Truscifi Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 If you had to rough chop roughly 20 pounds of produce (mostly tomato tops, lettuce cores, bell pepper tops, etc - kitchen prep scraps) at least 3 times a week, possibly building up to daily, what kitchen wonder gadget would you want for the job? Ideally the same device would also be able to grind meat. I don't care if it is a meat/veggie grinder or a food processor. I know Vitamix is able to do both, but I'm hoping to find something less expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 Anyone? C'mon, you guys know everything! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brilliant Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 When I have large quantities of veggies to chop, I use my Kitchenaid food processor. It's done in seconds. I wouldn't recommend a Vitamix for that job. I tried using my Blendtec recently, and it gave very bad results. To get everything chopped, you pretty much need to puree it. I tried the "water chop" method with onions with no luck. I also tried to make salsa and it got too frothy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I use my KA food processor for those kinds of jobs. However, honestly, if you are just rough chopping, I find that my large, high quality, chef knife is the thing I'd rather use. Unless they were onions, I'd use my good knife for chopping. I could rough chop 20# in a few minutes with a good knife and a good cutting board. A ***good*** chef's knife is one of my must-haves. I have wusthof knives, but I am sure there are other good ones. . . But a $100 knife is worth it for your chef's knife, IMHO. It is the one knife I can't live without. If I was rough chopping that much that frequently, I'd probably pick up one of those cutting boards that fit over the sink so you can slide chopped veggies right off the edge into the attached basket, or possibly a cutting board that similarly attaches to the edge of the sink so you can simply scrape the cut food into the cleaned/food-ready sink. (I personally am grossed out by food touching my sink, no matter how clean it is, but I know lots of people do that, lol.) I wouldn't mess with a food processor unless I was wanting the things finely chopped. I am very curious as to what you are doing with those scraps!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 We feed them to our pigs. Dh is a restaurant manager, so he brings home produce scraps. It cuts way down on the feed bill. :) We currently chop them by hand, and it takes about 20 minutes. It will take less time when the pigs are bigger - little pigs, little mouths. But the scraps are all mixed up together and have usually been sitting all day, sometimes overnight, before they get home to me. They are :ack2:! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I'd use my Cuisinart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 I'd use my Cuisinart. What model do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenangelcat Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 For pigs? On the show River Cottage, the cider group chop their apples in a wood chipper. I've never chopped our scraps for our pigs, even when they were littles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 We found last year that some items wouldn't get eaten unless we chopped them, like lettuce cores and harder fruits. Once the pigs were bigger, they would eat anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I would use a food processor and your job will be done in seconds. The Vitamix will only "chop" in small amounts, so not worth it for the amounts you are mentioning. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 What model do you have? OK, I didn't know there were different models. It never occurred to me. I looked and it says "Deluxe 11." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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