Should've Had A V8? Make Your Own More Delicious Vegetable Drink At Home Slideshow

While the premise of V8 is healthy, the actual juice isn't all that. The juice in V8 is made from concentrate, which means it's a watered down version of the whole fruit's juice. Also, additional flavors are added to enhance blandness. There aren't any artificial flavors or preservatives, but if you are watching your salt content, you'll definitely want to skip store bought V8. (An 8-ounce serving contains a hefty 640mg of sodium.)  Splash varieties contain high fructose corn syrup and fruit juices from concentrate.

Without all the added extras, V8 could actually be a great addition to your diet. Ready to make DIY this popular supermarket juice? You can, and it only takes 9 steps.

Choose reliable produce outlets that offer fresh fruits and vegetables. To create the foundation for your DIY V8, be sure to include tomatoes, carrots, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress, and spinach.

Even if your produce is organic, it has traveled from somewhere, so it's a good idea to wash your fruits and veggies using a produce cleaner.

Chop your veggies into bite size cubes. Make sure they are small enough to cook into your desired texture for the V8 — we don't want too many chunks!

V8 is not raw. That means you will have to simmer your veggies a bit if you want to create the true, "old school" flavor. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a pad. Add the tomatoes, carrots, celery and beets and simmer on medium heat for 30-45 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Transfer your cooked vegetables and parsley, lettuce, watercress and spinach to a blender. Pulse 2-3 times to break up any chunks. Continue to blend until consistency is smooth, but thick.

Transfer the juice from the blender to a food mill. Using the smallest holed plate, run the mixture through the mill evenly.

Run your juice through the blender one last time, just to make sure your homemade V8 is at the consistency you want.

If you are making a "splash" style V8 juice, add your fruits as your base juice makes its final round through the blender. Think complementary flavors like strawberry and banana, kiwi and berries, or mango and peaches for the best possible outcome. If the juice is too thick for your liking, add cold water to the blender to thin it out even more.

Tada! You've done it — now it's time to sit back, relax, and drink up your daily fruit and veggie intake. It's that easy. Get the full recipe here.