Juicing advice for beginner juicers on juicing quicker and easier
Juicing quicker and easier, can it be done?  Sometimes juicing can seem like too much effort. There’s often a disproportionate amount of time that goes into making a glass of juice vs the quantity and amount of satisfaction you get from the end result. So what can you do to make it quicker and easier?
It’s easy to get carried away in your (initial) enthusiasm for juicing. You’ll be making elaborate concoctions comprising multiple ingredients when suddenly you realize you’re spending ages buying ingredients, chopping, juicing and cleaning! Rather make a simple juice that has 3 or 4 ingredients – trust me, it’s just as good. Don’t overwhelm yourself by making juicing too difficult. Some of the best juices are the easiest to make because they have very few ingredients e.g. carrot and apple, or carrot, apple and ginger.
A lot of us come from the Standard American Diet and approach juicing with fervor, a fanatical glint in the eye. We try juice fasts, or replace all our food with juice. While this can be great to detox, you might also burn out with all that juicing, and lose your motivation for it completely. Remember to make juicing part of your lifestyle – which means incorporating it into your day, whether it’s one juice a day or more. Slowly ease yourself into it so it becomes a habit, not a hardship.
I have a terrible habit of going into the grocery stall without any idea of what I want to make. I’ll spend ages carousing around the store looking for inspiration, wasting untold amounts of time. I’ll end up buying masses of fruit and vegetables, but will struggle to finish them all without any kind of coherent plan. The best plan of action is to know what you’re going to be juicing in advance. So, preparing a juicing calendar along with a shopping list for the week is a great way of saving time and juicing more efficiently.
You’re already in the kitchen with your chopping board and juicer on the go. So why not prepare more than one batch at a time? It will save you time on cleaning and cut out total time in the kitchen. It also means you can have a day off from the physical act of juicing, while still getting your fresh juice.  I usually do two different types of juices in one day, and store the second in a juice bottle in the fridge (it can keep for up to 72 hours). You can also freeze your juice for up to 3 months (though I use frozen juice within a week) without experiencing any significant loss of quality. Freezing juice is convenient because you can thaw frozen juice when you don’t have the time or the ingredients to make it fresh. The nutritional quality of frozen juice (especially when you freeze it immediately, use it quickly and pack it correctly) is high enough to make it worth the effort. And frozen juice trumps no juice.
When you buy your weeks’ worth of green juice materials – wash it, chop it (if necessary) and bag it up. Then the next morning, all you need to do is grab your zip lock bag and use the ready ingredients. Of course, you can also add green powders like spirulina or moringa to your juice to save time ☺
- Clean your juicer immediately
Whatever you do, don’t leave cleaning your juicer for later. It just gets harder and more difficult to clean. Don’t even take one sip of your juice before you clean it – your juice is your reward for cleaning it!
- Choose your juicer wisely
Not all juicers are created equal. If you’re the kind of person for whom making a slice of toast is an effort, you’re not going to win with a masticating juicer. Rather get a faster, easier to clean juicer such as the Breville Juice Fountain – you can shove whole apples down that baby. And it can be cleaned in one minute flat. While you might compromise a bit on quality and quantity – it doesn’t get nearly as much juice out as say, an Omega juicer – it still beats not juicing at all because you just can’t be bothered. Alternatively, just blend up some ingredients in your blender and drink/chew it for a high-fiber, quick juice fix.
- Think about the end result
Too often we focus on the process of making juice, wrapped in thoughts of how difficult it’s going to be and how much you don’t feel like doing it. Soon, you’re dreading the juice! Rather focus on how good you feel when that healthy elixir starts pulsing through your veins. It’s not only the best way to start your day, it’s going to give you the energy you need to have a fantastic day. And the more juice you have, the more energy you have, which means more energy to make more juice. Now that’s what I call a positive cycle.
Juicing quicker and easier can be done with a little planning and a good mindset shift.
