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    $5 Dinners | Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals

    Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals and Cooking Tutorials for the Busy Home Chef

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    Make Ahead Smoothie Packs

    July 28, 2018 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom 1 Comment

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    make ahead smoothie packs

    One. Step. Ahead.

    That’s my mantra when it comes my family’s “hunger management.” When feeding 4 boys and a husband on a daily basis, you have to be prepared – with fast, simple, delicious and nutritious “grab and go” options for all meals of the day.

    (If you haven’t heard, I’m a freezer meals queen too – so much so that we built this to make freezer meals as easy as possible for you.)

    If you’re like me, you don’t have a moment to spare on weekday mornings. I love to have smoothies for breakfast…so having them prepped ahead of time and all the ingredients I need for each batch of smoothie really makes my busy mornings go smoother. (Pun intended.)

    Set aside a few minutes on the weekend or when you have the energy on a weekday evening and package up what you would normally add to the blender in a quart size freezer baggie. Pour some milk or yogurt into an ice cube tray, then freeze and add 2-3 cubes to each of the baggies. Fill in with your favorite fruits and freeze it all up!

    How To Make Freezer Smoothie Packs

    make ahead smoothie packs

    First – Make a list of what’s going into your smoothie packs. For a 4-cup smoothie, we recommend 1 ripe banana, 2 cups other fruit and 1-2 cups of liquid – usually milk and a little water or ice. The riper the banana, the sweeter the smoothie. I love using ripe bananas because then you don’t need to add any sweetener.

    Bonus points if you can use fresh fruit that you got on sale. Summer is a great time to score these deals!

    Here are some ideas of fruit combos:

    • Mixed berries – strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry
    • Peach & raspberry
    • Mango & raspberry
    • Mango & pineapple
    • Peach, mango, & pineapple
    • Strawberry & peach
    • Orange & mango

    Want to make a “green smoothie”?! 

    You can add fresh spinach or kale leaves in with your smoothie packs too. When it comes time to blend your green smoothie, we recommend that you blend the leaves with the liquid first, then add the frozen fruit to the blended greens and finish blending it.

    Second – Add all of the fruit into small baggies like sandwich or quart size. Remove as much air as possible. I seal it almost all the way and then suck the air out of the corner of the baggie. Having less air in the baggie will help reduce freezer burn potential.

    Optional – you can freeze milk or yogurt into ice cube trays and then add the frozen cubes into the baggies too. 

    make ahead smoothie packs

    Third – Stack or lay the baggies flat into your freezer. I keep mine close to the top, or in the door, so I can “grab and go.”

    make ahead smoothie packs

    Favorite Make Ahead Smoothie Recipes

    • No Bake Cookie Smoothie
    • Mango Smoothie
    • Orange, Mango, Banana Dessert Smoothie
    • Banana Strawberry Peach Smoothie
    • Mango Raspberry Smoothie
    • Pomegranate Smoothie
    • Kale, Kiwi, Apple, & Banana Smoothie
    • Berry Cherry Jubilee (Green Smoothie)
    • Blackberry Pound Cake Smoothie
    • Blueberry Vanilla Smoothie
    • Spinach, Pineapple, Avocado Smoothie (toss avocado in lemon juice before freezing to prevent browning)
    • St. Patrick’s Day Green Smoothie

    Make Ahead Smoothie Bowl Recipes

    You can also make up packs to use for smoothie bowls. Here are our favorite smoothie bowl recipes:

    • Mango Tropical Smoothie Bowl
    • Triple Berry Smoothie Bowl
    • Chocolate Almond Smoothie Bowl
    • Very Berry Smoothie Bowl

    Erin’s Favorite Smoothie Mix-Ins

    If you want to give your smoothie a boost, here are a few ideas for mix-ins that won’t affect flavor or consistency (too much!)

    • Ground flaxseed
    • Fish oil
    • Protein Powder
    • Collagen

    make ahead smoothie packs

    What’s in your favorite smoothie!?

    make ahead smoothie packs

    13407 shares
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    Filed Under: Freezer Recipes and Freezer Meal Plans, Fresh Fruit Recipes, Healthy Snacks, Homemade Recipes, MyFreezEasy Freezer Meal Plans

    These meals are a LIFESAVER!

    Want a set of our best selling freezer meal bag holders?! You can now order them right here!

    Comments

    1. Suzanne says

      July 30, 2020 at 2:53 pm

      This is such a good idea! It will save so much time in prep & clean up so you can get out the door faster!

      Reply

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    I’m Erin Chase…

    Also known as the
    $5 Dinner Mom.

    I have a little problem. I cannot make a meal that costs more than $5.
    It’s a fun challenge,
    and my pocketbook
    thanks me.
    Want to join me?

    Learn more here!

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