Blender Buying Guide

It’s Misti wishing you another happy Monday and happy May, Friends!

As Kim mentioned on Friday, May is a great time to look for sales on kitchen appliances.

My personal favorite kitchen appliance is the blender.

It’s such a versatile little machine that helps with so many recipes—frozen cocktails (obvi), soups, smoothies.

Most recently I found myself using a NutriBullet to whip goat cheese for a quick tomato olive dip (stay tuned for my Friday email and I’ll share a link 😉).

I think every home needs a quality, easy to clean blender, but I’ve been pretty surprised by how many houses I’ve visited during my nomad journey that don’t have one at all.

Maybe folks just don’t know what to buy?

If that’s the case, I did a little deep dive on blenders to find out what to look for and for an extra bonus, I found a few you can order through Amazon! **

There’s two philosophies to buying kitchen gadgets: You can buy cheap and replace every year or buy higher priced quality and use it for 10 years.

You know we're opting for quality over quantity.

At the very least, it’s a great idea to make sure you’re investing in a blender that isn’t going to stop working in a few months.

I’m a die-hard NutriBullet fan myself and Jill has raved about her Vitamix on the pod before (linked above!) but we recommend reviewing these four types of blenders and considering some key factors to decide which type works best for you!

🔍 The breakdown: What to look for when buying a blender 🔍

A good place to start is to consider what you’ll be using your new blender for.

If you’re only using it every once and awhile, you might not need a fully versatile option. In order from most versatile to least (and likely most expensive to least), there are four types of blenders:

1. Premium. These blenders usually encompass all your blending needs from milkshakes to nut butter, but they are a little pricier and take up more space.

2. Conventional. I like to think of these as your standard blender option. They’re getting the job done, but things might end up a little chunkier and you’re not gonna want to handle hot liquids in these.

3. Personal. This category is my personal fave, and this is where blenders like my NutriBullet fall. They’re not going to be able to handle everything; in fact, performance (and price!) varies by the specific model. But, they’re small and easy to clean!

4. Immersion. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know this blender existed until I was in my 30s. These neat little machines can be thought of as a companion to your standard blender. Basically, these handheld machines work by sticking the blades directly into what you’re blending–typically a soup. I’ve used this type mainly for hollandaise sauce.

For each of these blender types, consider which factors matter most to you. Some main features to consider include containers (e.g., glass or plastic), controls (e.g., touchpad or dials), speed, power, warranty, and ease of storage. 

💡 Pro-tip 💡

As you set your budget for a new blender (or any other new kitchen appliance), consider if you can dip into your sinking funds for this new purchase.

I feel like a broken record, but a sinking fund set aside in a high yield savings account is great for covering these miscellaneous purchases.

We recommend CIT Bank, who is offering 4.65% APY. **

All the best,
Misti

⭐️⭐️ P.S. Want to share all this goodness with your friends AND earn cool Frugal Friends merch?

**Means this is a sponsored or affiliate section. We may earn a small fee or commission when you choose to try one of our sponsor or affiliate partners. But opinions are still 1000% our own.