How to Select the Best Blender for your family + Blendtec Blender review

In the search to find the best blender for our family, Blendtec was kind enough to send me a Blendtec Wildside blender and Twister Jar for review purposes. No other compensation was received and all opinions are 100% my own. 

In the course of our 11 years of marriage the Husband and I have gone through about 7 blenders. We use a blender all the time. We make a lot of smoothies, purees, sauces and lots more. So for us, having a quality blender is a must. We have literally worn out 7 blenders. I am talking smoking, dead motor, refuse to turn on, or turns on with horrible cat screeching sounds. It’s not that we are rough on them. It’s just that we like to blend. A lot. And I love my thick smoothies.

Most “low priced mass retail store that shall remain nameless” blenders are not up to par with the quality that our family needs in a blender. I always pulsed. Not just turn it on and leave it running to overheat. I would stir. I would always put the liquid in the bottom first. But we just wear them out quickly. So I knew after our latest blender burned up this last summer it was time to get a quality blender that could last longer than a year or two. So how do you select a quality blender that will last? I’m going to tell you.

How to select the Best blender

Before you go purchase a new kitchen gadget, you always want to do your homework first. Even if it’s just a $20 gadget you want to ensure that it lasts and makes it worth that $20!

• Warranty– Always check what kind of warranty your blender carries. If it is a typical 1 year warranty; well expect your blender to last about 1 year. Obviously the longer the warranty the better. Pick a model that has a good warranty
• How often do you use the blender? If you use it as often as we do; then you know you need to immediately bypass all the models under $35. They just won’t be worth the price of constantly replacing them. The more you use a blender, the more wear and tear it needs to put up with. Even if you take very good care of your blender, it still gets used which causes stress on the machine. Ask your fellow engineer how it works. 🙂
• What types of things do you blend? If you are only going to be blending thin sauces and such then you don’t need to worry too much about the watts the machine puts out. Because near all blenders could handle that load. But if you are making thick smoothies, and peanut butters and dishes with a thicker consistency; you need to really pay attention to the wattage.
• Size. How big is your family? How much space do you need in each jar? Is a 2 cup jar big enough for what you use most often? Do you need a minimum cup/ounce capacity?
• Attachments. Does the blender come with or have additional attachments available to help you use the same blender for multiple purposes?
• How easy it is to clean? We all have those appliances, where we thought it was a good idea at the time; but it’s such a pain to clean; we never use them any longer.
• Will it fit? Look at the actual size of the blender. Measure it. Will it fit on your counter? Will it fit in the cupboard you store it in? Will it take up your entire kitchen counter?
• Price. Obviously you want to have a budget for the blender you are getting. But you also need to accept that you get what you pay for. Some blenders will be much easier on the budget, but they won’t last as long, thus costing you more in the long run. A higher priced blender; with a good warranty and meets all your other needs in a one time purchase; is a much better choice than multiple less expensive models purchased over and over again.

All these points are things to consider when you are looking for the best blender for your home and family’s needs. After we considered every question above; we ended up settling on the Blendtec blender as the best blender for our family.

Why Blendtec Blender?

Have you seen these blenders before? They are absolutely amazing! The designer and creator of the Blendtec blender, Tom Dickson; is a highly skilled engineer and inventor. He began his creations of the Blendtec blender through a lot of experiments; seeing how much a blender blade could withstand. He would continually blend various hard items that normally one wouldn’t find in a blender. He kept going until he was able to create a blade, jar and engine that could withstand the 2X2 test. And then he kept going. This eventually turned into his creation of the Blendtec blenders and his hit YouTube Channel Will It Blend?!

Seriously there are some awesome videos on there. The entire Will It Blend series is about showcasing the power of the Blendtec blenders. They have blended up cement to powder, an iPad to dust and marbles even! We love watching the Will It blend videos. They have even been featured on The View! Check it out!

After watching the Will It Blend videos; that is when I knew the Blendtec blender would be the best blender for our family. If the blender can handle all of those things and still run great, then I knew it could manage my numerous fruit smoothies, blender pancakes, spaghetti sauce and homemade peanut butter! Plus my Blendtec Blender has a 7 year warrant! No kidding! I have never had a kitchen appliance with such an amazing warranty before!

