I am in love with my smoothies. And now that I have figured out how to make ahead green smoothies (and every other smoothie for that matter) I am in smoothie heaven. I can literally take a bag out of my freezer, toss the ingredients in my blender and have a smoothie ready to go in a minute. Strawberry banana, orange dream, peach, Pina Colada smoothie…I love them all.
My ultimate favorite though is green smoothies because they are packed full of good stuff that my body wants and I can’t taste the spinach. It’s true. It’s like a neutral flavor. It took a lot to convince me to even first try a green smoothie for the first time as I am one of the pickiest people on the planet. I was terrified to try it. It was my daughter that was shoving the green smoothie sample in my face and I was fighting it big time. Then gave in. But after I did..I was like “hmmm…not bad. Not bad at all!” Which then later turned into “Oooh…green smoothies are yummy!” And then into “Gotta have my green smoothie today!”
In fact, I loved my green smoothies so much that I decided to grow spinach for the first time this summer – yes, just for the smoothie. Too bad the spinach harvest only lasted a week or so for me – I wanted it all summer long. So the rest of the year I buy bags of spinach at the grocery store. I often have the problem with the fresh spinach going bad in the fridge before I can use it all up since sometimes the bags are fairly large. And oh that smell of rotten spinach…yuck! It’s a real nasty smell. Gags me. Bleh.
The good news is that once I figured out that how to make ahead my green smoothies I haven’t had another bag of spinach go bad. Yahoo! Saving money rocks.
How to Make Ahead Green Smoothies
Here are the ingredients you need for 13 quart sized green smoothie bags (about 26 servings)
- One large 40 oz. (2 1/2 lb) package of Spinach
- 6-7 Bananas
- 4 lb. bag Frozen Pineapple chunks
- One Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate Can
- Optional: Pinch of fresh Parsley, pinch of fresh Cilantro
Grab a Huge Handful of Spinach and toss it into the bottom of a quart-sized bag.
Add in 1/2 ripe banana peeled, 1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate and 1 cup frozen pineapple.
Add in your optional parsley and cilantro or any other add-ins you like. Some folks like flax or chia seeds, aloe vera or even protein powders.
Squeeze as much air as possible out of bags and seal. Label and freeze – I like to layer them on a cookie sheet so they stay flat as they freeze.
To later make your make-ahead green smoothie just take out one of your pre-frozen bags. Then pour ingredients into the blender – I will squeeze the bags on both sides and all the ingredients slip out nicely. Add in about 1 – 2 cups of cold water and blend away. Start with less water and get it to the consistency you like your smoothie.
Serving size? It makes about a quart sized mason jar full. So if you drink that much it serves one. Or if you just want a nice 8 oz. glass you can get a little over 2 cups full. So this works for me and my husbands’ breakfast in the morning.
How to Make Ahead Green Smoothies
Ingredients
- 40 oz package of spinach
- 6-7 Bananas
- 4 lb. bag Frozen Pineapple chunks
- 1 can Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate
- Optional: Pinch of fresh Parsley pinch of fresh Cilantro
Instructions
- Grab a Huge Handful of Spinach and toss it into the bottom of a quart-sized bag.
- Add in 1/2 ripe banana peeled, 1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate and 1 cup frozen pineapple.
- Add in your optional parsley and cilantro or any other add-ins you like. Some folks like flax or chia seeds, aloe vera or even protein powders.
- Squeeze as much air as possible out of bags and seal. Label and freeze - I like to layer them on a cookie sheet so they stay flat as they freeze. You should be able to make 13 bags.
- To later make your make-ahead green smoothie just take out one of your pre-frozen bags. Then pour ingredients into the blender - I will squeeze the bags on both sides and all the ingredients slip out nicely. Add in about 1 - 2 cups of cold water and blend away. Start with less water and get it to the consistency you like your smoothie.
- Serving size? It makes about a quart sized mason jar full. So if you drink that much it serves one. Or if you just want a nice 8 oz. glass you can get a little over 2 cups full. So this works for me and my husbands' breakfast in the morning.
