The Prepped Ingredient Method
While this method will take the slightly more time out of your morningstill no more than a minute or twoits the best method for guaranteeing a fresh and flavorful tasting smoothie every time.
Rather than blending your smoothie ahead of time and freezing it as-is, with this method youll slice and pre-portion your smoothie ingredients into individual freezer friendly plastic bags or jars to be quickly thrown in the blender in the morning with a splash of your favorite milk or dairy supplement, yogurt, or juice.
One of the benefits of this method, apart from the fresh flavor, is the ability to prep numerous kinds of smoothies ahead of time, rather than having a stockpile of the same exact smoothie, which can make your morning routine repetitive. While some of your smoothie bags might contain a sweet, fruity mixture of banana and berries, others can pack in the greens with a combination like kale, pineapple, and chia seeds.
A good standard ratio of frozen ingredients for a single meal-sized smoothie is 1 sliced banana, 2 cups fruit, and 1 cup of greens to be blended with 1 cup of the liquid of your choice. Though this will require a little work in the morning, a huge benefit of this method is that it allows you to prep your smoothies 3-6 months in advance. In contrast, pre-blended smoothies should be consumed within a few weeks of freezing.
Finest Ways To Freeze Your Healthy Smoothie
There are a couple of low-maintenance means to do this. Choose what jobs best for you! Preparation as well as make on a Sunday evening, as well as you await the week!
Alternative # 1
You can mix up all your shake components, put them right into stemless glass, as well as placed them in the fridge freezer. Establish one out each evening prior to you go to sleep if you desire it for morning meal, or order it right from the fridge freezer in the early morning if youll appreciate it later on in the day!
If you do it by doing this, you can increase your shake components by 5 as well as mix them entirely, or mix each individually. That depends upon your blender or food processor, however mixing each individually will certainly guarantee you have an excellent proportion of each component.
Alternative # 2
An additional simple means is to place the veggies, healthy protein, garnishes, fruit , as well as fat right into a fridge freezer bag or container lined with parchment paper. Dispose the bag right into the blender or food processor each early morning as well as include your fluid as well as go!
Select whats most convenient for you , as well as do not neglect to establish a suggestion to take them out of the fridge freezer when you require to!
How To Make A Smoothie
The first step in making your own fruit smoothie freezer packs is to understand how to make a smoothie. Fortunately, this is very simple. Here are my tips for how to make a smoothie:
- Liquid: Use 1 cup of milk per serving. When ready to blend, youll want to start with the liquid. This will help your blender get moving.
- Produce: With fruit smoothies, youll need a fruit base. Bananas and avocados make great bases for smoothies and dont overpower the flavor. Other produce that works great includes: berries, mango, pineapple, peaches, spinach, and kale.
- Thickeners: Personally, I like my smoothies to be thicker, rather than thinner. In order to add a thick, creamy texture to your smoothies, you can add fillings that are nutritious, such as peanut butter, almond butter, chia seeds, flaxseeds, rolled oats, or greek yogurt.
- Flavors: Now that you have the basics down for your smoothie, you might want to give it a boost of flavor. This can be done using spices, such as cinnamon or mint or using sweeteners, such as dates or raw honey.
- Boosts: This is where you can add healthy add-ins and nutritional boosts that add a punch of vitamins, antioxidants, and even a little texture to your smoothie. Great boosts include flaxseed meal, chia seeds, protein powder, matcha, and spirulina.
Recommended Reading: Blueberry Smoothie Recipe With Milk
How To Meal Prep Smoothies
Step 1: Grab a few zip-top bags
Set aside time on a Sunday afternoon to make individual smoothie packs. To get started, grab a pack of sandwich-sized resealable plastic bags that are freezer-safe.
Editors Tip: I like to label each with the type of fruit and date. This keeps the freezer organized and, more importantly, keeps me from playing the guessing game with food expiration dates. Psst!Heres how long fresh produce really lasts.
Step 2: Load in fresh produce
Next, load in your favorite fruits and vegetables. Berries, bananas and stone fruit are freezer-friendly and taste great in smoothies, but dont be afraid to experiment with greens like spinach, too. I like to measure a cup of each fruit and place in the freezer bags. Of course, you can buy already-frozen fruit and use that in your individual bags, too.
Step 3: Freeze
Place each carefully labeled bag in the freezer and give yourself a pat on the back. Youve got breakfast for the entire week! Looking for more breakfast inspiration? Explore our most surprising smoothie add-ins.
Step 4: Add liquid and blend
When ready to enjoy your smoothie, just grab a fruity freezer pack and dump it in the blender. Add a cup or so of your favorite juice, yogurt or milk, and blend. Simply pour your finished smoothie into a travel mug or mason jarand go!
Editors Tip: Control the consistency of your smoothie by adding more or less liquid. Extra juice or milk will give your drink a straw-friendly consistency.
