food processor

[lazydays]

I need to purchase a food processor tomorrow for the purpose of grating zucchini. I don't know anything about food processors so I thought I would ask for recommendations here. Because it has to be purchased tomorrow my store options are limited to fred meyer, shopko, costco, target and macy's. I like to buy quality items when I can and I'm not used to being in such a rush so your thoughts and recommendations are much appreciated.

[BernDog]

Cuisinart

[davester]

You don't need a food processor just to grate zucchini.

[Winston]

We have two food processors. A full-size Cuisinart that has a bunch of disks for slicing and grating at different sizes, and blades for chopping and mixing. It is powerful and very fast. But I get frustrated with it because it tends to leave ends of things that get caught at the top of the disk and spin around inside. (I hate waste.) This is probably your best solution. Note that you may have to get extra disks separate from the main unit to get the grater you want.

There are also small units which typically come just with a blade for chopping. These will not grate things, and would turn zucchini to mush.

Note that if you want dry grating (say to put in a quiche or salad) a Cuisinart-type food processor is the way to go. On the other hand, if you were making a soup, you could chop the zucchini in a (much cheaper) blender with some water. I do this regularly with green pepper, onion and celery for soups and stews. Its also less trouble than setting up and cleaning the Cuisinart.


Good luck.

- Winston

[Grace62]

I'm assuming you have bushels of zucchini?

A lot of people do this time of year...

I'd hit Macy's. Both Kitchen Aid and Cuisinart make really good food processors. Macy's has both brands and in a variety of bowl sizes and prices, depending on what you're after.

I'm partial to Cuisinart myself, I've got two of their processors, one 12-cup and one mini-chopper, and one coffee maker right now - very good products. It's also easy to get replacement parts if you need them later on.

http://www1.macys.com/shop/kitchen/kitch...s?id=46711&edge=hybrid

[Trouble]

Get a v slicer or a cheap mandoline.



No reason to spend more than $60. A v slicer is very fast and very handy.

[Grace62]

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.asp...d=11623688&search=food+processors&Mo=3&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=food+processors&Ntt=food+processors&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

costco has this one on the website - good price for a 12-cup but I don't recognize the name of it...you'd have to check and see what they have in-stock if you need it tomorrow.

What are you going to do with the shredded zucchini?

[Trouble]

Sorry, just reread the grating part. Get a grater.

[Winston]

p.s. From looking around a bit online, it looks like you'd want one with at least 11 cup capacity (range of 11 to 14 cups for the big ones). The mid-size units (7-8 cups) are too small for when you really want what a food processor can do.

Ours looks something like this one, but in white plastic:
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DFP-14BC...B0000645TW

Take a look at Consumer Search - they aggregate reviews from around the web:
http://www.consumersearch.com/food-processors

- W

[lazydays]

Mom is making zucchini relish tomorrow and I'm going to help. Normally she would use a grater but she has developed arthritis in her hands which I assume has prompted the request for a food processor.