Side by Side Comparison of: OXO vs Norpro vs Columbian Home vs Progressive

Perfect and quick for applesauce. Cut my work time from 2 hrs to 15 minutes! No more peeling apples. Just core, put in slow cooker for 2 hrs on high and 5 min to go thru the mill. So easy on my arthritic hands. Clean-up is a breeze. Oxo rarely lets me down. TIP: it wouldn't fit on any of my steel bowls, so I used a mixing bowl. To keep it from slipping, I set it on a towel on top of a cutting board (pic #1). The 2nd pic shows how little waste there is after processing a gallon of applesauce--amazing!!

My husband says he really likes it. He is glad it is stainless steel. He likes it much better than our old one that rusted.

We used the for several weeks in a home EC class and they held up very well to students using them.

Our tomato garden was particularly bountiful this year.
However, that would usually mean hours of tedious work by the kitchen sink to skin, core, and seed those buckets of tomatoes to make sauces and soups. I had purchased an expensive food mill a few years ago from Williams-Sonoma, but it performed so poorly that I took it back. This year I did some research and decided to try the OXO Good Grips food mill, and it works like a charm. Those tomatoes were all pureed in no time, and clean-up was a breeze.
I haven't tried milling other foods yet, but I bet this would be great for applesauce, too.

A few important tips:
Cook the tomatoes in boiling water 1 - 2 minutes to loosen the skins, and cut any large tomatoes into chunks before you mill them.
Make sure the sieve disc at the bottom of the food bowl is inserted so that the peak is pointed upward, or it won't work.
As you rotate the handle to crush the tomatoes, occasionally do some backwards turns to redistribute the tomatoes.
Work in batches so you don't overfull the food bowl, and rinse out any debris from seeds and skins between each batch.
Use a spatula to scrape any thick juices that cling to the underside.

For anyone interested, here's a great, easy recipe for Chicken Parmesan Soup that you can make with a pound of tomatoes:

Heat 2 Tb olive oil in large soup pot over medium heat.
Add 2 cups chopped onion and 1 tsp salt, and cook 8 minutes to soften.
Add 1 Tb minced garlic and ½ tsp red pepper flakes, and cook 1 minute.

Add 6 cups Swanson’s chicken broth.
Add 1 lb pureed tomatoes and 2 Tb tomato paste.
Add 2 tsp chopped fresh oregano and 1 Tb chopped fresh basil.
Cover pot, and simmer 10 minutes, then puree the soup with an immersion blender.

Add 1 lb boneless chicken cut into bite size pieces.
Add 8 oz spiral pasta, cover, and simmer 15 minutes until chicken and pasta are cooked.

Off heat, stir in ½ cup grated Parmesan until melted.
Stir in 4 Tb chopped fresh basil.
Season to taste with salt & pepper, and add a little sugar, if needed.

Bon appetit!

My family has a weakness for blackberries.
We live in the Pacific Northwest. They grow everywhere.
In late August and September, we start getting grumpy if we haven't had a blackberry pie within the week.
I canned 21 quarts of blackberry jam this summer.
We really like our blackberries!

Over the years, we've tried a number of techniques to remove the seeds. Pantyhose. Cheesecloth. Wire mesh strainers. All of those techniques remove far too much pulp with the seeds. We always end up mixing the pulp and seeds back in and making our jam and pies with seeds in. Recently I needed a food mill to prep some pears for pear butter. When this one arrived, I noticed the disc with the smallest holes appeared just the right size for straining out blackberry seeds.

Solely interested in serving the Amazon community, I went and picked enough berries to make 4 quarts of jam and two pies. My 4 y.o. son and I then had a jolly good time of milling them. This mill did a fantastic job of removing nearly every seed from bucket after bucket of blackberries. And it didn't take long either. To avoid the appearance that our testing was biased, we donated the blissfully seed free pies and jam to charity. If you believe that last sentence, I've got some blackberry seeds I'd like to sell you.

Oh yeah, it also did a fine job of milling our pears.