Blueberry And Spinach Superfood Green Smoothie
The Spruce
All-natural, vegan, low-calorie, and raw, this superfood smoothie is nutritious and delicious. Antioxidant-rich blueberries and iron-rich spinach will start your day off right. This drink doesn’t contain any sweeteners, but you can add a touch of honey or use fruit juice as the liquid if you like. Using a very ripe banana will naturally sweeten things up, too.
Don’t Miss: How To Make A Smoothie With Just Fruit
About Our Frozen Smoothie Pack Recipes:
All of our 7 easy, healthy smoothie recipes we are sharing below have a few things in common. Each recipe:
- Tastes good! Yes, these smoothies are SUPER HEALTHY but we wanted to make sure they didnt taste like grass from the backyard. Even our kids like them.
- Includes only simple real food ingredients that you can find in just about any grocery store.
- Makes a single-serving smoothie, which can work as a meal replacement. Or, divide it up among family members.
- Includes fruits and/or vegetables and a source of protein and healthy fats to keep you full and satisfied.
- Includes freezer smoothie pack instructions so you can prep several of them ahead of time to have on hand.
Prep Day: 4 Simple Ways To Make Smoothies In Advance
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Today, lets turn our attention to prep day and smoothies!
Im going to be totally honest
Some weeks I just dont feel like heating up the oven and baking muffins, making soup, or cooking a whole chicken . When those weeks hit, I remind myself about my reasons for prepping. If I just cant pull myself out of the prep day blues, I turn to easy foods that can be prepped without an oven: chopping fruits and vegetables, making fruit parfaits, washing greens, or blending smoothies. Even these small tasks can make a huge difference in our weekly schedule and the food we enjoy.
Before I share the smoothie prep details, lets focus on the main reasons why you should think about making smoothies during your prep time. After all, if youre going to include a task on your prep day printable or mental plan, it must help maximize your time throughout the week
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Can You Make Fruit Smoothies With A Juicer
The answer really depends upon what type of smoothies you are looking to make. In general, the answer is yes. But it is important that you realize that you are not going to get the same sort of smoothie that you get with a blender.
Lets dig a bit deeper and see what sort of smoothie you can make.
As I wrote at the top of this section, you can make fruit smoothies with a juicer. And I wanted that to be clear. Its only fruit smoothies that I endorse you making, or trying to make with your juicer. Green smoothies are just not something I endorse.
And you can only make fruit smoothies with your juicer if you have a certain type of juicer. You can make a nice fruit smoothie with berries in your masticating juicer, but not in your regular juicer.
I covered this in my article on the differences between juicers and blenders and tried to answer the question can a juicer be used as a blender.
The reason that you can make a smoothie with a cold press juicer is that most of them come with attachments that allow you to puree fruit. This means youll get something like a mushy fruit puree which you can then add to water or almond milk and mix up. Walayouve got a pretty good smoothie.
But you cant do this with leafy greens. Stick to juicing your leafy greens if youve only got a juicer.
Fyi: Freezing Blended Smoothies
Blended smoothies can be frozen until ready to use. Get them out the freezer the night before and let them thaw in the fridge. They may separate due to the freezing and thawing process, just give them a good shake and they will be okay to consume.
See super easy. Once a week youll spend less than 20 minutes cutting, chopping, and packing but saves a lot of time in the morning!
Looking for a decent, professional heavy-duty blender, but cant afford an expensive Vitamix or Blendtec? I found a much better solution that is ONLY HALF the price and AS GOOD. for more info.
Also Check: Healthiest Smoothie At Tropical Smoothie
What Is The Difference Between A Smoothie And A Juice
Even if you are planning on buying a juicer and not a blender, it is a good idea to know what the exact difference is between the two.
A smoothie is made with fruits or vegetables and a liquid. It is processed in a blender or in a juicer blender combo. None of the fiber is removed. Its more like a shake.
A juice is made only in a juicer. There are no blenders that can make a juicer. The fiber is removed, which makes it easier to digest.
Smoothies are great for people looking to lose weight as it fills you up.
Juices are great for people going on fasts, or anyone who wants to get more natural vitamins and minerals into their diet from whole foods.You can get more nurtients by drinking fresh juices than you can then by drinking smoothies or eating raw fruits and vegetabls.
What Makes A Good Smoothie
The best colorful smoothies have a high amount of fruit and veggies, ideally providing you with at least 3 portions of your required 9-a-day.
On the other hand, you should diminish the sweetener intake. Thus, the ideal smoothie has little or no sugar, and instead is sweetened with fruit!
To make some of the best colorful smoothies, you should pick ripe and healthy fruits and vegetables. If, for example, you plan on leaving the skin on its best to buy organic.
