Vitamix FC-50 - Convenient Home Food Processor and Recycler - Kitchen Countertop Compost Bin Alternative - Electric Waste Disposer - Odorless Garbage Disposal - 2.5L Capacity

To say that I’m impressed with this product would be an understatement. I’ve had it for just over a week and have used it every day. I’ve used a variety of food waste including coffee grounds, leftover meat scraps, citrus, vegetables, eggshells, bread / bagels, fruit, even some leftover cat food. It has worked wonderfully to “compost” all of it. I live in a rural area - yes…skunk, opossum, raccoon, fox, and bear. So, having a traditional outdoor compost setup just won’t work out. We have weekly garbage pick up but I was looking for a way to reduce some of that. Granted, it’s just my husband and me but I do a lot of cooking and 99% of the items I use are fresh and not processed / premade foods. I will say that the food “bucket” that you use for your scraps is on the small side so if you prepare your meals, as I do, with a lot of fresh ingredients and you have a family of four or more, you might not be as thrilled. On the occasions that I have more than I can process at a time I can run 2 cycles a day or just keep the scraps in a ziplock win the fridge until the next day. There is no foul odor. The filters do what they’re supposed to. The lid for the bucket works to contain odor as I fill it up during the day. Can’t even smell the onions or other strong odors as it sits on my counter. Once the composting is done, I dump it into a plastic bucket that I keep outdoors and when that gets full I will dispose of it on our property. There is no smell to it so it won’t attract any critters. Some folks have commented in their reviews that it’s noisy, foul smelling, it leaves a goopy / sludgy mess, or that it takes too long. It’s not loud, it doesn’t smell, you have to use common sense as far as what you put in to process, and who cares how long it takes. It’s not like you have to sit there and keep it company. The bucket has some type of lining / coating that’s almost like a nonstick surface. Cleaning it is a breeze. I simply wash it out by hand though it is dishwasher safe. The unit is a bit heavy to move around, though not impossible, so find a place that will be convenient so you don’t have to relocate it often. It isn’t huge but does take up counter space so find a location that works for you. My only negative is that though Vitamix has been around for many years, and certainly is a reputable company, the FoodCycler is made in China. Not happy about that. Overall, the unit is robust and well made. It is easy to use and works very well.

I'm not adverse to having a garbage disposal and after we just did a remodel on a 17-year-old home that we have owned I found in the garbage disposal wastewater line 30% blockage minimum from the garbage disposal and we use a very high-end disposal and always have. We've also treated our pipes with toxifying chemicals to keep the pipes clear. When we remodeled the kitchen I did not want to have another garbage disposal because when I rerouted the piping I noticed that heavy blockage in my pipes and was perturbed at minimum. I don't like all those chemicals going into your water supply and I don't care what a water company does you can't get it out. We were more than content in our new sink with its little basket to just dump that in the recycling or compost pile. And here we go with the food cycler from Vitamix. I think Vitamix is definitely leading the way here. We basically take all of our cooking goods and instead of throwing it in the trash or in the garbage disposal we just have the unit sitting next to the preparation area and it has a charcoal filter lid that rests simply on the top. We are a family of three currently and that amount of food prep is what gets cycled every night. If we have a heavy prep day we may do two cycles. I really appreciate this product because the volume that would go down my sink or in the trash can is cut by 100% in the sink and 96% minimum in trash because it dehydrates it grinds it and leaves it like a loose sediment. It even does small bones but they are still in their form so we just run those into the trash. If we run a batch of non-animal related products we can take the remnant at a 10 to 1 ratio with soil and amend our soil and use it to consume in our bodies but if we use eggshells or cheese or something like that then we do not consume that in our bodies and at the same ratio use that for our flower planting. It is so nice to know that my pipes are clean and our waste is minimalized. I'm not being a snotty person or anything like that it's just that having a farm/rancher mentality you tend to take care of everything that is before you and you waste not if you want not. Farmers and ranchers are good stewards of the Earth and that is a bit of a bias and an approach. And to have a product like this is awesome. The underlying question is would I buy another one and I would definitely buy another one and I hope that some of the pricing will get a little less than a quality food grinder under the sink. I guess a question would be do we miss having a garbage disposal and the answer is resoundingly no. We have already adapted not even in a month of use and people are amazed that it's 4-Hour cycle. Let's say we have some friends over for breakfast and we have a heavy processing day. Once the food is fully been prepped and the plates have been cleaned after the food has been eaten into this device we may run it right then because about 4 hours from now it'll be ready and it could be a little more than that depending on volume. What do we do if we have another meal in between we then simply leave one plate with that preparation remnant and after dumping the original run will add the next remnant and then into dinner and of course start the cycle of nightly running. This product is well made, extremely simple to operate and a blessing for us. I think another nice thing is not hearing a garbage disposal run or that putrid smell that emanates and that you have to constantly clean. That is a small benefit that I was not expecting. Lastly, we are very mindful of our sink/drain management and what goes down that pipe. It has to end up somewhere. If I put something that is not necessarily great because of a habit or what I've been trained to do and it affects your water supply then I have not been a good neighbor to you and I have caused you an extra layer of toxicity that your body does not need. So there you go, I hope you enjoy the purchase and maybe you have to wait for it to go on sale like we did and I am asking Vitamix to get a little bit lower price on that thing. But I would definitely save a little money and buy it. We try to pay for things in advance and wait until we have the money to pay for it as to not create a vicious cycle of credit and more so indebtedness. Thank you Vitamix for a well thought out product and you got full thumbs up from us. Blessings to you all.

