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
- 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…
This is a wonderful idea for me to get in more fruit to my diet! I was wondering, though, can I substitute the milk for nonfat yogurt and how much??
You can use anywhere from a half cup to a cup, but you might need to add some water or other liquid to help it blend. Yogurt only may make it too thick.
I put spinach straight in the freezer without blending it into cubes or anything and it turns out exactly the same in a smoothie. Great way to use bulk spinach without it going bad. I would think it would work great in the smoothie packs. Thanks for the great idea!
Great idea! I am passing this on to my brother who is starting to drink healthy smoothies! Thanks!! :)
Just some FYI, Soy is very bad for people with thyroid conditions and actually simulates estrogen in the body. It’s not recommend to give to children and can promote precocious puberty in children. Thought I would throw this in there for those who don’t know.
so is raw spinach and kale, found out the hard way :(
Best smoothie ever:
1 frozen banana
1 chopped apple
giant scoop of crunchy peanut butter
add some water as needed usually about 2 cups
Pure goodness!
Delicious! I made mine with my favorite blend of berries, 1/2 a banana, a handful of spinach and coconut milk. This was my first homemade smoothie, thanks for the drink “base”. I’ll be adding the flax seed later. I thought getting me to have spinach was enough of a health kick to start ;o) Thanks for the great easy drink.
I put frozen blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, strawberries, mango, peaches, pineapple, then a fresh banana, apple and kiwi. Also add a squirt of honey, 3 TBSP wheat germ and sometimes raw oats. 3 TBSP coconut oil. Instead of milks I add 1/2 cup of POM juice and 1/2 cup of acia berry juice and 1/2 cup of coconut water and sqeeze a whole lemon into it. This gives me 3-16oz smoothies for my gang every morning. Been known to sneak in spinach, carrots, carrot juice in place of one of the liquids. Like to mix it up for us. Frozen grapes are good too. A couple of cherry tomatoes too. It’s all about what you like and if you want to hide the good stuff from the kids ha.
its great to add a handful of rolled oats to each smoothie. Oats have a very low GI level so are slow release energy food for throughout the day! Forgot about avocados that’ll be in tomorrows breakfast smoothie! :)
I forgot to mention i also sometimes use orange juice frozen in icecube trays or cut up oranges.
I like using strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, milk & yogurt frozen in ice cube trays to make it thicker. Sometimes i add a scoop of icecream. Haven’t tried bananas yet. Will have to try, sounds good. I wish where i live i could buy bags of only frozen peaches. Everything else i can.
nasty nasty i made 2 just to make sure i didnt mess the first one up i about thre up really
You can freeze the milk in an ice cube tray and pop the frozen milk cubes into the bag with the other frozen fruit and save yourself from having to measure out the milk. You might have to let it sit out on the counter for a few minutes to allow the milk to thaw enough to keep the blender going.
I want to travel to US and give you a hug. thank you a thousand times. I spend months wanting to have more green smoothies in the morning, but I just couldn’t find the time, and I’ll lose my fruits. This way, it’s easier, quicker, perfect.
Michelle – I usually use about one cup, but it’s slightly different every time. I just use enough for it to blend smoothly. Sometimes you need to add a little more to get it going.
I’m not sure if I missed it somewhere, but how much milk do you add?