The Setup...

Let’s talk about your kitchen. The kitchen is often described as the heart of the home, and it’s definitely the heart of your green juicing endeavors. If you don’t have one already, I highly recommend starting a loving relationship with your kitchen… it’s definitely a relationship built to last!

Making your green juice isn’t an overly time-consuming endeavor, but you are going to need a little bit of work space. Designate a specific place for your “juicing station” – preferably close to the sink. You will also need room for your cutting board — I highly recommend a bamboo board dedicated only to raw veggies — and your juicer. Remember, while it is not a requirement to have these items out all the time, I guarantee that you will be more dedicated and therefore more successful on a daily basis — and overall, it will just make it simpler if you have a dedicated spot for everything!

So again, it’s easiest if your juicing station is located near the sink. Reason? Sink-board-juicer is ideal because you can rinse the veggies, chop them and then juice them in an assembly-line-esque manner. I even use an over-the-sink drainer to place my rinsed veggies in so the water mess is minimized and it takes us less space, but you can use any large colander or a towel on the countertop if that works best for you.

If you’re really limited on counter space, I highly recommend the compact Breville juicer, the over-the-sink drainer, and simply put your cutting board away at each day! All set to go!

Lastly, you will need to set up some dedicated space in your refrigerator. The best way to do this, is to clean out the old stuff that you are no longer using!

What Else Do I Need?
So what else do you need besides the cutting board, drainer, juicer? You’ll definitely need a great knife — the best one you can afford! I personally have a large chef’s knife from Ikea that was actually not too expensive and I love it! A good knife will definitely speed up the process for you.

Other great things are: Produce bags and/or special refrigerator containers are also a major convenience because they help protect your green goodies from spoiling! Food waste bags to collect your pulp in…put it directly into your juicer pulp-catcher as they help minimize the clean-up and keep your garbage can from getting too “smelly”. Lastly, you may want to keep some canning jars on hand to store your green juice in in the fridge! Why? Because despite that it’s best to drink your juice straight from the juicer, it’s not always convenient with our busy lives. Canning jars have tight-fitting lids and are also convenient drinking cups – double score!

Your Juicing Station will be totally unique to you, but as long as you’ve got a great process and method that works, and you are juicing, that’s all that matters. Really.

Whatever it takes to get you juicing is all you need. Nothing more, nothing less. I am here to help you along the way…

Author's Bio: 

Tina Pruitt is passionate about living life out loud and sharing with others the wildly outstanding benefits of green juicing for vibrant, healthy living and shares her healthy, green living techniques and insights via her blog and ezine at www.tinapruitt.com. If you're ready to jump into a healthy lifestyle, be sure to sign up for the mailing list at www.tinapruitt.com