The Best Way to Juice (Without a Juicer!)

Juicers can be expensive and are a pain to clean. But fresh juice is delicious and, when packed full of vegetables, is super good for you!

You probably already have a blender stashed away somewhere in your kitchen. This Instructable will show you how to make juices with it. Your blender should be relatively sturdy. I'm using a Blendtec ES3. You will also need a good knife, a cutting board, a large bowl, and a drinking glass.

So now you are almost ready to make super fast and easy juices at home. You just need one more cheap and amazing tool. It's called a nut milk bag!

You can find nut milk bags online for about $8 or at most large grocery stores and kitchen supply stores. Nut milk bags are reusable, washable, and you can do so much with them! Like straining soups and broth, making nut milks (hence, the name) and, of course, straining juices!

Chop up desired fruits and vegetables into smallish pieces.

I'm using 1/2 a beet for its nice red color. Beets are also a good source of folate and manganese.

I like to use one green apple for sweetness. Or you can substitute berries, kiwi, sweet citrus, or banana for the green apple. You just want a good dose of fruity sweetness here.

And then chop up all the veggies you can find in your refrigerator... carrots, greens, celery (careful! too much will make it spicy).

Carrots work really well in juices. You could even make pure carrot juice (just chop up a bunch of carrots for this first step) or carrot-orange juice (chop up a bunch of carrots and peel and section an orange), which is delicious!

Add a pinch of fresh ginger root or other herbs like basil leaf. Careful though! Too much can be overpowering!

Pack your chopped fruits and vegetables down into your blender and add about a cup of water for smooth blending action. Pulse the mixture and (when the blades are not moving) mash it down, then pulse some more. Continue to pulse until your fruits and vegetables reach a smoothie-like consistency.

Put a large bowl in the sink and lay your nut milk bag open in the bowl. Pour the pureed fruit and veg mixture into the nut milk bag. Pull on the drawstrings to close the bag and lift the bag, allowing the liquid to start running out of the nut milk bag and into your bowl. Carefully begin squeezing the bag with your hands. Squeeze and squeeze, kind of like you are milking a cow. Eventually there will be only pulpy tissue left in the bag, and all of the delicious, healthy juice will be in your bowl.

The best part about not using a juicer is that clean up is super easy. Juicers have a ton of parts that all need to be removed and cleaned. With a nut milk bag all you do is dump the remaining fruit and vegetable fibers from your bag into your compost, rinse the bag under the faucet, and then hang it to dry.

Rinse out your blender and set it out to dry... I don't even use soap!

Pour the juice from the bowl into a drinking glass and enjoy your veggies!