This is an infuriating purchase quandary. What would you do?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I bought a very cheap but very good Hamilton Beach Food processor for the low, low price of $29 bucks. Great little workhorse (I grind my dog’s kibble to a powder to make it easier to mix with other ingredients to stuff and freeze bones…plus other things, but that’s the most regular use and using it like that trashed two other food processors.)

But it shimmied off the counter and the lid to the work bowl got kinda smashed up. The feed tube and about a third of the actual top broke off. But enough remains so that I can actually still use it, the part that trips the power is still there and it’s just a big messy pain to find ways to cover it so the food doesn’t fly out and it’s not so great for liquids any more. I really need to replace the lid.

But replacing the lid, with shipping, will run almost $18. Seriously.

I can go out tomorrow and replace the whole shebang with a brand new one for the same $29 I paid originally, I saw it last week at the same store.

One part of me says, hell, for $11 I can just get a whole new processor, who knows when this one is going to die, I’ve been using it for over a year.

And another part of me says that’s just self-indulgent and wasteful and unnecessary, since it would leave me with a machine that works perfectly, it just needs a lid, and what would I do with that? Toss it? That would drive me crazy, adding a big slab of working appliance to a landfill - and yes, I know that one item is nothing compared to the landfill, but it’s just my sensibilities, I have a thing about that kind of wastefulness.

Do I just put it in a closet just in case? Add more half-broken shit I don’t use to my stacks of shit I don’t use already and just commit to being a hoarder?

Try to sell it in a garage sale or give it to Goodwill, where someone else will then be faced with the same $11 decision? (Assuming anyone wanted it, which they wouldn’t, I don’t think…even free.)

This annoys the shit out of me.

If you relate to my annoyance and why all the answers grate, what would your ultimate decision be?

2

Is $29 a big part of your budget? $18 for just a lid seems a bit much to me, when the entire device was originally only $29 (probably less now, since you’ve had it for awhile.)

I think I’d just chuck it and get a new one. You can spend $18 on a lid but eventually you’re going to have to spend $29 for a new machine. Let’s just skip the middle step.

3

I completely understand your dilemma. I would have the same debate with myself.

If it will help, you have my permission to buy a new food processor and throw away (do not donate, do not stash) the old one.

4

We have a lot of do-it-yourself experts here–so perhaps someone can tell you how to put humpty-dumpty back together again.

5

Why wouldn’t you buy a new one? To save $11?

6

If you have a Freecycle in your area, you can try giving the old one away. There’s folks on there who cannibalize stuff like this for parts, too.

7

I’d buy a new one, even on a tight budget, because there may be damage you’ve yet to discover that might cause your current machine to stop working sooner than it would otherwise. Meaning you’d have to spend another $29 anyway.

Replace it.

8

Your dogs are as spoiled as mine.

9

Just get a new one. If it craps out, you’ll still have a lid to use with the old one.

10

Yep. Around here, if i were to put such a thing on top of my trash at the end of my drive, it’d be gone before the truck came in the morning.

11

Not worth worrying about, buy a new one and give away the old one.

12

I’m cheap and a bit of a fix-it-upper, and disposing of a perfectly functional motor-chopper unit for the sake of a sub-$20 plastic lid would bug me to no end. In this situation (which occurs not infrequently, actually), I usually do prefer to get the part and restore the device I own to operation.

If I’m overruled (because my wife is also a voting member on our “fix or replace” committee), I’ll salvage the salvageable bits (like the motor) and toss the rest. Although in the case of a food processor, if you’re buying a precise replacement, you may want to hang onto the blades (if you can safely store them), because it’s nice to have spares.

I really do prefer to fix. I’ve always thought modern society’s “Ending is better than mending” mindset was abhorrent. But that’s my own decision, and someone without a DIY mindset is free to balance costs and opportunities differently.

13

I would buy the new one, use the lid with the old one until it craps out which it no doubt it will eventually, then use the new one.

14

^ Best answer. (Or, buy a whole new one and use only the top, until the old one gives out.)

If you buy a whole new one and get rid of the still-good part you have, you will find yourself back in the same situation when either end of the new one has a problem.

15

Well, just “dog” singular at the moment… :frowning: (Sure do miss my Zu…) but it’s not spoiling! There are multiple reasons why it’s a good thing:

  1. Keeps 'em busy, something to do. Gotta work for your food!
  2. Facilitates multiple feedings so lots of work to do.
  3. Prevents BLOAT… which freaks me out, my sister’s Mastiff died of that… yeesh.
  4. I can’t prove it, but I’m pretty sure it’s done great things for Preston’s teeth.

Anti-boredom = anti-destruction. Not that Preston would be destructive, it’s just good practice all around.

It’s kind of a pain to prep it all (the powdered kibble gets mixed with boiled meats and veges and fat) but then I have a big pile of “puppy popsicles” to just grab all day long.

16

Buy a new one and then you will have a spare base. Don’t throw it away, just throw away the lid. Spare parts people!

17

Here’s a lid for $7 free shipping: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hamilton-Beach-FP04-BLENDER-CHEF-Food-Processor-Attachment-lid-/201339309479?hash=item2ee0c20da7:g:d5AAAOSwBahVPtMN

Here’s another for $7.79 free shipping (different model) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hamilton-Beach-Scovill-Lid-with-Pusher-Model-363-Food-Processor-Parts-/261495066906?hash=item3ce252111a:g:WE0AAOxy3cJTi7~c

18

nm. Forgot to refresh and have been thoroughly ninja’d

19

Thanks Omar… I got all excited, but neither of those are the right ones for my processor. :frowning:

20

Yep, we’re done here now. Sarahfeena nailed it.