In order to cut costs, you can make your own nut milkor oat milk: its easier than youd think! Its also ideal to pick fruits that are in season: its cheaper, youre getting fresh fruit and youll be supporting local producers. Its a win for everyone!
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Is It Worth Buying A Blender To Make Smoothies
That all depends on how often you want to make a smoothie. Are you someone who is going to make smoothies once a week? Or even a few times a month?
If so, then yes, I would suggest that you buy a blender. Its worth the price of buying a blender just to avoid the hassle of using your juicer as a blender.
The average blender isnt that expensive. You can find small blenders that are really not very expensive at all.
What I would say is to create a spreedsheet that tracks how much you spend on smoothies for month. If you buy them at health food stores or places like whole foods, just keep track. Then calculate how long it would take to re-coup the cost if you owned your own blender.
But before you go out and buy a blender just to make smoothies, first it is a good idea to make sure that you like smoothies. That is something that you can do using a juicer. Specifically using a cold press juicer.
I cover a lot of this information in other articles such as:
Basically, to rehash the concept here in brief, you will take the attachment that is designed to make fruit puree and then use this to create a berry or fruit mash. This mash will then be put into a shaker bottle or some other container, and then add water in order to make a type of smoothie.
Diy Frozen Smoothie Packs
Love smoothies, but hate the hassle of making them every morning? Youll love these easy frozen smoothie packs. Make enough smoothies for the whole week and have them all prepped and ready whenever you want a tasty and healthy smoothie.
With smoothie freezer packs youll enjoy the convenience of store-bought smoothies with fresh, whole ingredients you select.
Smoothies are perfect to enjoy in the mornings but Ive also found them to be a perfect addition to healthy lunches. My kids love a good fruity smoothie and they never notice when I add veggies to their smoothies too.
Its a great way to get some added veggies and nutrition into your childs diet. Not sure how to get a smoothie to last until lunchtime? Ill walk you through how to pack a smoothie in a lunch box here.
Also Check: Good Smoothie Recipes For Kids
Healthy And Balanced Dishes
PB & & J In a Mug
I obtained this dish from a Fit Tutor participant that is such a motivation. 60+ extra pounds shed by faithfully consuming a healthy diet as well as exercising. Love her as well as this dish!
- Handful of spinach
- 2 scoops delicious chocolate healthy protein powder
- 1 inside story berry environment-friendlies supplement
- 1 tablespoon PB fit
- Coconut milk
Best Tips To Freezingyour Best Smoothies Recipes:
- When freezing smoothies, it is better to use freezer safe jars or containers. The best choice is to go for freezer safe mason jars that as it comes with a wide mouth and thick and protective glass that holds your smoothies for a long time.
- It is recommended to leave some room at the top of the container as it allows the smoothie to expand during the freezing process. Leaving no room will only break the glass jar when the smoothie gets frozen and expands. Better look for freezer safe smoothie containers that come with inbuilt markings that allows you to store smoothies till that mark for a safe freezing option.
- If you want to give your kids a different option to enjoy their favorite smoothies, you can even store your smoothies in popsicle molds. Better look to buy reusable molds as you can use them many times to store your green smoothies.
- Another way to freeze healthy smoothies
Don’t Miss: Aravita Bubble Tea And Smoothies
Last But Not Least Have Fun
Turn it into a Sunday night activity and get the family involved and set everything up assembly-line fashion. Everyone will have fun putting together their own customized smoothie packs.
Looking for more smoothie ideas and meal prep options? Check out these smoothie recipes designed to help you get a healthy glow!
Best Ways To Freeze Your Smoothie
There are a few low-maintenance ways to do this. Pick what works best for you! Prep and make on a Sunday night, and youre ready for the week!
Option #1
You can blend up all your smoothie ingredients, pour them into tumblers, and put them in the freezer. Set one out each night before you go to bed if you want it for breakfast, or grab it straight from the freezer in the morning if youll enjoy it later in the day!
If you do it this way, you can multiply your smoothie ingredients by 5 and blend them all together, or blend each separately. That depends on your blender, but blending each separately will ensure you have a good ratio of each ingredient.
Option #2
Another easy way is to put the veggies, protein, toppings, fruit , and fat into a freezer bag or container lined with parchment paper. Dump the bag into the blender each morning and add your liquid and go!
Choose whats easiest for you , and dont forget to set a reminder to take them out of the freezer when you need to!
You May Like: 500 Calorie Smoothie For Weight Loss
Why Make Frozen Smoothie Packs
Smoothies are the bomb! I can think of no tastier way to get TONS of fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods into you and your family every single day.
Theyve become the norm in our homes for breakfast, lunch, or snacks since developing these 7 delicious, healthy smoothie recipes AND learning how to make freezer smoothie packs.
Weve created one smoothie for every day of the week, so you never get tired of the same one and so you include a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet throughout the week.