I’ve got another quickie for you tonight. It’s more of an idea than a recipe. I’m sure a lot of you Budget Byters already stock your freezers with these handy smoothie packs, but I wanted to share the tip for those who may be new to the kitchen. Not only does this make smoothies faster and easier to make, but they’re a fraction, a small fraction, of what you’ll pay at your local smoothie counter.
So, the formula is easy. Three one pound bags of frozen fruit of your choice, and four bananas. Divide the frozen fruit up into 8 bags, and place half of a peeled banana in each bag as well. Seal them up tight and toss them into the freezer. When you’re ready to make your delicious smoothie, place the frozen fruit in the blender, add milk (or soy or almond milk), and whatever else you want and press go! No more hauling ten ingredients out of the freezer every time you want to make one smoothie. Just grab one bag and add a liquid. Sure, I also add spinach, cinnamon, and ground flax seed, but it’s still way easier to have the fruit divided up. And it only takes about 5 minutes to make all 8 packs.
This is my favorite smoothie – peaches, strawberries, raspberries, banana, spinach, light vanilla soy milk, ground flax seed, and cinnamon. It works, trust me! If you like things sweet, add a touch of honey and it’ll blow you away.
Smoothie Packs
Servings 8Ingredients
- 16 oz. frozen strawberries ($2.69)
- 16 oz. frozen raspberries ($4.15)
- 16 oz. frozen peaches ($2.69)
- 4 medium bananas ($0.86)
Instructions
- Divide the ingredients equally between 8 quart-sized freezer bags (1/2 banana per bag).
- Freeze the smoothie packs until ready to use or up to three months.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!- 1 frozen smoothie pack $1.30
- 1 cup light vanilla soy milk $0.41
- 1 handful baby spinach $0.53
- 1 Tbsp ground flax seed $0.03
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon $0.03
- Empty one smoothie pack into a blender and add the soy milk, spinach, flax, and cinnamon.
- Blend until smooth, adding more liquid if needed.
Step By Step Photos
This is what goes into the frozen smoothie packs. I switch up the fruit a lot (I like blueberries too), but I always try to have at least three. Adding frozen bananas to a smoothie gives it a nice ice cream-like texture. If you’ve never used a frozen banana in your smoothie, then you haven’t lived. Okay, maybe that’s a bit extreme, but you’ve got to try it.
Divide the fruit between 8 freezer bags. One of my bananas turned out to be completely rotten inside so I could only make six this time around. I always tend to over estimate how much fruit is needed per smoothie and then I can’t fit it all in the blender. So, about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of each of the frozen fruits per bag. Then just pop them in the freezer until you’re ready to make a smoothie. They’ll stay good in the freezer for a couple of months. The bananas will slowly turn brown, but they’re still good eats for a while.
When you’re ready to make a smoothie, just put the frozen fruit in a blender with some liquid (and whatever else you want) and you’re ready to blend. I add spinach for the nutrients, not the flavor… you can’t taste it with all of the fruit. It blends easier if the spinach is at the bottom.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE milk… but in my smoothies I like light vanilla soy milk. It just has more creaminess than milk and the vanilla goes great with the fruit. In the old days, before Silk was everywhere, I used milk and added vanilla extract. So, that’s an option too.
I like to add some flax for fiber and omega-3s, and cinnamon just because I like it :) If I’m craving something sweet, I’ll add a tablespoon of honey or so, but usually the fruit and silk are sweet enough for me.
Blend that sucker up ’till it’s nice and smooth! Sometimes I have to add a touch of water or more silk just to get it going. That’s what will happen if you have too much frozen fruit in your pack. It’ll be waaaaaay too thick to blend properly.
Oh yums. It’s good. And good for you. And spinach? What spinach?
I loved the suggestion to put avocados in smoothies (thanks, Brent!) and I can’t wait to experiment with that. So, for all of you smoothie lovers out there…
I never thought to separate the smoothies in baggies! Love the idea! I’m going to be doing this from now on!
Somebody pointed out above that if you are adding greens to your smoothie you should be sure to switch them up. Don’t use the same green over and over again. Buy a couple of different kinds and change it up daily. I use spinach, kale, swiss chard, lettuce greens, beet greens, etc.
WOW – Thanks, Liz!!
Just wanted to let you know that I pinned this to my pinterest and it’s had over 700 repins! The idea of making the smoothie packs is very smart. Here’s my pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/80079699594267132/
I love almond milk but would rather not buy it – it’s still a processed food! So I add water to my smoothie with all the ingredients you suggest and a tablespoon of raw almond butter. Delicious!
I add about 1/3 cup of raw oatmeal, about 1/2 of a carrot, kale, banana, about half of an apple, scoop of vanilla whey protein powder, chia seeds, raw almonds, frozen berries, Greek non fat plain yogart and some non fat milk or juice. Have a Vitamix so it blends up everything very well! Oh I forgot also the kitchen sink!
divide everything evenly into mason jars and refrigerate. The Mason jar can screw right onto the blender for a single shake.
Peach, pineapple and of all things cilantro are a great flavorful combo with your liquid of choice (i usually just use water) adding in a banana or avocado would give creaminess if needed. Cilantro sounds weird but it’s quite refreshing and it’s a great at internal cleansing. PLUS, it’s a nice departure from standard issue greens like spinach or romaine to help with the rotation of greens. Cheers for the great pre packaged smoothie idea : )
how about freezing the milk(whichever type you like) in ice cube tray then putting it in the bag too?
Anon – It’s this blender from Hamilton Beach. I’ve had it for years and it still works great!
just wondering what kind of blender you used?
I love this idea. I went with a pineapple, mango, blueberry, banana combo because that is what I had on hand. This will be great on those days I just don’t feel like eating breakfast.
Thank you so much I did this last night and it did make everything easier! This was my first time making smoothies for the family this morning. I used a whole banana (very ripe) and blue berries, black berries, and raspberries, put the spinach on top in the freezer bag. This morning all I had to do was put the flaxseed and vanilla almond milk. Thank you again, can’t wait to read the rest of your ideas.
Any idea what the nutrition facts are for one smoothie?
This is my go-to recipe. 1/2 C. Frozen Berries/Fruit. 1/2 C. Non-Fat Vanilla Yogurt. 1/2 C. Fruit Juice (Apple or Orange)
1/2 Half a Frozen Banana. 2 Tablespoons of ground flax seed. Never thought to add spinach, but I might just give that a whirl.
And I buy the frozen berry mix at Costco, for I believe $11.99. Lasts a few months around here. Nice quality fruit in there.