This Apartment-Friendly Juicer Is The Smartest Kitchen Upgrade

When I'm craving a refreshing sip, a grab-and-go bottle of fresh-pressed green juice from my local bougie juicery kind of slaps. That being said, they’re also overpriced, and in an effort to become more responsible with my spending, I decided that my Juice Press habit could be whittled down. Thus began my search for an affordable yet quality home juicer that wouldn't take up lots of counter space in my apartment kitchen.

As with anything, there's a Goldilocks-esque decision to be made in deciding which juicer is “just right”: There are models that are multi-hundo, Vitamix-levels of expensive and others that are hovering around a comparatively more palatable — but questionably functional — $70. As a formerly broke-AF twenty-something that's now slightly less broke, I still love a good deal as much as the next gal. However, I also don't mind investing in something if I can feel good about it lasting me a longer time than an entry-level version. During my search, Nutribullet's model kept popping up. I already own a Nutribullet blender (that I regularly use and love), so I decided to take the plunge on the option that seemed like the best combination of size, price, and power for my needs. From there, the brand provided me with a unit for an IRL test drive to see if it was the game-changing, money-saving appliance that I needed in my life.

While $200 for a small kitchen appliance is hardly chump change, it amounts to roughly the same cost as 20 individual servings of fancy juice. (Juiceries near me usually sell fresh-pressed bottles for $10 to $15.) A few months later, the Nutribullet Slow Juicer is now a mainstay fixture in my kitchen — and has saved me plenty of moolah since it's come into my life. Ahead, keep reading for the ins and outs of this tiny-but-mighty life upgrader.

Like I mentioned up top, the main deterrent to investing in a juicer was the space factor. After unboxing all the bits and bobs, I was shook at how compact Nutribullet's Slow Juicer was. At 17 inches tall, it's solidly on the smol side, but still packs a punch. (I usually make about 20 ounces of juice at a time.) Another thing to mention: If you, like me, were wondering what the heck a "slow" juicer is, allow me to explain. This motor runs at 65 RPM (that's rotations per minute), but other home juicers can run closer to 100 RPM, making them a bit louder. The Nutribullet one isn't whisper-quiet by any means, but it's not so loud that I can't listen to a podcast while I whip up some juice. (This is a huge plus if you live with roommates or a light-sleeper partner.)

Making fresh juice every morning — who is she, right? Luckily, this juicer is pretty craftily designed in a way that makes the process (and cleanup) relatively quick and easy. In fact, I've whittled the entire process from chopping up produce in my kitchen to enjoying a beverage to roughly ten minutes. First, I chop up my fruits and veggies into chunks small enough to feed into the juicer. Then, one by one, in the hatch they go. The steel-tipped auger (aka the spinning mechanism that extracts the liquid from the fruits and veggies) releases the juice into a measuring container while the pulp is funneled into a separate container. I've experimented with a couple of different recipes, but my go-tos are either a red juice (beet, carrots, lemon, ginger, and apple) or a green juice (kale, cucumber, apple, carrot, and lemon). Most of the components are also dishwasher safe, making for very easy cleanup — another major plus. (Also, this goes without saying but juices are a tasty, healthy addition to a meal, not a replacement!)

At $200, Nutribullet's compact juicer is definitely an investment – but one that I can confidently say has taken my breakfast game from meh to magical — and I haven't spent a dollar on buying juice out since.