We've had this nice little appliance for 6 weeks and can now, confidently, say that it's well worth it. I got it on sale for $299 which made it much more attractive than the more expensive "other brand". I also prefer the cubic shape because it slides into spaces nicely. The inner bucket is 2L. I worried that it would be too small but I think that I like that because I really wouldn't want moist, organic waste sitting around very long. That said, there are days when I do have to run it twice. Outside of those days, every other day is the norm. Extra bucket, would be nice but not for $100. I just use a bowl until I can get the bucket back. Suitable foods - we put veg and fruit scraps, rice, breads, egg shells. The odd bit of cheese ends up in there too. I will rough chop banana peels and avocado seeds. Fibrous things tend to get stuck between the paddles and inner bucket wall. Onion peels do not seem to break down so I will use scissors to cut them up going forward. It is a fairly long cycle, so we try to keep to off peak hours or weekends. With regards to smell, there can be a bit of an earthy/funky smell but it's not smelly like bad food. If the weather is not bad, I will put it out in the gazebo. On bad weather days, I put it on top of the stove with the rangehood fan on. It is easy to use - fill the bucket, line up the arrow on the bucket with the arrow on the unit, tuck the handle down, put the lid on, lock it and press the button. Output - after 6 weeks, we have about 3L of output and our green bin is about 1/3 full by garbage day which comes around every week. It's mostly cat litter and meat bones.

I have been eyeing a different brand for awhile now. Feeling guilty about all the food waste I throw away. Living in the city I can’t compost. I was on the fence regarding, ordering. After research I found the Vita mix food recycler!!! No waiting months and I have complete confidence in vita mix brand owning a vita mix machine for over 21 years & never had a problem. With also the confidence I have in Amazon I jumped in. Order with next day delivery. I couldn’t wait to use this machine. That night my bucket was full and off I went to push that button. Like a kid in a candy store. I was so excited to open the lid after the cycle finished. This machine IS AMAZING. I am telling everyone about it in Canada and the USA. Where has she been all my life! I want to point out, this thing is so quite I had to keep going to the machine to make sure it was working. I am not sure why peeps would say it’s noisy lol. But it’s NOT! It does a great job and now I can blend the fertilizer into my gardens. Almost everything but bones, nuts and pits will go into it. I would not hesitate in buying this, Go for it! You will never feel guilty again for throwing away your veggie scraps. Either for yourself or a gift you need this in your life. So stoked I jumped in to buy this vitamix food recycler I named her “Cler” and she is a member of our family now. Thank you so much for developing this machine. Thank you to Amazon fir your continued excellent service!!

This is one of those purchases that is want rather than need. We have an outdoor compost bin which is not well utilized and I believe has added to our rodent problem. This is not cheap by any means. I have used it daily now for more than a month and I am very pleased with the results. It has limitations in that I don't think very hard compost pieces will work in it. Stringy vegetables will also not work as it will get wound up around the rotating component. The end product is literally resembling Sawdust. One time I put in something that was too moist and the end product was very sticky and stuck to the rotating blades. I just repeated the cycle and it worked perfectly. It is easy to clean if you just soak the container in water for a few hours if something was baked on during the drying cycle. Overall very happy with this purchase as it has reduced my compost waste immensely and I just tip the end product into my garden.

I have composted for fifty years, using every method there is: outdoor wire bin, outdoor wooden bin, indoor worm bin, garbage can sunk into the ground, digging directly into the garden beds, collecting kitchen waste to deliver to a municipal composting facility - all the while having to freeze meat and fish waste to take to the landfill (I live in a rural area). But the bears and raccoons finally defeated me, and I decided to invest in this kitchen composter, and I wish I had done it sooner. It does what it promises, and produces a fluffy, soil-like substance that I can mix into potting soil or scatter directly onto the garden. I tried using it on its own as potting soil, but it became very hard and compact - not recommended. What I've learned from experience: chop up anything stringy (banana peels, celery stalks, rhubarb); remove the strings from tea bags; don't put too much oil in (I once added a good quantity of leftover marinade made of oil and sugar, and it totally gummed up the works - the machine complained halfway through the process, and I had to stop it manually). I've had this unit for six months and have yet to change the main filter. I'm not concerned about the carbon filter in the lid, as our kitchen waste doesn't sit long enough to generate any odours. I highly recommend this composter as a way to eliminate kitchen waste that would otherwise go to the landfill.

Can you be in love with an appliance? What a game changer! No more fruit flies and maggots! I put mine in my garage because of its size (and my limited counter space) and also for the smells during operation that some might not like. It gives a nice dry compost that smells very good. I give my compost to a friend who has a garden and he really appreciates!