Magic Bullet

[Libby Pritchett]

So who here has a Magic Bullet?

I ask because I just picked one up for Jeff for Christmas. He's a total health-food junkie, and I thought he would like to be able to do smoothies and other things like that (we only have a super cheap crappy blender and no food processor). Plus, I was thinking that it would be nice to have to make baby food in a few months (something else that he's totally into - he hates processed anything).

Our ultimate dream is to buy a Vitamix, but that's not in the budget anytime soon. So, I'm hoping this will be a nice alternative for now.

So, do you have one? Do you recommend them? Are they worth the money? What kinds of things do you make in them? If they're crap, I can take it back before Christmas. LOL Just thought I'd get some reviews from you girls!

[digideb]

Well, I had one. After 3 uses the motor burned out on mine. But, those 3 uses it was great. lol I don't know if I just got a faulty one or not, but I didn't replace it.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Libby - honestly, invest in an inexpensive food processor (you can get some smaller ones that don't take up a ton of room and are good), or a good blender in the meantime. I've heard nothing but bad things about the Magic Bullet.

[Darcy Baldwin]

btw - most baby food that you serve in the beginning you can just mash with a fork..no need for a blender to use.

Another option is a stick blender, while not as versatile and a bit more messy in glasses (since we do multiple smoothies at a time, we don't use it that way), it has uses beyond for soups and more!

[mariewilcox]

I have the Ninja and LOVE it. I got the 3 sizes and it works so well for making smoothies. I will never go back to a regular blender again. I have a food processor but only use it for dry things now because the Ninja works so well.

This is the one I have, except it didn't come with the mixer or the green cups when I got it: http://www.ninjakitchen.com/NinjaMas...ID=detailsCont

[digideb]

I have a Ninja system & LOVE it! I use it all the time.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/prod...p?SKU=17480391

[Stacey42]

I have a stick blender set with larger blender (32ozs), small chopper (12ozs) & whisk attachments like this one
http://www.amazon.com/DeLonghi-DHB72...118224&sr=8-10

Except mine is a Braun set they no longer offer. I've had it for 6 years. We have no full sized blender or food processor & have never missed them thanks to this set

[mariewilcox]

LOL -I was just coming back to say that I got my Ninja at BBB too, but Deb beat me to it! It was cheaper than the link I posted, and I used the 20% off coupons I get every week from them in the mail

[dana]

well i have a magic bullet and haven't had any problems with it - but i just use it for a simple shake every once in a while - like mixing powdered drinks w/ ice. i use my blender or juicer for heavy duty shakes/juices ...

[maryinaz]

I use one every single day, multiple times a day for my Visalus shakes. LOVE IT. I refuse to use a blender to make up a single shake - SO much more trouble, more dirty dishes to wash, etc. My boys use it too. My mom and sister each have one and have used them for years, like me. My mom has even had her base replaced for free from MB before. You can buy the pieces for replacement on eBay, if needed.

I could not live without my Magic Bullet. And I did try to once, and I got very grumpy.

Oh, and I have a stick blender too (believe me, I've tried them all), and it's just not as convenient as the MB, for me.

[Joana1n]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Magic Bullet blender! It gets used mostly for smoothies, but also makes a mean frozen margarita. It's good for turning granulated sugar into powdered sugar, making bean dip out of chicken tortilla soup for a certain picky almost-5-year-old, and other various and sundry uses. I've had it for probably six months and it's still going strong.

I did have DH buy me a heavy duty food processor for grinding hazelnuts, but for most things I use the Magic Bullet.

As for baby food - also look into baby-led solids (aka baby-led weaning, which is kind of a misnomer, it is not talking about nursing your kid until they decide they're done). I did that with both kids and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier than spoon-feeding them pureed anything.

ETA but if you decide to go the pureed/spoon-fed baby food route, the Magic Bullet will definitely work to puree the foods.

ETA2- I have a stick blender too and I can't stand the thing.

[taracotta7]

I did Baby Led Weaning with Peanut and it was AWESOME! And now I am off to look at the Ninja blender because now I think I might need one. I love all the threads around here..........makes me spend money on all kinds of things. LOL

ETA: I have the Baby Led Weaning book on my kindle and it is lendable. SO if you are interested, I will totally send it to you to read.

[MamaBee]

my hubby uses the MB for his protein shakes and he loves it... he really likes that it's small and easy to clean daily compared to a standard blender.

I got a stick blender for a christmas present two years ago (?) and haven't used it once... ... just don't have a need to blend stuff...

[Angie4b1g]

I love my magic bullet, although for smoothies I do use the blender.

I hate my stick blender. Not sure why I even still have it.

[glumirk]

My mom has a bullet that's been going for years. I used to make smoothies in it ALL the time! We just got a Ninja in the Spring and absolutely love it! I had to use a blender while we were on vacation and was seriously missing my Ninja. We use it at least twice a week in the winter time, and at least twice a day in the summer time.

[liriel]

My brother has 3. He loves them. He uses them for so many things. Making smoothies, lemonade (he uses the whole lemon, skin and all, I am not fond of it but its not terrible either), baby food etc..

[Libby Pritchett]

Thanks guys! Between this thread and the opinion of a couple of other friends, I think I'm gonna stick with it as a Christmas gift. I think he'll like it, and I KNOW we'll get a lot of use out of it. I appreciate the feedback!

[Julie Billingsley]

Every time I see the commercial for the Baby Bullet, I seriously want it. I love the little smiles on it. It makes me happy.

