Food processors - do you use yours?

[Pronkey]

2026 is my year to cook more

Ive definitely upped my cooking game in the last few months. I make a lot of soups, breads, baked goods these days. Just works out so much cheaper.

I hate chopping and grating etc. Have been thinking about getting a food processor. Do you actually use yours regularly? I have a nutribullet but it struggles with chickpeas or anything harder. Probably need a new blade.

About to buy one in the sales. Do you actually use yours regularly?

I definitely use my kitchen aid daily and the nutribullet gets taken out fairly often so I’m in the “habit”.

Was batch making coleslaw for sandwiches and my God is it a pain

Not my full food processor, cleaning it is a nightmare but I have a mini one which grinds anything just the right size for spice pastes I use a couple of times a week, the bowl part and lid are dishwasher safe. I highly recommend one of those to avoid buying shop bought sauces

I’ve got the Kenwood compact and use it relatively regularly. I stick it in the dishwasher.

Jack of all trades master of none. It doesn't anything you can't do with basic bowls, chopping boards, knives and your hands, while being difficult to clean and you're going to end up cleaning bits several times while you prepare a meal. Buy one, get fed up with it on the worktop, put in a cupboard, then send it to the chazza. I've never seen one in a professional kitchen.

I moved mine to my garage and then haven't used it for 4 years. Itll go to charity on my next run.

The ease it adds to grating etc is cancelled out by the space it requires and the cleaning.

The food processor gets used for pastry and scones

I use a ninja chopper, stick mixer and a box grater for chopping and blitzing.

I use mine a few times a month for
Making waffle batter
Shredding cabbage and beetroot
Shredding sprouts for one particular recipe
Any other large amounts of grating

It lives on the side and I feel it earns its keep

I also have a bread machine which is used for dough (not bread) several times a week and I wish my food processor had a dough hook.

Mine isn't too bad to wash (it's a Kenwood) but the jug is badly designed and I've already had to have a replacement. I dream of a kitchen aid!

I make lovely egg mayo in mine...
Use it to chop onions .carrots.chocolate

Yup. Love my Magimix. I've got the one with three different bowl attachments and it takes seconds to make loads of coleslaw, slice a bag of onions for soup or freezing, grating carrots or cheese and it's strong enough to do peanut butter without overheating. Mayonnaise is lovely, too.

We have a stick blender for soup/very small sauce portions.

We got one for a wedding present. 27 years later it’s still in the cupboard and I’ve never used it since I bought a separate blender (about 20 years ago).

I use mine at least 3-4 times a week for chopping and mixing. It work full time and like to batch cook.

I use my Kitchenaid food processor a lot, especially for houmous, guacamole, grating cheese, all kinds of things really. Probably only a couple of times a month, but it’s a nicely made smooth operator that is really useful and hard working. I also have a Kitchenaid stand mixer and a Kitchenaid stand blender. All excellent quality and nice looking.

I use mine all the time - it sits on the work top though so its easy enough. I use it to grate and slice and to blitz veg up for cooking - eg broccoli stalk gets blitzed and added to rissotto, carrot and celery gets chopped for soffritto and I make carrot cake and muffins and scones in it as well.

Mine got a little use, not much. Mostly using the liquidiser if the stick blender wasn’t an option, or for making pastes when a recipe required it - in the liquidiser as the main food processor but was too big. But not much use as it was in the back of a cupboard and took ages to even get out.

I say ‘got’ it decided to leak when last used for the latter task. But I’ve replaced it with one that’s smaller, and has an attachment for making small amounts like spice pastes. We’ve redone the kitchen, and it has a drawer to live in, so is much more accessible. Plus the (bright lime green) stick blender somehow got lost in the kitchen revamp, so it replaces that too.

