Summertime may possibly be winding down, but my tumble backyard garden is just getting started off, so I was eager to attempt out the Vitamix FoodCycler FC-fifty. The FoodCycler is a kitchen area equipment that turns foodstuff scraps into compost. Compost offers nutrition to soil and can help feed your backyard garden flowers, fruits and vegetables, as nicely as other plants in your lawn. 

Like

  • It is simple to use
  • It is speedy

Do not Like

  • It is pricey
    -It is a small noisy

At $400, it’s certainly pricey, but it’s also productive, simple to use and avoids the pest considerations related with conventional out of doors compost bins. It is also a amazing decision for people dwelling in residences. Its little 50 {36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6}-gallon potential is just not great for any person with a lot of foodstuff waste on a daily basis — and It does make noise as it performs, but it is just not substantially louder than a conventional dishwasher.

The Vitamix FoodCycler FC-fifty is a reliable choice for any person with little-scale backyard garden and landscaping requires who desires to repurpose foodstuff in any other case sure for the landfill. 


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The FoodCycler weighs 27 kilos and measures fourteen.three inches tall by eleven inches wide with a depth of twelve.six inches. It can go on a countertop, but it can take up far too substantially place in my little kitchen area.


Megan Wollerton/CNET

Building compost with the Vitamix FoodCycler FC-fifty

The FoodCycler has a black and grey complete and a very simple interface — a single ability button to start a cycle and 4 status lights to notify you when it’s drying, grinding or cooling your compost and when you have to have to transform the two carbon filters. 1 alternative pack of two filters costs $25. 

The key lid locks into location to start a cycle, but the locking mechanism and its crafted-in deal with also make it less complicated to shift the FoodCycler as needed. Within you can obtain a detachable bin with a metallic deal with and a fill line to permit you know when it’s whole. Vitamix suggests you should not overfill the bin or press the current foodstuff scraps down to make space for more. 


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The bin holds a 50 {36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6}-gallon of foodstuff scraps.


Megan Wollerton/CNET

I held the bin on my countertop when I prepped foodstuff, so I could effortlessly discard espresso grounds, sweet potato peels, eggshells and lots of other scraps throughout the working day. The FoodCycler is ready to process fruit and vegetable scraps, but prevent hard pits from peaches, avocados and other fruits. It also won’t be able to deal with pineapple leaves. Citrus rinds and fruits with a lot of sugar like bananas and grapes should really only be extra at times. 

The FoodCycle can also deal with rooster and fish bones, meat scraps, cereal, cheese, eggs and eggshells, espresso grounds, espresso filters, tea baggage, legumes, beans, seeds and pet foodstuff. Increase starchy food items like bread and rice sparingly, as nicely as sauces, dressings and soups, nut butter and jelly or jam. Do not place candy, gum, cooking oil, beef and pork bones in the FoodCycler. 

It usually took my spouse and I about two days to fill the FoodCycler 1 if we were being executing a lot of cooking. Fortuitously, Vitamix offers a second lid specially to decrease any odors coming from the bin ahead of you start a cycle. 

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This lid will get rid of smells.


Megan Wollerton/CNET

As soon as your scraps get to the fill line, it’s time to return it to the FoodCycler. Use the arrows on the bin and on the inside of the FoodCycler to place the bin effectively ahead of starting up a cycle — connect the locking lid, plug it in and press the ability button. 

Vitamix suggests most cycles should really take in between four and 8 hrs, but all 3 of the cycles I experimented with took four to 5 hrs total, varying dependent on what was in the bin and how substantially I filled it. I never consume substantially meat, so I failed to have any bones or meat scraps to increase, but all 3 exams had diverse combinations of fruits and vegetable scraps, peels, eggshells and espresso grounds. 

The FoodCycler was loud plenty of to be distracting at selected points, mainly for the duration of the “grinding” stage of the process, so I might recommend managing it overnight or relocating it somewhere out of the way to run a cycle. Soon after it moves by the drying, grinding and cooling phases, the lights change off and your compost is prepared. 

A whole 50 {36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6}-gallon bin of scraps yields about a cup of compost — a small significantly less than I envisioned, but plenty for a little backyard garden if you run the FoodCycler often. And if you finish up with extra compost, you can often retailer it to use in foreseeable future seasons or give it to a buddy who would not have their personal compost bin. 

Keep in mind that diverse plants have to have diverse nutrition. Vitamix suggests adding a variety of diverse food items is the most effective detail for the FoodCycler, but that’s also accurate for your soil. That stated, my blueberry plants have to have more acidic soil than my eggplants, so I am going to component that in when I start utilizing this compost in our backyard garden. 

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Compost!


Kevin Henehan

The verdict

At virtually 400 bucks, the Vitamix FoodCycler FC-fifty is pricey and it can make noise as it performs. It also has a fairly little potential that is not going to make sense for people with substantial gardens — or for any person who provides a lot of foodstuff waste daily. 

That stated, the FoodCycler is a good way to reuse foodstuff scraps that would in any other case go straight in your garbage bin. It is very simple to use, performs speedy and avoids pests that could possibly be curious about an out of doors compost bin. It is also a reliable decision for condominium-dwellers who won’t be able to have a conventional compost bin.