When we bought our juicer, I honestly didn’t know how to start juicing, I just went with it. I crammed chopped up produce through the skinny spout of our juicer. All I knew was, my Dad needed living nutrients and He needed to live.
The nurses at the hospital in Indy allowed me in their staff kitchen to make my Dad a cancer blend recipe I found online. It called for green apples, carrots, kale, and red cabbage. I had no idea how to prep veggies for juicing, the measurements weren’t specific, and I didn’t have a peeler or strainer. I only hoped it would taste as delicious as its fresh crisp scent let off–similar to the smell of freshly squeezed orange juice.
As I walked with it to the room where my Dad sat on the hospital bed in his fresh clean gown, his wise green eyes looked at me questioningly as I handed him the juice with a big – look what I made – Sherina smile.
“Eugh! That tastes like shit!”
I burst out in laughter at the honest cringe his brave face made as he continued to drink the juice down. This juice was so green it was almost brown!
But, I don’t blame him. It really did taste like shit!
His comment still makes me laugh to this day. He was a fighter and fought to drink this gross but heartfelt juice his daughter made to help him heal. And my mom was about to blow her top if he didn’t!
Thankfully though, after lots of experiments and taste testing, I learned and created a formula for making excellent tasting juice every time with little to no waste.
With a juicer, some tips, produce, and just three recipes, I’m going to teach you how to start juicing in no time, and how to make excellent tasting juice with every glass you make.
Disclaimer: This content may contain affiliate links to products or brands I trust, use, and find worth sharing. I may earn a commission if you choose to purchase through a link, at no additional cost to you. This allows me to continue helping people, create free content like this and buy a 🦕for a little boy here and there. Thank you!
1. IDENTIFY YOUR REASON FOR JUICING
Don’t skip this step. If you haven’t done so already, ask yourself why you are wanting to start juicing in the first place. Do you want to heal your gut? Get healthier? Enjoy juice before pasteurization processes existed? Give your children real juice-and veggies in the process? Lose some weight? Feel better after an illness? Boost your immunity? Be able to consume veggies another way?
Your reason will keep you going, motivated, and serve as a reminder for all your efforts.
My reason to this day: “To help my husband heal his Crohn’s, nourish my kids, and for me to gain more energy.”
Success Tip:
Write your Reason down on a sticky note. Put it on your cupboard next to the juicer, on the fridge, or actually on the juicer as I did with Hans (we named the 800 during its juice bar days).
2. GET THE RIGHT JUICER + ACCESSORIES
Manufacturers have really gone all out on creating additional items for those who juice, but honestly, most of it is completely unnecessary and a waste of money. Aside from your juicer, you really don’t need much at all, and you’ll find in the list below things you do need to make good juice.
THE BASE ACCESSORIES
- A Juicer – If you don’t have a juicer, I wrote this post to help determine which juicer will best suit your budget and needs – How To Choose the Right Juicer (It’s a quick overview of the top juicers on the market to choose from). If you’re coming from that post, continue on.
- Mason jars (or any glass jar you prefer for storing juices) 16 and 32oz
- A scale – your key accessory for consistent tasting juice every single time
- A fine mesh strainer to strain out the pulp when desired
- Sharp cutting knife
- Cutting board or mat
- Rubber spatula
- Quart + gallon size sandwich bags
ADDITIONAL ACCESSORIES FOR CENTRIFUGAL + MASTICATING JUICERS:
- we highly recommend getting a standalone or cider press to accompany these juicers. You don’t want to waste all the juice leftover in the pulp, and with a press, you can extract anywhere between 4-8 more ounces of juice.
- OR fine cotton cloth and a whole-lotta muscle will work to wring out extra juice from the pulp.
ADDITIONAL ACCESSORIES FOR COLD PRESS JUICERS:
- Pitcher for the juice to go into while juicing (home juicers usually come with one attached – otherwise I like these: glass and/or bpa free plastic – whichever you choose make sure it has a wide mouth)
- a square inch pan (for placing under the spout while juicing)
- fine cotton cloth
ADDITIONAL ACCESSORIES FOR HYDRAULIC COLD PRESS JUICERS [Norwalk + Pure Juicers} :
- Juicing cloth: purchased from Norwalk directly which can be pricey. I go to the local fabric store (use a coupon) and purchase 100% Organic Cotton Muslin – WORKS LIKE A DREAM!
- nut milk bag (only if you plan to make almond/cashew milk) this one is my favorite. It’s incredibly durable. If you prefer hemp material, this is my favorite Hemp nut milk bag.
- tray to set pulp bag in – I’ve used a square baking pan for 5 years now
- Pitcher for the juice to go into while juicing (home juicers usually come with one attached – otherwise I like these: glass and/or BPA free plastic – whichever you choose make sure it has a wide mouth)
3. BUY ORGANIC PRODUCE (and here’s why)
I know I know. But seriously, otherwise, I don’t know how to say this enough, THERE IS NO POINT IN JUICING. NONE. NADA. ZILCH.