This set is perfect for someone who is just starting out canning! I got my own stuff (this and a canner), and had my mom come over to my house. She was impressed that I had all of the things necessary to can. She showed me how to use all of the tools that I received so I didn't use the manual too much but each of them worked well and did their job nicely. Easy to clean and easy to store. Like the packaging, love the product.

A great basic set of canning tools. Nothing fancy, just what you need to do an excellent job.

I have had this little kit about 2 years now, and it included everything I needed except an instant thermometer which I already had. Everything is still in perfectly usable shape. I keep the set all together so I bought an additional funnel for other uses. For canning a few times a year this is great.

This canning set is extremely helpful while I prepare to pressure can! The tools make the process go much smoother as I have the tools for every step ready to go. I find the bubble popper and magnetic lid lifter the most helpful and useful. I also appreciate that the jar lifter is not metal and doesn't pose any possible wear and tear to the jars!

My package arrived promptly and undamaged. I got real good use out of the canning set this summer. The six pieces are a great starter kit if you are interested in canning. Everything you need is included in the box as the description says. I can see using this same set for a number of years to come since I don't do extensive canning.I highly recommend this product for beginners as well as seasoned pros.

I absolutely love them, because before I used to be so worried that I would drop the hot jars getting them out of the canner using the regular tongs! I love canning food, but I also got burned quite a bit using the old utensils. Now I am able to can more safely, especially with the jar lifters, as they have a special shaped lifter that actually fits the rims of the lids and takes them out of the canner better. I can safely release the pressure in the canner and cut the processing and cool down time down exponentially. The entire set is great, and a wonderful aid to working in the kitchen!

I purchased this as a gift for a family member who has recently started canning. He is extremely happy with it. He loves the rack, which makes taking jars out of the water bath easy. It is also very large so he can do bigger batches. It's heavy duty and quality made. I expect it will last many years with proper care.

This was my first time making real jam - actually sterilizing the jars and then processing them after. I was originally going to use a large pot to process the jars and tongs to remove them once they were don't. I'm so glad I decided to buy this canner instead! It even comes with canning instructions.The rack to lower and lift the jars worked perfectly. It was a tad to big for the amount of jam I was making but over all, this made my jamming process a lot easier. I've only used it once, but it seems made of a lightweight yet sturdy material.

This has proved to be a very useful purchase. We initially bought it just for water baths, but it's a great size for making large batches of stocks, soups and stews! It takes up quite a lot of room on our stove and overlaps the next burner, so that it's unusable. But that's hardly a complaint. In fact, we are thinking we may need a 2nd one very soon!

I like this because it is large enough to make my stock in, as well as using it for my canning. I've already made pickles. It was really great to get the insert to lift the jars in and out of the hot water. And my pickles turned out great. I haven't made them in a very long time. This is a great deal.

Brand new to canning but used this my first batches of 3 jams for Christmas gifts. Turned out great. Seems like it cost me a fortune to get bottles and the canning kit and then the fruit, etc. but now that I have all, I will be making a lot of jam. I made fresh peanut butter in my Vitamix so gave both in matching bottles with tags. Cute and very liked. Still getting calls about the banana jam. Great pot. Perfect and did not break my wallet.

After attempting to make jam without a waterbath canner, I ordered this item directly. It's just like the one my mom used when I was a kid, and I look forward to many years of happy canning. The quality is better than the others I've looked at lately in the stores, and the price on AZ was far less. Made in the USA is a great perk, and something I look for when purchasing, so I was glad to see my faith in American made products was met with a quality item.

I read a bunch of reviews before I bought this. I needed something do do tomatoes in. The other units did not have a solid handle, one did not have legs to stabilize it when turning handle.

Does it mill, yes but you have to get the tomato cut up very small. I think I need a three quart to do tomato quarters.

This unit may work well for berries, and I will be keeping it for that.

We went ahead and purchased a juicer, to get the job done faster. I then took the pulp out and ran it through this meal, I got more juice by using this mill, so it works. I just cant spend hours turning the handle, when you have 10 lbs of tomatoes to seed.

It works well. It is a bit of work but, it will remove the seeds from blackberry. I made about 18 pints of blackberry jam and have decided it is worth the effort. Wild blackberry jam is better without the seeds. I also used it to puree tomatoes for tomato sauce. Does a good job of removing the skins and most seeds.

