Make your own juice cleanse or buy one ready-made?
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Time to read 6 min
Introduction
Would you like to make your own juice cleanse or buy one ready-made? Both can work, but daily life looks very different. When you make it yourself, you’re in the kitchen every morning, washing, chopping, and juicing. With a ready-made cleanse, the bottles are in the fridge, and you just drink them.
Here, we compare both options honestly. You’ll learn what you need if you want to make your own juice cleanse, where the limitations are, and when a ready-made cleanse is the better choice. You’ll also get a day of the cleanse with three recipes of your own.
Good to know 🌟
Freshly pressed juice keeps for only a few hours unrefrigerated and for one to two days at most when refrigerated (CVUA Sigmaringen, 2021). So if you want to make your own juice cleanse, it’s best to juice fresh every day.
Make your own juice cleanse or buy one ready-made? The short answer
Making your own juice cleanse is worthwhile if you have the time, a good juicer, and enjoy cooking. If you want to make your own juice cleanse, you choose every ingredient and learn a lot about vegetables and flavor. A ready-made cleanse is worthwhile if you want to fit the cleanse around your work and don’t have an hour a day for shopping, juicing, and cleaning. There’s also the longer shelf life without heat treatment, which is difficult to achieve at home.
| Feature | Make your own juice cleanse | Ready-made juice cleanse |
|---|---|---|
| Time per day | about an hour for shopping, juicing, and cleaning | a few minutes |
| Freshness | drink immediately; refrigerated, it keeps for one to two days at most | can be planned in the fridge for the days of the cleanse |
| Ingredients | your choice | predetermined |
| Sugar | depends on your recipe | depends on the supplier; check the label |
| Hygiene | is up to you | is determined by the manufacturer |
What matters in the comparison
Time and effort
The biggest difference is the time involved. If you want to make a juice cleanse yourself, you’ll quickly be washing several kilos of fruit and vegetables for one day of the cleanse. Then there’s chopping, juicing, bottling, and cleaning the appliance. The appliance you use also affects how easy it is to make your own juice cleanse. A slow juicer runs quietly and produces smooth juice with little foam. But it’s slower and has many hard-to-reach corners. A centrifugal juicer is faster and easier to clean, but it’s loud, and the juice foams a lot (Stiftung Warentest, 2026). A press is better suited to leafy greens and herbs.
Our assessment upfront 😍
If you want to make your own juice cleanse, start with just one day. That way, you can see how much time pressing really takes before planning three days.
Freshness and shelf life
Freshly pressed juice spoils easily (Verbraucherzentrale, 2025). So in practice, making your own juice cleanse means pressing enough in the morning for the whole day and keeping everything chilled. Ready-made juices use processes such as high-pressure processing, or HPP for short. It preserves the juice without heat. Our article on cold-pressed juice and the HPP process explains how it works.
Sugar and vegetable content
When making juice yourself, it’s easy to go overboard with fruit because apples, oranges, and grapes simply taste so good. But the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies the sugar in juice as free sugars, which you should limit (WHO, 2015). A small study also suggests that drinking only juice for three days can change the oral and gut microbiomes. The researchers attribute this to the sugar and lack of fiber (Northwestern University, 2025). So if you want to make your own juice cleanse, base your juices on cucumber, celery, and leafy greens, and use fruit just to round out the flavor. Our article on calories and sugar in a juice cleanse shows how much sugar different juices contain.
Hygiene in your own kitchen
When pressing, anything on the peel can end up in the juice. The consumer advice center therefore recommends washing fruit thoroughly with lukewarm water and drying it (Verbraucherzentrale, 2025). A study of juice bars found hygiene deficiencies in about a third of samples, mostly caused by yeasts and mold. It recommends clean equipment and refrigeration at no more than seven degrees (LAVES Niedersachsen, 2014). What applies to juice bars also applies when you want to make your own juice cleanse at home.
Both options compared side by side
Making your own juice cleanse: advantages and disadvantages
Making a juice cleanse yourself means deciding on the recipes, quantities, and order all on your own. Here's what a day could look like if you want to make a juice cleanse yourself, with one large glass of each.
- Green morning with cucumber, celery, spinach, half a lemon, and a piece of ginger
- Midday glass with fennel, cucumber, a handful of parsley, and half a green apple
- Afternoon red with beetroot, carrot, celery, and a little lemon
- plus water and unsweetened herbal tea throughout the day
Each recipe makes two glasses, so you'll have six a day. It's best to press everything in the morning, pour it into clean glass bottles, and chill them right away.
Benefits:
- Full control: You choose every ingredient and the amount of vegetables yourself.
- Lots to learn: You quickly discover which juices you like and which you don't.
- Flexible: You can decide on the spur of the moment whether to add or cut a day.
- Less packaging: Simply wash and reuse glass bottles.
Disadvantages:
- Time-consuming: If you want to make a juice cleanse yourself, you need about an hour a day.
- Short shelf life: You have to press fresh juice every day.
- Equipment required: A good slow juicer is a significant investment.
- Sugar trap: Without a plan, it's easy to end up with too much fruit in your glass.
Ready-made juice cleanse: advantages and disadvantages
If you don't want to make a juice cleanse yourself, a ready-made cleanse comes with everything delivered. The three-day BESSERE JUICE CLEANSE PLUS contains 14 drinks, including juices in 500-milliliter bottles, a shot, and kombucha. The juices are cold-pressed, unpasteurized, preserved with HPP, and organic. It also includes a face mask and a four-day post-cleanse program. According to the nutrition information, the cleanse provides 731 to 885 kilocalories per day, or 560 to 640 for the green version.
Benefits:
- Hardly any effort: You don't have to make a juice cleanse yourself; just drink according to the schedule.
- Freshness you can plan for: The juices keep in the fridge throughout the cleanse.
- Clear information: Calories and sugar are listed on the label.
- More than juice: Kombucha, a shot, and a reintroduction program are already included.
Disadvantages:
- Fixed recipes: You can’t swap out individual juices.
- Higher price: A ready-made cleanse costs more than making your own juice cleanse.
- Packaging: The bottles create waste, even when made from recycled materials.
- Check the provider: Not every cleanse is vegetable-focused, so read the ingredient list.
Summary
Juicing it yourself takes about an hour a day
Fresh juice lasts no more than one to two days in the fridge
Vegetables as the base, with fruit just to round out the flavor
Wash thoroughly and keep everything refrigerated
For beginners, a ready-made three-day cleanse
Can I make my own juice cleanse?
Yes, healthy adults can make their own juice cleanse. You’ll need a juicer, fresh vegetables, clean bottles, and about an hour a day. Plan it for quiet days.
Which juicer is best if I want to make my own juice cleanse?
A slow juicer is better for leafy greens and herbs and produces less foam. A centrifugal juicer is faster and easier to clean, but louder.
Can I make my own juice cleanse without a juicer?
You can also use a blender and a nut milk bag. Blend the vegetables with a little water and strain the juice through the bag, but this takes more time.
How long does juice last if I want to make my own juice cleanse?
Only a few hours unrefrigerated, and no more than one to two days refrigerated. It’s best to juice fresh every morning.
How many juices do I need per day?
If you want to make your own juice cleanse, plan on four to six glasses throughout the day, along with water and tea. A high vegetable content matters more than the number of juices.
Is it cheaper to make your own juice cleanse?
Usually, yes, per day if you already have a juicer. But remember to factor in your time and the appliance.
When is a ready-made cleanse better?
When you’re working, trying a fast for the first time, or planning several consecutive days.
The author: David J Kugler
Founder and Managing Director of DALUMA. Writes about nutrition, juice cleanses, and holistic self-care.