Nutrition
Loved this recipe?
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You can also make ahead smoothies of all types. Just add your frozen or fresh fruit, bananas, frozen yogurt and even ice cubes.
If your recipe has yogurt in it there are 2 ways you can do this. First, you can buy a big tub of yogurt, scoop it into ice cube trays and freeze. Then take out the cubes and add them to your make-ahead smoothie bags. If you don’t think your blender is strong enough to break down a big square ice cube of yogurt then you can also just drop your yogurt by the teaspoon onto a parchment or waxed paper lined cookie sheet and flash freeze. Then remove and add to your smoothie bags.
And that is it! See how easy it is to make ahead smoothies? What are some of your favorite smoothie recipes? Do you make green smoothies too or am I the only weirdo out there that loves these things?
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Shelley says
Make Ahead Green Smoothies Looks Amazing! I will definitely try it out!
Since Having Covid I’ve found it very hard losing weight! For love of god my weight kept going up! Has anyone else felt the same?
Thank you for your Article!
Brittney Marie Pagan says
As a working mom, these are an ideal breakfast on the go for me.
Anouk says
Hi!
Is Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate different from a regular pack of non-frozen orange Juice? I don’t believe they sell this in my country, we only have the one you can pour in your glass directly, non-frozen.
Can I just pour some regular orange juice in the zip-lock bag or do I need to prefreeze it in an icecubecontainer? If I can’t use it all, can i replace it with something else?
P.S. a tip for the spinach: when you get home from the store. Get a big tupperwarebox. Put papertowel on the bottom, then the spinach and on top of the spinach again paper towel. The papertowel will absorbe the moist from the spinach and that way it will be fresher for a longer time! Sometimes I change the papertowel after a few days if I think it’s necessary.
This tip saved me! It will last way longer!
Karrie says
Orange juice concentrate is stronger than regular orange juice. Here is a tutorial on how to make it: https://www.instructables.com/id/Juice-Concentrate-from-Fruit/
If you don’t want to go through all that trouble you can use some regular orange juice, but it won’t be as sweet tasting. I’d recommend freezing in ice cubes first, as it will be easier to empty from the bag and easier for your blender to chop it up.
Jacqueline Lerche says
Weird question: Can I use store-bought frozen spinach in a smoothie? I don’t know if it’s the same as buying fresh and putting it in the freezer to use later.
Thanks!
Karrie says
Hi, yes you can! Works great!
Bev says
I love your freezer meal ideas…and I do a smoothie everyday so this is perfect! What other kinds of containers do people use? I hate throwing plastic bags away after a use…but cleaning is difficult too. I want to make this work just struggling with logistics. thanks for all the great ideas!
Karrie says
There are lots of reusable bags and containers, but you will have to clean!
Amanda says
Thank you so much for this idea and the recipe! It allows my husband & I to have a healthy breakfast on the go. 🙂 Added some frozen mango & strawberries as well…delicious!
Happy.MoneySaver says
I am so glad that you like it!
loulou says
Hi, I quit making smoothies because it took too much time in the morning. Your idea of preparing in advance and freezing my smoothies ingredients makes me want to start consuming them again. I have a question concerning dried ingredients : can you freeze chia, flax seed? Can you freeze Macha tea,? Can you freeze Ginger? And last, can you freeze lemons?
Thanks
Happy.MoneySaver says
Yep, they all can be frozen. The chia and flax seeds need to be stored in an airtight container but all of these products can be frozen and used! 🙂
Faith says
Wow! Finally a way to save all the spinach & kale that I’ve had to throw out. I’m usually so disappointed that I never got the chance to use them. I’ll be doing these today. I usually set out my ingredients the night before to make it easy in the morning, but in the refrigerator not the freezer. I’m excited about green smoothies again! Thank you Karrie!
Happy.MoneySaver says
You are so welcome! I hope you like them!