It works pretty well for getting all of the juice out of a batch of fermented hot peppers I made. Yes it take a bit of time but it did what it was supposed to do without a flaw. The peppers I used are extremely hot so I was not going to feel the stuff left behind to see how much moisture got left behind but it looked like I got most of the juice out. It cleaned up easily enough and did not stain even though I was using red peppers. I think the rubber pads kept it from slipping around on the pot I used which could have been a big problem if I got splashed with the juice. The crank felt pretty stable with no real play in it so it seems to be well built. Comes with three screens but I only used the fine screen. At the end I over did it by putting to much in but reversing it clears the screen and it was easy enough to push the excess down to be pressed. I deducted one star because I think that if it pressed down a little bit harder I would have gotten more juice out of it. But those who use these type of mills might believe differently. I do believe in this price range that it is the best you could get at the price.

I bought this largely on the strength of the reviews primarily to use for preparing hummus. The size was OK, construction of the body and crank seems pretty solid, but the discs provided are sized too far apart. Perhaps the strength of the spring that provides pressure on the food being milled is a bit weak (at least for chickpeas). I started with the finest disc and gave up after about 20 minutes and switched to coarse. I found the batch of chickpeas went through the coarse disc fairly easily, however even after going through the coarse disc when I then tried to mill again using the fine disc I again gave up after twenty minutes. I then ran the batch (ground once with coarsest disc) through the medium and it worked "OK" but still I had to resort to using a spoon to push through some of the end of the batch past the medium disc. More graduated discs or perhaps more pressure on the screw would allow to mill the food much faster through multiple stages to get the desired final texture.

I was tempted by 3 stars, but construction seems pretty solid (though design could be a bit better) so I ended up on 4 stars.

I've had my eye on getting a food mill for awhile. If you're like me you've hesitated at getting a 'good' one for several hundred dollars a few times and decided to spend the money on something else. I finally bit the bullet and bought this to make baby food after seeing the good reviews and the price tag. I must say after using it a few times today it's fantastic! It pureed potatoes and peas like a champ so far. The clean up is also a breeze as is changing the discs out. I have nightmares of my Mom's from childhood that had a bolt and nuts and washers and springs to reassemble and clean. Not so with this model. The horizontal bar has a quick release and it pops right apart. A quick rinse right after use and a scrub here and there and done. Easy and efficient. I can't speak to the durability as of yet, but it seems study and the rubber legs gripped the bowl below perfectly. Don't wait if you've been wanting one. Great.

This arrived yesterday and will replace the old ones I'm using

Arrived on schedule and was exactly what I expected.

Just as I ordered, a little cheap construction but that was to be expected.

Works as intended. I didn't give it 5 stars due to appearance. While everything is green, they are different shades of green. Otherwise perfect!

This is a good overall canning set at a good value.I have used these for pickling garlic, green beans, okra and cucumbers.The only issue I had is one time the plastic gripper separated from the jar lifter when I first used it. I pushed it back together and it hasn't been a problem since. It may not have been assembled completely when made.

Great for first time canning! I recently went apple picking and got a half bushel of apples... what to do? What to do? MAKE APPLE BUTTER! I got the Norpro 6 canning set and it worked great. It was easy to clean and didn't break the bank. Only reason for taking away a star: the grabber tongs came apart when I was pulling the cans out of the boiling water. Easy enough to fix... just a little wonky.Looking forward to using this in the summer for jams!!!

Very big and will not fit on one burner on my electric stove. Also, left a brown mark on white top after boiling so hot for so long. But it has a great price and got the job done.

I would give 5 stars except for the fact that the rack has some rust in the edges after one use. I'm sure after a while, I'll have to replace it. Don't want rust all over my jar lids. Otherwise, this is great! The pot keeps even heat and boils nicely. For the good price, I highly recommend!

Does the trick for canning quart, pint and half-pint jars. The rack it comes with is pretty flimsy and started to rust almost immediately but I only use it to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot so it's not really a problem. It's also useful for those rare times I'm cooking a dozen ears of corn, or steaming lobsters. I'd buy it again.