The EWG (Environmental Working Group) creates a list based on hard research which selects the year’s most contaminated fruits and vegetables. Some of you might have heard of The Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 List.
Kale is at the top of the list for having the most pesticides!!
All the produce we buy at the grocery adheres to this list. We only veer from this list if we buy produce at the Farmer’s Market.
Choosing to juice certain conventional produce is like taking an apple, soaking it in RoundUp, turning it into a liquid, and then putting it into your body.
All the pesticides, chemicals, and products used on that produce resides in the produce, but are now in a concentrated form. You buy it, turn it into a liquid, pour it down the esophageal pipes, and all those toxic chemicals have a free ride directly into your bloodstream.
It’s disruptive to our bodies. Read the science on why Here. My husband and I always use the saying “Pay now, or pay later.”
If either of these thoughts pops into your head: “but it’s so expensive” or “I can’t afford organic produce”, please read on to the next paragraph where I’m going to help solve the juicing organic budget hurdle.
4. DETERMINE A JUICING BUDGET
Believe it or not, we also stick to a tight grocery budget, and sometimes we can afford the extra produce to juice, and to be honest, sometimes we need to wait a week or so.
And that’s ok.
How to Juice On a Budget: The Most Affordable Advice is a post I wrote that shows you strategic ways to be able to juice even when funds are a bit tight. Make shopping for affordable Organic produce easier on you.
Having to shop for organic produce for the juice bar, and for our family for the last five years, I’ve become pretty darn good at knowing where to buy what and when and the stores listed in that post are the best here in Indiana.
I want to make juicing accessible and affordable so you have every reason to continue towards reaching those health goals. Getting started with our Juicing Kickstart recipes, as an example, will roughly cost $40 (give or take $5). Add it to the cost of groceries, or see where there is room to maybe cut out things that you have wanted to give up anyways.
There are times where I even hesitate to buy stuff, but then I think of the saying “pay now or pay later,” and throw what I need in the cart without overthinking it further because I know it’s going to help my family, and myself, in the long run.
5. DON’T GET OVERWHELMED WITH RECIPES
What starts as a simple search to find a good beginner recipe turns into a rabbit hole, leaving you feeling completely overwhelmed, throwing your hands up, and saying forget it—never starting. We’ve witnessed it, and it’s been shared with us on how recipes end up derailing people from juicing. We don’t want you to be overwhelmed by all the recipes on the web, or on here.
This is why we created the 5 Ingredient Super Simple Juice Recipes download that will get you started with four delicious recipes made from only five ingredients. OR if you want to start off with a more targeted approach, get our 3 Day Juicing Kickstart Guide. The guide contains three recipes that are specifically designed to target three key areas: digestion, energy, and detoxification.
The Juicing Kickstart Guide is basically your start package into juicing, taking all the guesswork out of everything so all you have to do is focus on making the juices and drinking them.
Does that mean beets? Yes, that means some beets but I swear to you even beet haters love our Beet Life. Tried, tested, proven at our juice bar and farmers markets!
These three recipes will keep you on the juicing bandwagon, not having to think about what else to make or do until you’re ready to venture down that road. Then, once you’ve gotten the hang of these, and like what you’re drinking, stick around to build on those recipes!
I’m not gonna lie, the hardest part with juicing is getting started, and staying in the rhythm of it. Like any habit, juicing will take work to keep up, but will give your mind and body so much benefit you’ll never know how you survived without it.
No joke, you’ll find your body craving and telling your brain to make juice! And I will be here to help. I’ll do the thinking – you do the juicing.
THE NEXT 3 STEPS TO TAKE…
- If you’re looking to juice to change or improve your health right from the start then I suggest starting off with the 3 Day Juicing Kickstart Guide for a more targeted approach that has been specifically designed for digestion, energy, and detoxification. Otherwise, grab the 5 Ingredient Super Simple Juice Recipes download to get started with very basic but delicious juices.
- Go buy produce from the Kickstart guide or the 4 Ingredient Recipes, and pick a day when you’re going to get started. Allot for at least two hours to get started the first time.
- Before you start juicing, take a moment to read How to Properly Prepare Produce for Juicing — this will get your produce ready to juice, and tells you how to properly store your juice in the fridge (all this information is already included in the 3 Day Juicing Kickstart Guide).
And yes it matters! Knowing how to prep each veggie and fruit to ensure your juice will taste like it’s supposed to; damn delicious!
While it was a funny moment with my dad, you really don’t want to have a “Eugh, that tastes like shit” moment as he did. Not only will it dampen the experience, but you’ll have wasted all your time and money on juice you can’t stomach drinking. It’s like the ending to Game of Thrones, a bummer (it made sense, but still sucked ok).
AND… GET A JUICING PAL!
Share this with a friend who has been wondering how to start juicing too! It might just put into perspective how doable it actually is. Also, four hands prepping are always better than two.
For any questions or suggestions, please feel free to send me an email or comment, I’ll reply back promptly and add it to our Juicing Q+A Page for reference (includes questions re fiber)!
Ciao for now,