Now I could go on to tell you all the amazing specs of the Blendtec blender like

• 1,560 Watts of Power,
• the larger Direct drive motor
• 7 year warranty
• touch user interface
• Easy-to-read jar markings up to 36 oz (total volume approximately 90 fl oz)
• Patented single-prong, cold-forged wingtip blade
• BPA-free copolyester
• half the weight of competitors’ jars
• Complete speed control
• easy-to-read, universal icons that enable you to effortlessly select our signature blend cycles such as batters, ice crush, smoothie, ice cream, whole juice, and soups
• Most Blendtec blenders come with delicious cookbooks with more recipes available online!

I could tell you all about those; but they are on the website. You can find all the specs and details on Blendtec.com. So let me tell you what I specifically like after using our Blendtec blender. First of all, it fits on our counter! Don’t mind our super outdated kitchen with the blue counter tops. But I wanted you to see how well the blender fit! It actually fits under the cupboards! Our other blender didn’t, it was too tall. So I love that the Wildside Blender from Blendtec fits!

I love the design. It is sleek, ergonomic and the jar is awesome! It is a lot less heavy than other blender jars. It is easier for me to lift and pour and with my carpal tunnel that is a huge deal! It is amazingly easy to clean too! There aren’t any hidden crevices around buttons or such for dirt to get stuck in. Just a gentle wipe of the outside and it is clean. The jar is super easy to clean too! No more taking the jar apart! Just put a little water and dish soap into the blender, replace lid and run on the blender. It almost cleans itself! Rinse and let dry! So easy!

I really love that the blade is literally built into the jar. I always hated trying to take my old jars apart to get them clean. This also adds to the strength of the blades and jar design. And the blade is shaped differently which not only makes it easier to clean, but also is the key to getting a better vortex which allows your food to blend better and not jam up in the blender.

The end of the blade also sits right into the motor, thus the direct drive motor. Instead of a lot of different attachments that turn thus in turn turn the blade, the process is much more direct with the Blendtec blenders. It is super easy to place the jar onto the blender base. And it also results in a lot more direct power.

I adore the touch screen! And I love how easy it is to blend up my recipes. In about 23 seconds I have perfectly smooth sauce or smoothies. Before it used to take a lot of pulsing, stopping, stirring, pulsing some more, etc. Not with my Blendtec blender. I just turn on the smoothie setting or the batter setting and by the time the seconds run out; it is ready.

I also love the cookbook that came with my Wildside blender. It has so many amazing recipes in it that we have enjoyed! I am planning on using even more the coming weeks! So excited to try their version of a potato soup. And even the desserts too!

But mostly I’m just excited to get back into our family favorite recipes! Because remember I told you we have been without a blender for a few months since our old one died in the middle of the summer. We can now make our favorites like smoothies, blender pancakes, Brazilian Limeade, and our favorite Homemade spaghetti sauce made from food storage items! Don’t worry I will be sharing those recipes over the next few weeks! Now that we have an amazing blender again!

Thanks to the Blendtec blender, I’m able to make our favorite dishes again. In less time! With less work to clean up. With more power. At first I thought I would need extra help to get all my thick recipes to turn out. Cause I’ve never had a blender of this quality before. I thought I would still have to stop and stir our mixtures. But thus far, I haven’t had to because the blender with the Wildside jar has handled everything I’ve thrown at it like a pro without any trouble. But I’m still excited to have the Twister Jar packet. This comes with

• Patented Twister lid
• Mini Gripper™ lid for containing thinner blends
• Twister Jar
• Spectacula

This is ideal for when you are making dishes such as nut butters, hummus, baby food, dips, thick shakes, dressings and more! We will be putting this jar to the test soon as well with future recipes we will be sharing with you all. I’m super excited to finally have a blender that will be able to handle my favorite Chocolate peanut butter recipe!

Overall; I adore our new Blendtec Blender! It is everything I have ever dreamed of in a blender and more! Be sure to follow us on our social sites like Facebook and Pinterest and sign up for our newsletter so you can be notified when we publish these delicious recipes we talked about. You especially don’t want to miss out on our upcoming Homemade Spaghetti Sauce recipe made from scratch and all with food storage ingredients as part of our cooking from food storage series!

Learn more about Blendtec by visiting them online and following them on Facebook and Twitter and Google+. You definitely want to visit their social sites; as they are always sharing amazing blender recipes!

What is the most important feature you look for in the best blender?

What do you love most about the Blendtec Blender?