Omega 8006 Nutrition Center Juicer Review

(This review is the first in an ongoing series I am just beginning, titled "Tools For A Healthy Kitchen."  These reviews are my own, based on my own opinions and experiences over the last few years, and are not advertisements or product placement endeavors.)

When we first became interested in juicing about ten years ago, we weren't sure if juicing was something we'd do regularly.  We just knew we wanted to try it out, and we didn't want to spend much money right away on this new interest of ours.  Why make a big investment when we didn't know if we'd stick with it for long? 

So, we began our juicing journey with a humble little Krups juicer that only cost us about $60 at the time.  It was similar to this newer Krups here.  We had no idea what to look for in a juicer, just that it needed to produce juice somehow.  Looking back, it was a great entry-level juicer for us.  We used it off and on for about seven years, then almost daily for two years.  However, last fall it began to break down.

Shopping for a replacement seemed easy at first.  We did a few Google searches, asked around a bit, and then discovered that Consumer Reports published a juicer review.  They found that the Breville juicers were the top of the line.  Thrilled, we ran out and purchased a "commercial" Breville, the Juice Fountain Elite.  We were not impressed.  It was beautiful sitting atop our counter, and it had a wide tube for processing fruits and veggies, but it was far too powerful.  Each time we juiced, tiny pieces of pulp would fly up out of the tube and onto our cabinetry.  It was also very loud, and worked at a hefty 13,000 rpm.  After a couple of weeks, we were thankful that the store we'd purchased it from permitted us to return it.

At this point, our search for the ideal juicer became much more intentional.  Most of our free time was spent researching, gathering data, watching videos, and reading reviews.  We wanted the best juicer we could get, but we didn't feel comfortable spending more than $500.  Ultimately, we decided on the Omega J8006 Nutrition Center Juicer, which you can find many places online for around $300.

 Here's what helped us make our decision to purchase the 8006:

• It is a single-auger, two-stage, masticating juicer, which basically means that it literally "chews" through your fruits and veggies, resulting in more enzymes, vitamins, and trace minerals in your juice.
• Along the same line, it works at a slow 80 RPM, which means there's less heating of the juice, preserving more beneficial enzymes and possibly the shelf life of your juice if you are storing it in the fridge for the day.
• It has a 15 year warranty.
• It can juice wheatgrass.
• It makes sorbets, nut butters, pasta, and more.
• There were FANTASTIC reviews on Amazon here.
• Discount Juicers had an excellent review of the 8006 here.

When we received the 8006 and began juicing with it, we were surprised at how easily it pulled veggies through the feeding tube.  The carrots seem to juice themselves, and the resulting pulp is very dry.

It's also easy to clean.  There are a few parts to it, but not too many, and they rinse off easily.  The screen is very small and doesn't take long to scrub with the included brush.  There are no hard to reach spots.

Unless you've been juicing for awhile, you may not understand what I'm saying here, but the juice tastes very "clean."  I'm not sure how to qualify that, but we can taste a difference in the juice. 

Also, perhaps this is due to the low RPMs, but the juice still has a coolness to it if you are juicing veggies straight from the fridge.  The juicer barely produces heat, and so the juice stays cool.

In summary, we are very pleased with our purchase of the Omega J8006 Nutrition Center Juicer and highly recommend it.  We are getting high-quality, nourishing juice easily and effectively, while staying within a budget.  That is important to us as we strive to be good stewards of both our health and our finances.

*Side note:  If you are considering purchasing this juicer, please know that Bed Bath & Beyond can special order it from Omega.  Depending on your store manager, they may price match and also honor the 20% off coupon that is frequently distributed by their store.  Ours did for us, and that was quite a savings. 

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More videos you may be interested in: 

• You can make your own coconut oil using the Omega 8006.
• Juice-off between the Omega 8006 and the Samson 9005.  The result?  Both produced the same amount of juice, but the Samson juice had more pulp, the Omega juice had less pulp.

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This post is a part of Real Food Wednesday and The Nourishing Gourmet.

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