Wife's birthday coming up. We both are impossible to buy for because if we want or need something we just buy it. She was lamenting yesterday that the drink blender was up at the lake property and she was craving a Margarita.

So I figure we may as well buy another one for around the house. I have for years gotten by without a food processor in the house but if I can find a good dual purpose one I'd be in on that. I know they can get expensive but I'd sooner pay once and cry once on this deal.
So fire away with your suggestions or personal recommendations!

Margaritas on the rocks aren't the worst things in the world. Actually, if I want a "frozen" drink, I vastly prefer it served over crushed ice rather than in a "smoothie" style. Use an old (from the 50's) hand-cranked ice crusher for this purpose. Call me a dinosaur.

Be ready for the rolling blackouts
http://www.gasblender.com/

El Linko de Blendero

Ninja Food Power Blender at Costco $129, you can do a full blender full of Margaritas, or, a single serving, has two containers so it's both big blender and single serving size.

Bought it for the wife, she likes to make margaritas and the occasional smoothie.

Lots of power, preset blend times or you manually set it.

My SIL gave us a Ninja. If I ever have two yaks to dispose of at once I'd put one in there while other is in the Waste Kang!

Ive got a Ninja blender. It will make ice cubes into snow

the blades will also cut the hell out of a finger if not careful

Vitamix is the most superior blender I have ever used. Upgrade to the XP blades and carafe. Smoothest frozen drinks you’ll ever have.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
Vitamix is the most superior blender I have ever used. Upgrade to the XP blades and carafe. Smoothest frozen drinks you’ll ever have.

+1. We're on year 14 with our Vitamix and it still works like new.

quote:

Originally posted by DaveL:
+1. We're on year 14 with our Vitamix and it still works like new.

We replaced our Ninja with a Vitamix.

IMO, Vitamix is the clear winner here. We got ours at Costco.

Ninja was OK, but it was louder and it was very easy to cut your fingers on the blades as you're taking them out, putting them in or just handling for cleaning.

Another Vitamix crew here. Thing is a tank.

These things are bad ass! You can even cook with them. Friction cooking, there are some really good soup recipes.

Another vote for Vitamix.

Have a Ninja Professional for my Wife to make smoothies. It's Ok but doesn't have the power to pull fruit chunks down to the blades. We have to pre-chop everything.

I have a Blendtec. It has done a great job over the years. It seems pretty comparable to the Vitamix.

Vitamix.

Used to grind fertilizer with them. They work great.

VItamix is King. But comes at a hefty price.

Ninja is a solid one for around $100

Well this is against my better judgement but it looks like a Margaritaville margarita maker. Daughter stopped by last night and the wife was out. Told her I was thinking of getting mom a blender for making margaritas as well as some food prep. First thing she says was oh wow mom was just showing me one on Amazon a few weeks ago and she pulled it up on her phone and it was the Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville frozen concoction maker. Lots of excellent reviews but it reeks of cheap to me but they come at a price but if that's what she wants and it is her birthday after all.
90% of it was for making drinks anyhow.

I was well into researching the Vitamix and Blendtec blenders as they are U.S. made. Thanks for all the input as usual!

My wife bought a Vitamix nine years ago & it's been used at least twice every day since. I had to replace the bearing/blade assembly once, but that's it.

It's used for our breakfast smoothies every day, but it's also good at making cream of broccoli, asparagus, and tomato soup. The soup gets blended for several minutes & because of the heat buildup from friction, when the soup comes out of the blender, it's hot enough to burn your mouth.

My wife also makes her own peanut butter in the Vitamix from dry roasted nuts and a little honey. It needs to be refrigerated though, because there aren't any preservatives.

Lotsa stuff you can do with a Vitamix.

+1 for vitamix. I’d get milkshake blades for them as well, in case you want to fluff a drink.