I have an (ancient) kenwood which is a stand mixer (I assume that's what you mean by a 'kitchenaid....like the ones on bake-off?) which has food processor attachments. I use the FP at least as much as the mixer. I was considering getting a totally new one as I had to replace the shaft bit of the processor (and double blade) and was having extreme difficulty getting bits. There was a v good offer on a bosch one in John Lewis, but went to see it and it was so very light....no quality (despite the fact I usually like Bosch). Eventually found spare bits which fitted (hooray!). My point being that can you not get a processor attachment for your kitchenaid? I would wholeheartedly reccomend getting a machine which does both as saves so much worktop space.....so instead of getting a processor, treat yourself and get a dual purpose machine.

I’ve had one for years so probably more basic than they are now. I use it for ‘rubbing in’ butter to flour when baking - takes seconds, chopping veg for soups, and mixing flour, diced butter, milk, and diced cheddar for cheese sauce - blend then pour into pan and cook, stirring as usual until thickened. I’ve used mine a lot. All that needs to be washed is the bowl and the metal mixers. Although my bowl is not dishwasher safe they might be nowadays.

I have a Magimix 5200 and use it all the time. Not daily necessarily, but frequently. I also have a KitchenAid mixer and a Vitamix and use them a lot as well. The Magimix gets used for all sorts of slicing, shredding, chopping, pastry, dressings and sauces. Can also be used for bread doughs though I usually use the mixer.

Would love a Thermomix or similar but really cannot justify that cost!

I really wanted a Vitamix as well, but DP pointed out that would take up the last remaining space in the kitchen. I still feel cheated, even though he was annoyingly right about it.

Yes, use loads for dicing onions and carrots and blitzing flour and butter to make pastry. Keep it at the front of a cupboard- if you’re a good cook you’ll use it!

I use mine for grated carrot in the summer when making a carrot salad so not very often. Sometimes use it for grated cheese when batch cooking lasagna etc when I remember. if it broke down I don’t think I would replace it.

Oh, god. Last Spring, I wanted to use mine for something, can't remember what. I pulled it out of the back of the "will probably need that one day" cupboard, to find it didn't work any more. It is about 50 years old, to be fair.

I promptly bought a new one. Didn't think twice, except to choose a price range and model. A food processor, it appears, is something I feel I cannot and should not live without.

It's still in the box, unopened.

I've a kenwood too and it's good. I only use ot once or twice a month now that I've got a kenwood mixer for cakes and dough and when it goes ill buy attachments. Use it regularly for making a batch of sofritto to freeze, hummous, breadcrumbs. In the summer we do milkshakes but I don't rate it for smoothies. Used to use it to blend soup but now I use a stick blender I inherited. I do adore it but I've big cupboards so can easily get it in and out to use.

I have my food processor out on the counter and my stand mixer in a cupboard. My processor isn't massive so it fits fine.
I use it for plenty of things:

Breadcrumbs
Houmous and various dips
Makes shortcrust pastry and pate sucre in seconds
Scones
Biscuits
Grated carrots and cheese if I need a larger quantity
Sliced red cabbage for braised red cabbage
White cabbage and onions for coleslaw
Sliced potatoes for dauphinoise and boulangere
Crumble topping
Crushed biscuits for things like cheesecake base
Vegetable purees
Small and large blender attachment for soups, smoothies, fruit coulis
Butter icing

I love my magimix 5200 (mini) as well. It is 18 years old, or at least the motor is - I’ve replaced the bowl a few times, probably because I always wash it in the dishwasher. It lives in a cupboard but I can’t say I’ve ever found it troublesome to get out or put away.

I use it almost every day - chopping vegetables, grating cheese/veg, making breadcrumbs, rubbing in flour/butter, whisking egg whites, making houmous, slicing potatoes for dauphinoise, pureeing soup etc etc. My son makes smoothies in it. I work long hours and cook most things from scratch. I wouldn’t have time to do that if I had to do the above tasks by hand.

I’m sure you haven’t intentionally wanted to cause offense but the word you use at the very end of your post is considered highly inappropriate. I would encourage you to refrain from using it as it could absolutely offend a Chinese or Far East Asian person. Which I’m sure is not something you would want.