[Sharon Kay]

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT. When I was on my Inches A Weigh diet back about 4 years ago (which means we bought the bullet well over 4 years ago), I used it daily for protein shakes at least once a day for an entire year! I still use it a couple times a week for shakes (protein vanilla pudding mix, frozen cherries or frozen banana slices, and milk) ... my son uses it for chocolate shakes ... we use it to cut up all kinds of stuff ... kids don't like chunky vegetables in soups, etc. so I use it to "hide" the veggies ... just don't use it for pecans unless you like a lot of "pecan dust" if you cut it too long. LOL

I have the stick blender ... the bullet is much less mess and handles the frozen fruit much better...and you can toss in the dishwasher on the top shelf. I did try with my oldest to make homemade baby food with a blender ... what a mess for so little food ... I agree with Darcy ... use a fork and mash ... if you want meat in it ... use hamburger cooked really small or put a cooked roast in the magic bullet and blend it with a little bit of gravy.

[Jengerbread88]

I love mine SO much. I've had it for a few years and it's AWESOME.

But.

And this isn't a big but, but, you know.

(I like the baby bullet better). I know, I know, as a gift for Jeff a Baby Bullet seems silly, but they basically do a lot of the same things, and the baby food storage is AWESOME. I use my baby bullet probably 4 or 5 times as often as I use my magic bullet, even for non-baby things (the other day I crushed up oreos in the baby bullet to make a dessert- could have used the magic bullet, but the baby one was out).

Also, the baby bullet has a larger thing called the "batch bowl" which makes about 2 smoothies instead of the 1 that a bullet would make, so if you guys are big smoothie people, the baby bullet is superior in that sense.

The plus sides to the magic bullet are, of course, that you have the cups-- they have the little ring that twists right on so the grooves don't mess with your lips, and you can make your smoothie or whatever right in the cup (with the baby bullet, you'd have to pour it into your own cups).

Both are dishwasher safe, so that's nice.

If you guys like salsa or guac, both machines are great at making those.

As I mentioned, I use it a lot to grind up graham crackers and oreos for pie crusts or desserts that call for it.

During my pregnancy, I craved egg salad sandwiches... I would pop a boiled egg in there with some mayo, mustard, salt, and pepper, and top the lid, and bam! Blend and there's my egg salad. In the time my bread was toasting, I had my egg salad pretty much done (and I could just stick it all in the dishwasher after). Same goes for tuna salad.

For me, the bullet has also always been great for iced coffees, and it grinds ice up better than a lot of sno cone machines on the market.

It's a daily fixture in our home.

My brother has issues with IBS, so he has to take Miralax every day. In order to make that easy, we'd make smoothies or milkshakes, and, since it was single serve cups, we all could have shakes, but his could have Miralax blended into it. Easy-peasy.

I'm obsessed with it. Seriously. Our family loves it.


ETA: As for baby food, you can do a lot more than just puree stuff... it works as a good mixer to make things like teething biscuits. There are many ways that we will use this for years to come. I found with Zach that the Baby Bullet was nice for pureeing, though, because it could get it thinner than mashing it with a fork, and I could add some cereal with it, so he was getting both sets of nutrients and food "groups." I also found that it handles meat better than a lot of other options. It makes things quick and easy, and I don't have to worry about cooking and mashing things with a fork or whatever--- I can make a week's worth of food in about an hour or two on Sundays, and all I do is put the stuff he's eating each day into the fridge to defrost the night before... it's easy, and he doesn't have to wait.
Maybe I'm lazy, but I find that the bullet is the easiest for a lot of the uses in the kitchen that I need it for, and I think we're going to be using it long after Zach is out of the pureed food stage.

[SweetMelissa]

We have one & while I never used it to make baby food I do use it to make food more toddler sized. I put apples in it & chopped them up into more bite size pieces, same with melon or anything else I'm too lazy to cut up by myself.

My husband loves an apple walnut cake that his grandma used to make him & I use the bullet to cut up the walnuts into really tiny pieces. So much better then when I would have to cut them by hand.

I also use it to make Rachel's milkshakes (she's added on 5lbs from them!) and its a breeze. We've only had ours for about five months now so I'm still learning what it can & can't do.

[scrapperjade]

I have a Magic Bullet, and I LOVE it! I got it when Avalynne was a baby, so I could make her baby food. That's 3 1/2 years now, and it shows no signs of slowing dow!

Now, if they would have had the Baby Bullet back when I was buying a Bullet, I'd have got that one (since I was buying it strictly because I wanted to make baby food). But it's not very "manly", lol! Jeff might not appreciate a gift for him with smiley faces all over it, haha!!

[Jengerbread88]

Originally Posted by scrapperjade

Jeff might not appreciate a gift for him with smiley faces all over it, haha!!

But it's so CUUUUTEEEEE!!!

[scrapperjade]

Originally Posted by Jengerbread88

But it's so CUUUUTEEEEE!!!

I agree! It's the cutest kitchen appliance I have ever seen, lol! I was seriously tempted to get it, even though I already had a MB! Too bad Elora is starting to eat pieces of food now instead of puree's!

[4noisyboys]

We've burned a few of them out!! BUT...we like them so much so this time I went to Walmart and bought one from there that looks like a MB, but was a fraction of the cost (under $20?). It works great and all my MB cups work with it so I just kept those. The blades work with it too!! I'm ok with something that price burning out on me after 6 months or so!! It's been about a year though...so we're doing good!

[Libby Pritchett]

I'm so glad to hear so many of you love it! I actually had the baby bullet on my registry, but then I started thinking about jeff and just decided to get the regular one. I doubt he'd be a fan of the smiley face version as his christmas gift. LOL