My very first blender, bought before I was married, was an Oster. I enjoyed it for years. It lasted all through the early years of my marriage. It was the blender that pureed fresh fruits and vegetables for my daughters when they were first learning to eat table food.
My second, bought about two months ago, was an Imarflex blender. It lasted about two weeks — not even long enough take photos and get posted in this blog. Not a defect, mind you, but a house helper issue (related story). I was going to get a replacement for the broken pitcher but the nearest dealer’s outlet was a few hours’ drive from our house and we needed one urgently because my younger daughter is on some sort of a soft diet after her dental braces were installed a week ago.
Resigned to the additional expense, I went to the supermarket to buy a new blender. My original intention was to get another Imarflex unit. It was reasonably priced at a little over 1,700 pesos. But because it was already an added expense, I decided to check out the cheaper brands that seemed to be such bargains at about half the price of an Imarflex. I had the sales personnel try them one by one. Nothing satisfied me.
I was about to say, okay, give me the Imarflex when I noticed some boxes at the back of the shelves. Boxed Tefal blenders — and not one unit was on display. I asked for a demo. The moment I heard the whirrrrr of the motor, I decided. At 3,300 pesos, it was the most expensive brand in the store but, heck, a motor that powerful is much, much preferable to a cheaper brand that takes forever to crush ice. I bought it.
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The first time I used it, on the same day I bought it, I made creamed cabbage soup.
Now, I am not a brand-conscious person. But if brand makes a difference in quality, I don’t balk at the higher price.
But what are the practical differences, really?
1) Time. Who wants to do in 3 minutes what can be done in 30 seconds?
2) Electricity. The longer the processing, the higher the electricity consumption.
3) Air bubbles. We love fruits and vegetables smoothies. The longer it takes the blender to crush ice, the more air bubbles are formed. I definitely do not like drinking smoothies that are half air bubbles.
But the most important lesson I’ve learned. Whoever uses the blender washes it, dries it and puts it back in place — away from where the house helper can bump into it again.
can you recommend a cheaper blender? mga below 1k sana….and oh, by the way, can you also feature some baby food recipes you gave your kids when they were babies? tnx, hope i’m not asking too much….
eiram, we had an imarflex for a little over a thousand. it’s not bad but after we got the Tefal, no contest.
baby food? LOL that was a LONG time ago, ha. I do remember a few. Let’s see… I’ve been meaning to get a flatbed scanner to digitize the kids’ photos… some of those photos are of them eating baby food. When I get the photos scanned, I can post an entry about baby food. :)
thanks… i have a 9 month old baby na medyo pihikan.. sana makita mo mga pix.
Hi Connie! thanks for sharing this :D did not even expect that you would have something that talks about blenders but glad you did. I appreciate it :)
question I have is, where did you buy your Tefal blender? I am a fan of fruit shakes and all our blenders before gave up on us because our ice are medium sized ice cubes from our freezer and not the crushed ones . so i definitely need something that can crush ice without overheating or worse, breaking.
Thanks and more power!
Bought it at Shopwise. :)
hi kristel, available sya sa sm southmall if you’re from the south and rustan’s. meron din sa market market appliance center.
Hi, Connie. I’ve been looking for a blender that can crush ice cubes. Do you put the whole ice cubes into the Tefal blender to blend together with the fruits? or do you crush the ice into smaller pieces?
We use tube ice so we just dump them in.
Hi.
Glad to see a bit conversation about blender. I just bought a im@rflex blender last night that cost P1500. I’m very excited to use it and tried it this morning to prepare my baby’s blended apple. I failed to see that it was not well blended. It was my first time to use a blender, i am not so sure if i made something wrong to have that result. I prepare the blender, have a piece of apple, peeled and cut it into cubes(QUESTION#1:or it’s okay to keep the apple unpeeled), put the apple in the pitcher and start push the buttons, at first i try pushing the ‘pulse’ button to control the rotation, but the apple still on it shape, a little part of the cubes only blended and once it stick in the pitcher glass it will not go back to the cutter or blade. Again, i tried another button but same scenario. Then i decided to take out the cubed apple with some blended part and mushed it manually. QUESTION#2: is not possible to blend a piece of apple? (my baby is only a six month old and i prepared 1 apple for her to have another variety)QUESTION#3: do i have to put a water or milk to have the rotation gradually? (i choose to have it purely apple to have the sense of fruits) QUESTION#4: did i got a wrong brand?
Can you please assist me for this. I am a kitchen lover and of course i love to prepare foods for my baby… we are starting having her solid foods now, and i want her to try and to taste variety of foods most specially fruits and vegetables.
Thank you so much…
Blenders are designed to process already CUT food. Check the manufacturer’s instructions — it says cut the food to 1-inch cubes or small. And blenders need liquid to work; otherwise, the motor will burn.
If you want to puree an apple without adding liquid, you’ll need a food processor, not a blender.
As to apple skin, you’ll have to ask your baby’s pedia if kids can digest that.
thanks for that…
There are a lot of websites that instruct how to prepare home made baby food. Like miss Connie said you need a processor.
How many years did that Oster blender live and how much did you spend for it?
I want your opinion do you think that going for expensive blenders a good idea? xD I want to buy one so I can make a smoothie in our home there are a couple of dead blenders lying around so I’ll make an effort to buy a new one and that can last thru my families grubby fingers xDDD
Oh, the Oster lasted for almost ten years! Can’t remember though how much it cost.
ah..Tefal..gone are the days when Tefal products sold in the Philippines were made in France. :(
Everything’s made in China these days, huh? :|
Hi, would you mind sharing the model of your Tefal blender? and is it of 500w or more?
Many thanks!
It’s a Tefal Optimix, 400W. Please note the date of the post because I’m not sure if this model is still in the market. :)