Reboot: Day 1

Day: 1
Weight: 201.2 lbs
Body Fat: 24.3%
Feeling: Excited!

So my (factory refurbished) juicer finally arrived and it is in splendid working order.  We had decided that as the first 3-5 days are always the hardest, we would start at the beginning of the weekend which started at 5pm this evening.

The first order of business after inspecting the juicer's functionality was to make a quick trip to the produce isle at our local Harris Teeter.  We purchased enough produce to make 4 batches of "Mean Green" (2 meals for 2 people).  I could tell by the size of our haul in the grocery cart that we would most likely be buying batches of produce every other day.  That way we won't crowd the refrigerator or leave anything to spoil prior to use.

Now I am an engineer by trade so I couldn't help myself from filling in 2 very important blanks where the Mean Green recipe is concerned.  Namely how much juice will this recipe create and how much will it cost.

The volume of juice produced seems thus far to be 1-Liter reliably.  Which I think is an ideal sized meal.  As for the cost... I think there is room for improvement.

1 Bulk of kale  ($2.99, for organic)
4 Stalks of celery  ($1.99 for one bunch)
1 Cucumber  ($0.99)
2 granny smith apples  ($1.99/lbs, totaling roughly 2lbs)
½ lemon ($0.69)
Ginger root (thumb sized)  ($3.49/lbs, total < $1.00)

The over-all price of one (1L) batch of mean green as prescribed by the posted recipe is roughly $12 to buy everything you need for the first batch.  However, The celery bunch that I purchased has enough stalks for several batches.  The kale we purchased was also organic kale which naturally costs a bit extra as did the organic granny smith apples which were purchased individually instead of buying bagged apples at a discount.  I am going to start pricing other bagged apples and non-organic kale just for the heck of it and see if I can't figure out the most affordable mean green options.

Cost analysis aside, the juicing process was actually very quick and easy.  It only took a few minutes to crank out a 1L batch of juice.  The only things that required preparation was the lemon and the huge granny smith apples.  After emptying the pulp collector (which took only a few seconds) I was ready to make another batch.  I have to say that it was a much shorter wait than delivery and still cheaper.  After we both downed our juices, I cleaned the unit out by hand using the provided brush.  It may have taken about 5 mins to clean and reassemble.

The juicer is ready and waiting for the first juice in the morning.  I will be interested to see how the morning goes.