1 yr protection from Assurant Buy only this itemJan. 26 and Sat. Feb. 4This is a common concern when buying a Vitamix machine. Do you really need the Vitamix dry container? The dry blades are shaped to push ingredients up, in order to minimize packing into the bottom corners. The dry container will fit any current Vitamix machine, including the “next generation” ones. (See this post for a comparison of the current models.) I’ve heard salespeople selling Blendtec machines say that an advantage of the Blendtec is that it does not need a separate container to grind dry items, whereas with the Vitamix you “need to buy a second container.” It turns out that this is not true, and it’s just a sales tactic. The standard Vitamix container will do a perfectly good job of grinding grain, as I will show in the video below.The real reason to get a dry container is that grinding very hard items like grains will pit and scratch the inside of the pitcher near the blades. In addition to the aesthetic “cloudy” marring of the container, the scratches make the container more likely to hold smells.

You can get rid of lingering odors by running the machine with vinegar or a few drops of bleach in water, but it’s nice to not have to worry about that. I’ve never run anything garlicky in my pitted up dry container, but I did grind cinnamon in it a while back, and I can still faintly smell it.Having a second container is also convenient because to grind grains the container needs to be totally dry, and if you made a smoothie in the morning the container might still be wet. Sometimes I end up using both containers for a single recipe, such as mega muffins.(Although if you just had one container you could dump the dry mixture into a bowl and then re-use the container.) If you are going to get a second container, it might as well be one with blades optimized for dry ingredients.For these reasons the dry container is worthwhile, as long as you plan on grinding dry things like grain. But if you’re on a tight budget, you can get away with just using the single container, and possibly deodorizing it when needed.

(Over time, depending on what you blend, your wet container will probably get scratched up as well, just not nearly as fast or as much as with grinding dry grains. I suspect that things like chia seeds in smoothies can scratch it, but I think that the scratching is reduced if you do not put the seeds at the very bottom, so I now generally add chia seeds to the middle of my ingredients instead of the bottom.)blendtec blender icb 5I’ve always used the dry container for grinding grain, but this past weekend I decided to test a wet blade. vitamix 5200 deluxe - complete kitchen refurbishedI was surprised at how good a job it did of grinding 1-2 cups of wheat berries at a time, which I used to make pancakes and bread. waring futura ii blender parts

The only difference I noticed was during the bread kneading I found the dough did not “lift” off the blades as much, but it still worked.For the video I ground one cup of wheat berries for one minute in a container with the standard “wet” blades, and then pushed it through a sieve to see if there were any unground bits. orpat hand blender ohm-207There were a few, but they were small enough and few enough to not be a problem for my purposes. kitchenaid blender classic blanc 550w 1 5l(In fact, when I used the same strainer on flour I ground for the same amount of time with my dry container, there were actually slightly more unground bits!) f'real milkshake maker for saleIf you are looking to make a really fine flour you could stop the machine and stir the flour packed into the corners back in using a chopstick, and blend a bit longer; kitchenaid artisan standmixer blender 5ksb555

if you want it extra fine you could sift it.Vitamix warns that you should not blend dry ingredients for longer than 2 minutes because the heat could damage the container. 1 minute to 90 seconds is generally all you need. I further avoid heating by storing the grain in the freezer so it starts the grinding process cold.By using this site you agree to the use of cookies.If you are one of those people who didn't get a blender for Christmas, then surely the world's obsession with smoothies and juicing has you pining after your own right now?In case you haven't heard, benefits of blenders include: FEMAIL writer Toni Jones puts the £100 Nutribullet (left) to the test against the £400 Vitamix (below) Toni's husband Dan Kennedy prefers the Vitamix blenderThe best blenders aren't cheap but you should think about it as an investment in your future body. And if you're ready to splash out how will you decide which one to go for?The two hottest brands on the market right now are undoubtedly the Nutribullet and the Vitamix, both designed to pulverise fruit and vegetables and create easy, health-filled drinks (among other things). 

There's a lot of chat about which is the best buy and while the Vitamix's £400 price tag will rule some of you out straight away, for those of you with the cash to spend I've pitted the two against each other in a Battle Of The Blenders to see what the big deal is. Toni put the blenders through their paces testing five different recipes to see which produced the best resultI use the £100 Selfridges Nutribullet (Nutrition Extraction System to be technical). My husband Dan Kennedy prefers his Total Nutrition Centre aka the Vitamix. I know, such gross DINKYs. Our flat is too small for a dining table but we have two super blenders fighting for space in the kitchen. At least this means we know our stuff when it comes to juicing.Like most people I know, we mostly use blenders to make smoothies and juices. They are generally a fuss-free way to get fruit and vegetables, and therefore lots of health, into your diet. But there are several tricky areas that can be deal breakers when it comes to a smoothie blender. 

