What would I use a food processor for?

[sidsgranny]

Trying to decide if I "need" one. DH & I are trying to eat more healthily and make more from scratch, ie sauces etc.

What do you all use yours for?

(I have a kitchenaid mixer for cakes and bread so would need FP for that....)

I mostly make my favourite dip - spinach and feta!

I use my kitchen aid more than my food processor. Kitchen aid I have grater and slicer attachments that I prefer to the food processor to make coleslaw. Use my food processor to make crumble, pastry, mayonnaise and meatballs - nothing particularly healthy. For soups and blending a hand blender is more than adequate amd easier to wash up. For easy make from scratch meals I would recommend an Instant Pot much tastier food than a slow cooker.

Homemade coleslaw is so easy with the grater attachment

Homemade pastry

Blitzed soups

Cakes

We have a Braun hand blender set and it comes out far more often than the food processor. We use it several times a week for things like mash, soup, dips, sauce, whisking.

I use mine to make falafels. Or to mix meat when making burgers/kebabs. I have a Kenwood one so it has a blender jug too which I use to make curry pastes, smoothies and soups.

DH thought it would be a waste of money but it gets used alot to the point we are ready to replace with a new one.

Oh it also has an attachment to grate and one to slice so it's handy at Xmas when I need to finely slice loads of red cabbage 🤣 ready to make braised red cabbage. Or for cabbage and carrots to make coleslaw

I use mine if I have a lot of cheese to grate, eg for macaroni cheese. Rubbing in pastry or crumble. Slicing potatoes thin for gratin dauphinois. Coleslaw. Slicing vegetables for any meal where I am doing a big batch, enough to justify the washing up, eg if I am chopping 4 onions rather than 1, or thinly slicing 2 or more courgettes.

Mine is in a big box in the shed, it is a helpful seat when I need a gardening break. I can confidently say no one ‘needs’ a food processor as I have happily not touched mine in 15 years

Thank you for all the replies! Am still undecided but think I'm leaning towards getting one. I have a slightly dodgy hand due to a stroke which means I find chopping slightly nerve racking on occasions.

Blitz tinned plum tomatoes
Blitz chocolate for melting
Nuts for decorating cakes etc
Onions, carrots, celery to speed up bases for sauces
Pesto
Meatballs
Pate
Dips

I'd replace mine same day if it broke!

My fingertips are too warm for rubbing butter into flour, if I didn't have a food processor I'd never be able to have home-made scones again! It's great at slicing cabbage/grating carrots for coleslaw, we go through a ton of the stuff every week. Using the little mini-bowl for making mayonnaise. Slicing a full bag of potatoes to make a big batch of dauphinoise potatoes, which I can then freeze. Or grating a load of parmesan for a batch cook. Actually, it comes into play for quite a lot of my batch cooking, when prepping a large amount of something would take ages.

I use mine a lot. I grate celery and carrots in it as part of the base for Bolognese and chilli, grate veg for coleslaw, and I make a lot of sauces in it, such as salsa verde (fantastic with salmon), curry pastes, satay sauce, guacamole, even frozen fruit ice creams. Jamie’s 30 min meals book relies on the food processor a lot and I think many of the dinners are fab - that book was the reason I bought one and I don’t regret it one bit!!

I have an electric hand blender and a mini electric chopper. The big food processor rarely comes out.

I'll shove carrots, onions and celery in and blitz as a base for sauces. I also make falafel in there and bread crumbs! It's not an essential bit of kit but I like having it! I bought mine from lidl cheaply rather than splashing out on a posh one

I love using my food processor for grating veg for coleslaw or blending soups. I also use it to make pastry, breadcrumbs, chopping nuts. It gets lots of use around here

Ooh yes I forgot about pastry. Makes such a difference and can be made so quickly

I use mine almost every day. Pesto, hummus, falafel mix, smoothies, I make shortbread dough in it. Everything!

@SorryPardonWhat

I mostly make my favourite dip - spinach and feta!

Spinach and feta are my 2 most favourite combination foods ever! Please tell me how to make this heavenly sounding dip :)

Aldi have a small one on their Special Buys online today. £15.99

Mackerel/salmon/trout pate
Homemade pesto
Breadcrumbs
All sorts of Burgers/Koftas
Coleslaw
Tapenade
Pastry
Hummous
Jug blender for smoothies

If you have an issue with your hand it can come in very useful but make sure you get a good one. I have had one before which didn't do a good job at slicing and grating. If it works that could really help you.

I use mine almost exclusively for grating or mixing . I never use the other attachments. I use a stick blender for soup.

@GlutenFreeGingerCake

If you have an issue with your hand it can come in very useful but make sure you get a good one. I have had one before which didn't do a good job at slicing and grating. If it works that could really help you.

This is very true. Check reviews. The first one I had couldn’t manage to grate or slice. It needs a powerful enough motor and sharp grating discs. My Kenwood Prospero (smaller version of Chef) is fab. But cost more than £15.