This is a great addition to my kitchen. I love to cook and bake. This is the same canner my grandmother and aunts use, and it's clear why: it's extremely good at that job. Upon receiving it, I immediately rinsed it out and got started canning the applesauce I had just made. The pot is sturdy and well-made (although only single-layer metal), and the rack is stable and sturdy as well. It's huge and holds a lot of water. I only put six 8 oz. cans in it, but it could've easily held nine or ten. Overall, the canner worked exactly as intended.Pros: cheap, does its job, large, sturdy.Cons: takes a long time to heat water (because it's so big), probably wouldn't be good for much other than canning/boiling water (since it's single-layer metal and not as good at distributing heat).

I'm very new to canning so don't have much to compare to but this seemed like a reasonably good set. I've used it a couple times and seems to work well. Takes a very long time to heat up the water to a boil but it is a very large capacity! It would be nice if the rack had more structure to it to hold the jars in place (they can fall over fairly easily while you're trying to move them) but that might prohibit jars of different sizes.Overall, good quality and functional set.

Nice size. lightweight -- just what I expected. I had a similar-sized steamer canner for the past 10+ years that I have been limping along with. I didn't relish the idea of waiting for water to boil (instead of using steam) but it wasn't a big deal at all. Plus, it just seems a lot safer. I did return my first one because the enamel was chipped on the bottom. The replacement has some imperfections in the coating, but I think it will be fine (at least I hope so)

It is OK!

not the miracle worker I hoped for. tomatoes require some cooking anyway and you end up with very watery sauce.

I feel the plate that pushes the food onto the screen should accept more food. The one my mother had years ago worked better. The unit works well other than that.

I am disappointed only by the "legs". I feel it makes the item unstable. I think they are in the way. If I took more time to think about the purchase I probably wouldn't have chosen a food mill with those plastic fold up legs. I do like the three size discs. I made a tomato sauce and I detest the tomato seeds (that makes the sauce bitter - as a hint to beginning cooks) and the medium disc did a great job. Good enough capacity for a one/two person household and I don't mind putting the tomatoes or cranberries or whatever in with multiple passes. Easy to clean.

I used to have an old stainless steel food mill and wanted to replace it. This one was an ok replacement. The OXO Good Grips Food Mill appealed to me because it had 3 interchangeable blades, a nice and easy detachable clip for the hand crank, and importantly, the little feet grips. Love the feet grips!

I mainly use this to make tomato sauce and it does do a good job of it, except I found that it only works well with the largest size blade. The medium and small blades don't really allow the food to go through well and I found myself constantly scrapping the blades off. I still like it as a kitchen tool, but will probably just use the large blade.

I really don't like the white exterior and don't understand why they couldn't have just left this as stainless steel like the rest of the product. The white part can get a bit dirty with food and I am worried it will stain over time. Only time will tell I guess.

It works for it purpose however there are better options. Everything about this set feels cheap. As I mentioned, it does it job but if you want a nice solid set of canning tools, look around.

I immediately replaced the jar lifter in this set due to the lack of sturdy construction. All other items all fine just didn't like the cheapness of the jar lifter. I bought the Ball pro lifter to replace the kit lifter.

what can i say about plastic

A good starter set for occasional use. We melted the plastic funnel and the jar lifter comes apart if you pull too hard. The problem is, the metal is not continuous through the black cylindrical handles, rather, it inserts, and not far enough, into each end of the cylinders. Its a good enough set for 20-30 jars on occasion.

This canning set is nice, though while pickling carrots, I only found a use for the funnel, lifter and magnetic lid lifter. I am new to canning but don't find the other tools necessary. With that said, the price of the set is great and the other tools may come in handy someday when I am trying to can new things.

An ok set of tools for canning.This doesn't scream "quality", not "last forever" for the metallic parts But the price was great. So overall I give it 3 stars.The funnel is ok but not more. I'll buy something better separately

I used the water bath canner and once i was done, I washed/put away. I used it again a few days later and noticed rust on the rack edges and on the pot itself. I have soft water that is also filtered so I am very disappointed that its rusting and makes me question the material. Other than that, it does the job.

