Ever since we moved in I have been watching my orange trees daily. I didn’t know when to expect them to be done and I was determined to not waste ANY oranges! Let’s face it.. it may be the only thing that we grow that all 5 members of the family actually eat.

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, visit my Disclosure page

They are not ready yet.

In November we started seeing the orange color peeking through and realized just how many oranges we had growing. I started looking on Pinterest for ideas of what to do with oranges. Yes… I know how goofy that sounds. When I realized that I didn’t want orange pie, orange pancakes, or orange jelly – I turned to what I know and love… JUICE! Who doesn’t love fresh orange juice in the morning? (That’s right- no one!)

Picking the tangerines first

Determined to not let any go to waste, for the whole month of December I continued to collect oranges until we had a large enough stash to be able to make juice for a family of 5. (Note: About 10 oranges gave us around 4 cups our first go around.) Sometimes I needed to get assistance from my local PJ & slipper wearing Orange Officer to complete the task!

Officer Orange helping pick

I really did think that making juice was going to be more complicated than it is. I spent time looking for recipes, thinking we needed to add sugar or some other sweetener. Much to my surprise it is as simple as it sounds: 1.) Get the juice out 2.) Drink the juice.

It is so easy that a 4 year old could do it! And that’s just what he did. With a tiny bit of my assistance, the smallest mini of the family used an electric juicer to extract all of the orange juice and we refrigerated for the next morning.

Here is a link to the easy peasy juicer that I have, and my 4 year old uses it all the time.

If you don’t want pulp, you can simply strain the orange juice out before putting it away. I started storing mine in mason jars and freezing it for later dates. Orange juice usually keeps for only 2-3 days, so drink it up or save it for later!

Make anything else with your oranges? Leave us a comment telling us what you do when life gives you oranges!