.

Does anyone have one? Dh thinks its a luxury we can't afford, but I think will save money and help us eat fresher things long term.

Right, I've just watched the youtube video.

Yes Rodent, it is incomparable. A hand blender could perform its function much better than this.

Fanjo, yes. I use my instant pot for things like that.

I'm sure it is a really super wonderful amazing thingamajig. I doubt a single person would buy it for 1200 otherwise. I bought the vitamix for a boatload because every other blender I'd ever tried lasted less than a year, even reasonably expensive ones. They usually set on fire or burned out but some broke. I know many people have cheaper blenders that they love but they probably aren't as hard on them as I am.

IME though generally multifunction things usually don't do things as well in some way as a quality tool designed for one job. So the instant pot (pressure cooker) will sauté and slow cook fine but frankly the best thing it does is pressure cook and it does it well. A frying pan is a more efficient and quicker thing to sauté in but then I need to clean two pans. Having an instant pot I get the whole set it and forget it thing though.

I'm not terribly interested in having my blender or processor or automatic cooker weigh things for me. 1) I rarely use a scale, usually only for bread and cakes and often not even then 2) I use my scale for other things too such as weighing mail... will this do this? 3) I sometimes take my scale with me when I cook at other people's houses because many American houses don't have food scales. I would hate to have to lug that thing just to weigh something.4) if something is complicated enough that I need a two hour lesson to use it I'm not terribly interested. I like things that are intuitive.

I'm really only interested in consolidating things if they will cope with what I threw at the thing that it replaces so if it does a good job at mixing most of what I mix but doesn't cope with the heavy stuff then it is no use to me. So can it knead marshmallow fondant? Most mixers aren't strong enough for that and if they are they tend to throw it everywhere (yes I'm looking at you kitchen aid). Will it make very light and airy egg whites in large quantities?

I have one and I love it. I'm an ex-chef and always wanted ine when I worked in the industry - you see a lot of them in professional kitchens, so when I sold my soul back to The Man and went back to office work and doubled my salary, I treated myself. I have the previous model.

I love mine. I don't make much soup in it but it's fabulous for sauces, like bechamel, hollandaise, custards etc. I make my own ice cream and always use the TM to make the base, and then the leftover egg whites get turned into meringues. If I make pizzas I make the dough in the TM and the tomato sauce. I'm forever running out of caster sugar so I just throw in some granulate and grind it down. I don't use it for making meals like risotto or bolognese like many people but it's still used very regularly. I still have a Kenwood Chef which is far better for many jobs, like cakes and bread.

Whether it's worth buying really depends on what you would use it for. If it's only soup I'd say don't bother.

No no no not the Vitamix. I returned mine. It didn't cook soup, it heated it, so what you are left with is soup that tastes like raw onion. Bleugh.

Blendtec is similar to the. Vitamix and about half the price.

run it for longer, it will actually boil liquids. I make soup in a slow cooker that is a lower temp than that.

I presume the OP isn't from the uk as brand new TM5 (latest models) thermomix doesn't cost £1200. However it does cost about £900 so they are still very, very expensive. As others have said you can get the older model (still considered excellent) cheaper on EBay etc.

I did just recently by the TM5 however and I do love it. I bought it as my present to myself after 1000 days of kicking the booze and alcohol so justified the cost that way. I also don't drive so don't have a car.

It does steam food as well as weigh, chop, blend, grind, cook, emulsify, knead etc. and I have been making everything from scratch (bread, cakes, risotto, sauces, sorbet, ice cream, hot chocolate, biscuits so far) and it has helped me go from a notoriously bad cook to a competent one (the TM5 has a recipe chip in it that means the machine walks you through the processes of each recipe which removes margin for error.)

By and large I love it. However I do appreciate that is a lot of money anyhow...

Yes I was talking about the tm5 but with an extra bowl. Did the agent give you any discount?

My friend says she paid that much. Had a great 4 course meal at hers a few weeks ago and I've been wanting one since.

The fact that many pro kitchens use them shows they are not a novelty, but they mainly use them for sauces

Hi I'm in the UK. I paid just over £900 for mine and that included VAT.

I am a serious foodie and gadget freak. I love my KitchenAid and make sure to stroke it every day. I have a Cuisinart slow cooker, Dualit toaster - you get the picture. But I would seriously have to question the sanity of someone who paid anything over the price of a pan and stick blender for the sake of making soup. Especially if it was through some kind of party plan thing - mad as I am I do not buy Pampered Chef (SIL gives it to me for birthdays!). Don't do it! Take your £1200 and go on a cookery course in Italy or something. Please!

If you learn good knife skills cooking is 10 times easier

I do agree with this - i keep practicing from YouTube vids but I'm still so slow compared to the pros!

Going back to your original post.

"Dh thinks its a luxury we can't afford, but I think will save money and help us eat fresher things long term."

It is a luxury. It won't save money.

It might help you eat less processed food if you usually can't be bothered to chop fresh food. It is often the peeling and washing that takes more time than the chopping. How often do you eat choux pastry? Would be cheaper to pay someone to make it for you for the few times you probably would use it for that.

What about one of these
www.lakeland.co.uk/15842/Chip-and-Dice
a really good sharp knife
scales
a stick blender
and a slow cooker or electric pressure cooker.

More stuff but does the job for a lot less money... and you can store the stuff inside the slow cooker or pressure cooker. I've never had to stir in either a slow cooker or an electric pressure cooker. I made chunky butternut, parsnip and ham soup in our pressure cooker last night. It took about ten minutes of prep, thirty seconds to set it going. ten minutes to come up to heat and five minutes to cook (both without my help). So ten minutes of work for me.

Hahaha.

No, a fancy blender will not make you eat more vegetables.

Or not for more than about a week, while it is a novelty.

I have one too and I love it. Its gets used every day and often more than once.

I am the same as fanjobiscuits, I enjoy cooking more now, we eat much healthier food as cooking from scratch is so much easier and my grocery bills have definitely reduced.

You don't have to use thermomix recipes, most people can quickly start converting their own favourites. If you do want to try something new there is a huge amount of info online, particularly from Oz where they are very popular.

I think a lot of other halves struggle with the cost because they think it just blends, but get won over once they see it working.

Pig - genuinely interested as per previous post have most kitchen gadgets - why this?

Pig - sorry posted before finishing...

What will it do that my kitchen aid (multi attachments), Magimix (lol that it auto corrected to Masonic), Bamix, pressure cooker and sous vide won't do?

Yelllowtulips Im definitely not the best culinary expert to ask as I don't even know what a Bamix is!

Well, it will do all the things you mention in one machine. Plus add in making yoghurt, ice cream, fudge, chutneys, jams.

So if you were using spices you can roast and then mill them in one bowl, before making your curry or whatever in the same pot. You can be cooking rice plus a sauce whilst steaming meat/fish and vegetables so it copes very well with a complete dinner.

Its is strong enough to grind parmesan in 10 seconds but doest damage the rice grains when stirring risotto.

Foodies/restaurant owners tell me its sauces are so easy and taste fab. Tricky things like mayonnaise are a piece of cake.

If you have allergies then being able to make almond milk in a minute, nut butters, grain free/gluten free meals are very easy.

Maybe this site would interest you?

www.whyisthereair.com

And this one is great for dairy free/gluten free/paleo cooking.

www.quirkycooking.com.au/about/