Juicer- Opinions??

[vendigirl]

My 2 year old refuses to eat veggies. He literally gags if one gets in his mouth- it's pitiful. He's a little young to try to force him to eat them, so I suplement his diet with SunRype Fruit and Veggie Juice. He loves it. I'm happy because it is good for him, but it's expensive. And he drinks a lot of milk and juice in a day. At $1.25 or more per litre and with him drinking 2 litres every 3 days, it gets costly.
So I'm considering buying a juicer and making my own fruit & veggie juice. I'm wondering if anyone has a juicer, what they think of it. I'm curious how much juice one would get out of fresh veggies and fruit. For things like strawberries, would frozen work as well? And just how does one "juice" a bannana? (kidding)
Overall I'm not sure if it would be a good investment. I need opinions please.

[terry1156]

We have one, but my wife is the one that uses it. I'll ask her when she returns and report back her opinions then

[crosses]

Cindy,

I have a juicer that I use on a fairly consistent basis. I picked it up at a garage sale for a couple of dollars and works fine. I don't think that it will save you a lot of money, especially if you take into consideration the time it takes to make the juice. But the taste is fantastic. It's much fresher than what you can by at the store with a lot more flavor. I'm not sure if that would be good or not in your situation. The taste may be too strong for you little one.

What I would do is look for a juicer at a garage sale, borrow one from a friend for a few days or put a request in at freecycle. Then you can give it a try and you're not out the price of a new expensive model if the little one doesn't like the taste.

[PrincessPerky]

How are you cooking the veggies? I know my kids gag on canned vegetables but love soft coked frozen (but not to soft then it is as bad as the canned kind). If you alredy have tried all the variations of cooking then please ignore me.

And frozen fruit makes juice when it is thawed, we are constantly trying to figure out what to do with all the juice! (we don't like smothies and it is way to strong or sweet to drink)

Also try fresh if you havn't yet, my son eats fresh mushrooms (ick).

[terry1156]

Someone should scold me for not getting back on this. I just talked with my wife and she agrees pretty much with what crosses said. Her main point was to make sure you get one that is easy to clean up. I found out we actually have three. Two my wife refuses to use because it takes to much time to clean up after using them.

[vendigirl]

Thanks to you all for your responses. The price of a new juicer is certainly an important variable in this particular equation. A really good one runs about $200.
I think I'm just going to have to "cheat" and mix the expensive juice with a less expensive concentrate or water. He only needs about 1 cup of the veggie juice to fulfill his dietary requirements for the day.