I guess I shouldn't have expected too much at this price point. The canning rack rusted the very first time I used it. The pot seems fine though.

Good starter kit but took forever to boil on my electric stover. I assume the units that cost more have a sturdier bottom that conducts heat better. If you just can a few things a year this will work just fine.

Can't use this on my glass cook top so I have to use the burner on my grill outside to can...great pot though, big and heats quickly...

No where in the description of this item did it say it could not be used on glasstop stoves. So I can't use it.However, the quality seems to be decent for being a cheap canner, and the rack inside seems pretty durable, not thin cheap metal where it bends. Seems decently thick and sturdy. Wish I could have used it! I ended up having to buy a Presto aluminum pressure canning pot!

Good product, but there was a flaw in the porcelain coating on the inside. This will affect the life of the product. I, personally, don't feel it's worth the time and trouble of returning the item. But, when it gives out, I'll replace it with something different.

I really wanted to love this, especially after reading all the great reviews, but there are just too many cons for me. For the most part, I agree with some of the pros, like being easy to clean. So, in this review I will share the 3 cons that would make me not likely to recommend this food mill.

CONS:
- Cumbersome! It has so many pieces and an awkward shape which makes storage difficult
- Function: I was SO disappointed. I thought the texture of my puree was okay but was more angry at the fact that food gets caught in the bottom of the disk and even while turning the handle back and forth, it simply doesn't budge!
- Size: on the small side. For making big pots of tomato soup or mashed potatoes, you will really be turning for awhile.

Overall, I would not recommend this product. Instead, I purchased a Cuisinart Smart Stick and have not regretted it.

Too messy and difficult to clean outbut will be able to use for something--sometime

This thing fell out of my drawer the other day and I considered tossing it out. I had been looking for a potato ricer back in January 2016 since I heard they make the best mashed potatoes. Of course I searched through different ones reading reviews and came across this. It had such great reviews I thought I'd give it a try. Well 1st attempt I put the potatoes in, turned the handle and it didn't go so well, the potatoes get jammed in the feeder and you have to spatula the bottom to keep it moving through, it was a mess. I had wanted something that would be quick and easy with minimal clean-up. This was not the tool to use. It was not quick, doesn't hold that many potatoes at a time and it gets jammed and you will be forever trying to ungunk (yes I invented a new word), this thing with a fork. My kitchen was a mess. I finally had to move all the potatoes to a bowl and mash them with a hand masher.

I thought this would be easier than using my kitchen aid then having to clean that. But it was not. I don't know if this works for other things like fruits or veggies (others say they have great success using it). I did give it one more try using a different type of potato but still had the same rotten outcome.

I have learned my lesson and will never try using it again for potatoes, and I wonder now why I'm even keeping it, I can't see myself using it for anything else, I have a nice food processor. But you know how it goes once I toss it 2 weeks later I'll find a recipe that will require using it, so I'll try to keep it till the end of the year, if nothing comes up.. this thing is gone.

I was told you could use this for raw foods not just cooked (as in soft raw foods.)
I must have been misinformed because it didn't peel or even grate apricots, mangoes, peaches, or anything else I tried.
I ended up breaking it (I wasn't being forceful.)

The first time I used this it was on canned whole tomatoes to put into a sauce. I used the medium disk. The tomatoes mostly swirled around the pot for the first few minutes. After I packed them down with my fingers a few times and tried to slide them under the mashing disk, they eventually started going through better. But it was annoying and I feel a $50 food mill shouldn't do that. Then there was a lot of pulp stuck to the underside of the mill. I had to take a spatula to scrape it off into my sauce...my mom has a food mill that has a little arm that spins close to the bottom of her mill and it scrapes the food away as it gets pushed through. I REALLY wish this one had that but it does not and it's extra work. I kind of wish I returned this item. It's sturdy and is easy to assemble and take apart but it has problems that are not worth those two positive points. I wouldn't buy it for any one.

Save your money

This came missing a piece (lid lifter magnet). I needed it right away, so I went out and bought the missing piece.Box doesn't come sealed.

Product came damaged and with metal slivers and dust inside.