I tested them both against some immense kitchen challenges like: kiwis (ooh), ginger (aah), celery (eeh), carrots (oh no you didn't) and even nuts (I can't even!). Here's how they got on... Juice wars: Results of the Simple Green Juice test for the Nutribullet (left) and the Vitamix (right)A green smoothie is the best way to get as much goodness as possible from your blender. I used a simple recipe - apple / kiwi / kale / cucumber /almonds / sunflower seeds /chia seeds - leaving all skin/stalks attached and adding seeds as recommended by both brands.The Vitamix bust up the nuts, seeds and skin within seconds and delivered a smooth and creamy drink (see picture above). Given the same time the Nutribullet couldn't quite pulverise everything, hence the darker colour and more bits on show, which makes for a more lumpy drinking experiece. After giving it another 10-15 seconds the consistency improved a lot. It still wasn't quite as smooth as the Vitamix version but both were totally delicious and very drinkable.

Although both the drinks looked virtually identical the Nutribullet was unable to blend the ingredients to the same extent as the Vitamix  These two ingredients are brimming with good stuff and are included in lots of healthy drinks recipes. They are both very fibrous though, creating lumpy, stringy drinks if not dealt with properly. I added one carrot, several nubs of ginger and 100ml water to each blender to see what happened.In the glass the 'drinks' look much the same but the Nutribullet wasn't able to liquify the carrot and ginger half as well as the Vitamix, as illustrated in the empty glasses. There was lots of stringy stuff left behind. And nobody wants a mouthful of stringy stuff. Lots more water and further blitzing reduced the amount of stringy stuff, but not completely. What lies beneath: The empty Nutribullet glass, left, features lots of pulpA nice alternative to dairy and soy, nut milks like almond, cashew and hazelnut are a big deal to smoothie fiends. They offer protein, vitamins, good fats and a bit of calcium, plus they are low in calories.

You can buy them ready made in most supermarkets now but most of them have added sugar, and it's a lot cheaper to make your own on demand. I added one cup of cashews and one cup of water to each blender and blitzed for 10 seconds. A light, frothy milk in seconds from both of them. Both the Nutribullet (left) and the Vitamix (right) produced an equally frothy milk in seconds Eating the skin of these furry little fruits might be a bit of a weird concept, but it actually triples the fruit's fibre content and adds extra Vitamin C to the drink. In a standard blender the skin is pretty hard to squish, but what happened when I added 100ml water and one kiwi to each of these bad boys? The fruit didn't even touch the sides in the Vitamix, it was pulverised into a green/brown liquid within 10 seconds. In the Nutribullet, one long blitz delivered a green, slightly furry sludge, but another 15-20 seconds and the result was almost a perfect match for the Vitamix's juice.A draw (assuming you have those extra 20 seconds to spare)

Toni put the blenders through their paces when it came to breaking down kiwi skinBoth blenders claim to make dips as well as drinks, and being able to create an instant homemade hummus is a nice party trick. I added tinned chick peas, sesame seeds, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic (peeled) and salt to both.The Vitamix was NOT happy to start with, despite me following the recipe straight from the Vitamix site. I've learned that this hungry blender requires a bit more lubrication to get things going, but once I had added a splash more chickpea liquid from the tin it created a smooth, great-tasting dip in seconds. This is where the Vitamix's multi-speed settings came into their own. NB don't run the motor for too long or the dip will become too thin. The Nutribullet created a dip with a nice texture but the ingredients didn't blend thoroughly enough and so it tasted very strongly of raw garlic. NOT great at parties. Before and after: No mess hummus in the Vitamix (top) and the Nutribullet (bottom)The overall winner in the five tests was easily the Vitamix, a super blender that takes no prisoners and could probably atomize a car engine if you were so inclined. 

The different settings mean that it can heat ingredients into a soup, or freeze them into ice cream so it's very versatile and the size of the jug means it's great for families or small businesses.BUT considering there is a £300 price difference, the Nutribullet didn't fair so badly. It's definitely leagues above your average kitchen blender.It's a bit like comparing a Porsche to an Audi - they'll both get you somewhere but the results are going to be a little different. Yes the Nutribullet drinks weren't quite as smooth, but considering the skin, pips, pith and stalks that they contained they were very drinkable, and almost on a par with the Vitamix once they were whizzed for a bit longer. Other pluses include the slimline size, and the to-go aspect (the drinks are blended directly into the cup so you just pop the top on and go once you're done).If you're a serious chef with money to burn the Vitamix is the one for you.But if you don't care about making ice-cream/soup/hummus/the neighbours jealous, and just want to enjoy some healthy smoothies then there's no need to splash the cash, the Nutribullet will be your new best friend.