Food processors are designed to take the hassle out of food prep tasks and save you precious time in the kitchen. But they can vary massively in price, size and what they can do – and we’ve found some can be more of a hindrance than a help. Simply choose your vegetable or fruit, ensuring it will fit down the feeder shoot. Guide the vegetable down the feeder chute using the plunger and watch the perfect spirals collect in the dedicated container. Spaghetti and Ribbons

Food processors range massively in size and weight. Make sure you have enough kitchen counter space for the appliance you choose – think about the height of any cabinets above where you’ll put the food processor that may obstruct the feeding tubes or lids. If it's going to live in your cupboard, can you lift it in and out easily? Some are pretty hefty, weighing as much as 11kg. How much should I spend on a food processor?

Most spiralizers come with changeable blades for everything from thin curls to chunky ribbons, so you can create more than just spaghetti-like vegetables. If you want to experiment with different vegetables and shapes or make salads with intricate garnishes, those extra blades will come in handy. Ease of cleaning The Express is essentially a one-function food processor, with a taller chute. Yet I’m horrified by how easy it is to use. A switch trips the revolving, hidden blade. Gravity helps guide the veg to an aesthetic death, streamers of beet purling tub-ward, like blood in water. I depress a courgette, dribble oil, and create a healthy dish in seconds. Manual models often leave sizeable, unspiralized vegetable stumps. Not so here – after the action, one is left holding an acceptably small knob – which is a good thing. All food processors come with a knife blade for basic tasks, but some models come with even more attachments. We've seen blenders, citrus juicers, dough hooks, grating blades, mills, mini bowls, shredding blades, slicing blades and spatulas. Some food processors come with a lid that has a wider feed tube so you can process larger items, such as potatoes or cucumbers, without having to chop them up first. Dishwasher-safe attachments and accessories

Assembling the machine was simple; it’s pretty intuitive to put together and we were ready to spiralize in seconds. We started by making courgetti using the finer of the two blades. After topping and tailing a courgette – it can be peeled for a greater similarity to spaghetti – I halved it and attached the plunger. Gently pushing it towards the blade, it produced consistent swirls of vegetable that collected in the beaker below. There were a few scraps of skin that had been peeled off during the spiralizing and seeds to remove, but otherwise I was left with long runs of courgetti and a cone-shaped end piece of courgette that could be sliced up and used in another dish. Some food processors come with a wide variety of accessories, which can take up a lot of valuable kitchen storage space. If you think this is going to be a problem, look for a model with a storage box or storage compartment included. What size and capacity food processor should I buy? Bowl size

The collected items are kept at recycling centres or retailers and then taken to a reprocessing plant where they are shredded into small pieces for recycling. Recycle Now reports that all the raw materials are distributed to create new products. How we test food processors It’d be good to see a slower speed to help it handle vegetables that require a bit of practice to get right, such as sweet potato, and a wider feed tube to reduce prep time. Beyond that, it’s a smart idea that’s been executed well. Make sure the food processor has the tools for the tasks you need to do. It’s worth buying a food processor with a jug blender attachment if you want the versatility of blending smoothies or soup as well as processing food. If you're buying a food processor, but like to bake, you may want to look out for a model that comes with a beater attachment for whipping and whisking and/or a dough blade. Typically mini choppers are smaller and less expensive versions of food processors. While they take up less space, they are usually limited in what they can do, such as handling small amounts of chopping and puréeing.