Don't get this if you have a flat cook top. The bottom is ridged. I had to return it as you can risk cracking the top of your stove.

Very thin, not your mothers pot... porcelain chips when pot is easily dented.

I returned this because once it arrived I saw that it was ONLY to be used for hot water bath canning. I wanted it for a stock pot - wasn't going to work for that purpose.

There was a dent in the pot and a couple sharp places where the surface was not smooth on the edge of the lid and pot. If I am not careful when washing/handling it I could cut myself on it. Also the package was bent when delivered, as have been all packages I have gotten from Amazon.

The granite ware pot that I purchased is great. The rack is very questionable. After one batch of canning the coating on the rack is all bubbled up and peeling off, Not sure if it is safe to use again, not sure what chemical is spayed on it. I tried to email seller but it is the only item I have purchased from amazon that there is no options to leave feedback for seller. Not sure how to return one piece of a product. The pot is a great size.

Does not work for potatoes. The potatoes that are in the bowl are more riced than the tiny portion that makes it through the sieve. Waste of money!!!

The product was a disappointment! I tried to use it on cut up tomatoes and all it did was spin the tomatoes in a circle. Only when I started pressing the fruit with my fingers did it start to work. When I removed my fingers, the fruit started spinning in a circle again.

...actually, my wife hates it...bought OXO because of the brand name, and it replaces an old-fashioned European mill that was left behind when we moved...but...the folding extended legs tended to collapse into the bowl when used, and the sieve with the largest holes couldn't handle cooked apples...back it went...

It is really good for exercising your arm muscles. I bought it to make pear butter. After cranking it for about 15 minutes, it produced about a tablespoon of pear sauce. It keeps jamming and you have to constantly reverse crank it to unjam it. I am back to using a paring knife.

food just gets squished between the parts you need to have a lot of food in order to get any decent amount to eat.

Only received 4 of the 6 items

You get what you pay for, I guess, which is not much in this case. The most useful item in the set is the jar lifter which is also unfortunately the worst made item. The metal part of the handle separated from the black plastic part on the first use. After a few uses, both sides separated. This is dangerous when you're handling hot glass jars as you can easily lose your grip on the jar. This could've been avoided if the metal frame went into the plastic a little further but the manufacturer probably saved a penny. The rest of the items (with the exception of the magentic lid lifter) most probably already have in their kitchens. The most critical component of the set, the jar lifter, is made extremely cheaply and may cause a dropped jar and possible cuts and/or burns.

magnet is so weak that the lids cannot be taken out from the sterilizer without falling back down.

Cheaply made

Could not use on glass top stove,had to return.

I guess I really shouldn't be surprised, given the price, but the quality of this product just isn't there. My pot came very well-packaged in a cardboard box with inserts, but the bottom of the pan was caved in about 1/2" deep at the worst spot, and what's worse, the nature of the damage means that the pot sits cockeyed on a medium-sized burner. I'm not surprised about this at all though, because the steel is so thin they needed to corrugate the bottom to put some stiffness into it. I'd guess that the steel is probably around a 26-28 ga (almost like thick paper), not including the enamel.Oh, and the lid doesn't sit flat on the pot. I guess I could use this on a campfire as a steam generator? I wish it would be worth my while to return this crappy thing.

This had a dent in the bottom and the enamel was coming apart on the inside. I had to send it back.

I have only used this canner a few times, and have been careful to empty/clean it gently when finished, but it already has a small rusty spot that appears to extend through the whole bottom of the pot. I fear it will leak before too long, and would have expected much better quality.

Loved this canner at first. I bought it because it was slightly taller than my older one so it didn't boil over when I was processing quart jars. I can quite a bit but I expected the life of the pot to be longer than 2 years. Just this evening I filled it up and there was a small hole in the bottom edge...it leaks and is totally worthless. I have seen this happen in much older pots but not one that was this new. BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. Also, had to purchase a stainless steel rack after a month as the one included had rusted.

Avoid low price such as this. The rack inside the pot corroded within the first week. I now use clean towels in the bottom of pot to keep jars from breaking. The heavy duty bright green carrier by Ball Canning is good but doesn't fit but 5 small jars at a time.