The $5 Target Kitchen Find I Only Wish I Had Bought Sooner

If you read my story about the ALDI meat chopper, you know that I try to minimize gimmicky gadgets in my kitchen. (Despite its precise name, the meat chopper is far from gimmicky!) The me from 15 years ago wouldn't have had this boundary—I wanted to try and own everything!

Having kids also means owning more "stuff," and I’ve been trying my best to minimize unnecessary items. So I admit, I debated picking up the electric citrus juicer I found in Target's Dollar Spot section before I ultimately headed back to buy it.

I already have a manual juicer that I love, but after seeing a TikTok singing this juicer's praises, I thought it was worth a try for only $5. And I'm so happy I bought it. This little device extracts every last drop of juice with minimal effort, making it perfect for quick glasses of OJ at breakfast and times when I need larger quantities of juice. I'm not sure how I ever lived without it.

Features of Target's Dollar Spot Juicer

This juicer is beautifully simple. It has a single-speed motor, a reamer, and a USB power cable. Just plug it into an adapter, place your citrus half on the cone, press down, and watch the magic happen.

It's so easy (and fun) that my daughter now begs to help make the juice. She didn't have the strength to squeeze my metal juicer, but this gives her something fun and productive to do—a good "kids in the kitchen" task.

Why I Love Target's Dollar Spot Juicer

• It has transformed my kitchen routines. Special mornings (like the first day of camp or the last day of school) can start with a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice or large-batch infused waters for me—a luxury I once reserved for weekends only.  
• It extracts everything. My manual juicer is great for one or two small citrus fruits, like lemons and limes, but no matter how hard I squeeze, a good amount of juice is often left behind. The electric model is suitable for all types of citrus and extracts every last drop, which means we're wasting less fruit and saving money.
• It has brought my daughter into the kitchen. This might be the best part. She has gotten bored of helping with particular tasks, but so far, she loves operating the juicer. The task gets her involved and invested in meal prep, something that has always been a priority for me in terms of helping her build a healthy relationship with food.

How I Use This Citrus Juicer

I can meal-prep larger batches of zingy vinaigrettes in minutes. And when I say I wish I'd bought it sooner, I mean it. For example, I spent weeks working on this Margarita Ice Cube recipe last year—something I thought would be easier to develop. During that time, I hand-squeezed many pounds of limes, a literal pain. Now, when I make a batch of my popular cubes—made with 12 ounces of lime juice—for a party, I rely on this juicer.

My daughter has been asking to have a lemonade stand for the last year, and she doesn't know this yet, but I'm secretly building one for her and surprising her with it at the end of the month! She'll really be able to see the fruits of her labor then.

From fresh lemonade to vinaigrettes and cocktails, this little juicer is an indispensable part of my culinary tool set. For $5, it's a small investment that pays delicious dividends.