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

Apologies in advance, It shows how out of touch I am with things these days. I will see if I can realter it

the apology is much appreciated and you handled my comment with grace. We live and we learn x

Less these days. Can do most things I was doing with the food processor with the stick blender which is way easier to clean

I bought a Magimix 4200XL to replace a cheap Bosch which had done 25+ years. The Magimix is a complete pain in the arse, to be honest, as no matter what you do you have to wash up a bazillion bits. The feeder tube alone is 3 or 4 bits, and they all seem to get dirty no matter which bit you’re actually using. The three nested bowls are a bit of a faff too. To be fair it does a great job at chopping, but I spend far more time setting up and cleaning the damn thing, only for it to only take a minute to shred a whole cabbage.

I use my Kenwood Chef far more often, and to be honest I’ll probably replace the Magimix with a smaller cup sized food processor. I have a small choppy thing that fits on the end of the stick blender, but it’s too small to make hummus.

I agree that the 3 magimix bowls are a PITA. I literally never use the smaller two. I should throw them away really.

I also hate my Magimix 4200XL. Absolute waste of money, heavy, so many parts and endless cleaning of parts you didn't even use. Don't buy that one OP.

I have a Kenwood chef that gets used multiple times a week. I recently broke a part that makes the processor part work and I have really missed it, mainly for grating. Op you mentioned nut butter - I am amazed how easy this is and have made Nutella a few times with the kids. Really easy and infinitely healthier than shop bought as is 70%+ hazelnuts. Also feel very accomplished when making mayo and it pleases me to get the olive or avocado oil into the kids. One thing I would say is it has a nutribullet attachment but it is not as good as the real nutribullet, not bad enough to make me buy a new nutribullet though.

I meant to ask about the flour and butter bit for scones etc - I have never used mine for this, would it be in the processor you do this rather than the mixing bowl?

Yes especially for pastry.

i tend to not have it on the side so would use it more if it was out all the time

I find using a good sharp knife easier than the food processor clean up, they are always awkward shaped horrible plastic.

I have a double hand whisk for cakes, a hand blender for soups and sauces and a manual mini chopper if I want something really finely chopped, that’s about it.

I have a ninja food processor, nice bit of kit but I don’t use it loads. When I do, I question why I don’t use it more frequently!

I also have a Bosch multi thing that includes a mini chopper, that gets used loads more

Same. Mine was a wedding gift and we are soon having our 10th anniversary 🤣that’s how long the processor has lived in the cupboard

I used to have a Kenwood, but I so rarely used it. Occasionally the blender bit. I lost the blender lid in the lid bit, so needed to replace it. I have the 3in1 ninja hand blender/mini chopper/hand whisk/mixer so this does a lot of thing the food processor would do. I then bought ninja hot and cold foodie machine, so yes it's a bigger blender but it also makes soups, smoothies and all sorts. I actually use it a lot. I just thought about the jobs I need doing and I think I have used these two devices more in the year/months I have had them, than I used the Kenwood in the decades I had that

The medium bowl is the proper size for all the discs though. In the main bowl chunks will get between the disc and the bowl edge.

Now the mini bowl, that all depends on quantity. I use it for chopping small amounts lf
nuts, parsley, garlic. Or making a single egg’s worth of mayonnaise. But it’s my least used bowl.

I obviously didn’t read the instructions when I got mine because I didn’t know that the medium bowl is meant for the grating/slicing disks 😅 However, I don’t have a problem with the odd larger chunk of carrot that sometimes emerges with the larger bowl. And the cheesy balls of cheddar are a distinct bonus in my opinion. Chef’s privilege.

I managed to burn out my kitchen aid trying to chop dried mango in ! I can’t justify the cost of a new one at the moment, so I got a kenwood multipro for £48 and I love it ! It’s quite compact so easy to store, and has this kind of shute to one side so I can chop endless cabbage for coleslaw and it just shoots it into a bowl! It only has one grating/ slicing disc but to be honest I don’t think I ever used all the others anyway. I actually don’t think I’m going to bother with another Kitchenaid when I can afford it .

To be honest I was a bit disappointed with my kitchen aid. I was expecting a sturdy metal thing like a Kitchen Aid mixer, but it was plastic ! For that price I was expecting more, blade seems to blunt quickly too. And then I was trying to chop dried mango for Jamie Oliver’s oat ball things and it overheated and completely blew up, motor gone and I had to get rid of it !

I 💯 agree with this!! I wish I’d never bought my magimix its crap! It was so expensive and I read so many positive reviews and I am totally underwhelmed. I do have this little kitchen aid one that I’ve had for ages https://amzn.eu/d/cpxqb0V

which is brilliant and I use it all the time, is perfect size for pesto, humous, chopping onions etc. it’s what made me invest in a bigger one (huge mistake)

I bought one recently. I use it to grate cheese and chop onions. Other than that, it doesn’t get used much. Often I find it easier to just reach for a knife, rather than get out the food processor. Even though I put all the parts in the dishwasher, it feels like more effort to clean as well.

Another person here saying 'rarely, but it comes in useful when I do'. Often at Christmas.
If I made more soups, sauces, houmous from scratch, I would use it more.
Having said that I do find the cheese grating attachment very useful, but, it's also a pain to get the food processor off the shelf in the utility room (heavy and bulky) to bring it into the kitchen to do it.
I really should use it more tbh.

Kenwood one is very good

I've just bitten the bullet and got rid of all the original packaging for mine. All the bits are now in the same tub which slides in and out of the cupboard easily.

Use it fairly often - not enough to keep out but the faffing with packaging was putting me off.

I actually asked for one for my Christmas one year which was dutifully given and I was so excited. I can count on one hand how many times I've used it.

The smaller bowls have to be inside the big bowl to use them and there's no seal between so the flour etc ends up in the big bowl as well so all 3 bowls need washed. Can go in the dishwasher but not for the drying cycle (What's the use in that?! Our dishwasher doesn't have a way of stopping before it dries).

It might be good if I had a larger kitchen where it could live on the worktop and not be in the way but it's so big and heavy I'm quicker just doing the thing by hand by the time I'd get it set it.

I have one of those multi-head slicing tubs that I use loads when I can't be bothered chopping.

Mine sits out, but I probably just use it every 2 - 3 weeks.

Probably the main use for it is in making pastry (which obviously I could easily do by hand). When doing large quantities, I use it for meatballs/stuffing, veggie equivalents. It was busy at Christmas.

My main mixer is my big KitchenAid - I use it at least twice a week. I use my Nutribullet for parmesan cheese, and for making dips, such as guacamole.

Used our Kenwood chef yesterday to make mackerel pate. It's about 30 years old and will last forever. I actually like making pastry and crumble by hand - cold hands - so don't use it for that. It's chunky to take out of the cupboard but glad I have one. Got a smaller one as well but that's horribly screechy and I always misjudge how much it can fit. Stick blender is a must though. Will never use a mandolin again after the usual accident of nearly slicing off my thumb.