I found the idea of these freezer smoothie packs on Pinterest from Budget Bytes. I make a smoothie for myself almost everyday, and I love the idea of not having to lug 10 bags out of the freezer every time I go to make one! Plus, now my kids can grab a bag from the freezer and make their own smoothies.
This is what my smoothie ended up looking like. The color will all depend on what fruit you decide to put in it.
I had 5 bananas and a bunch of frozen fruit.
Raspberries, pineapple, blueberries and a cherry berry blend.
Peel the banana, you need one banana per Ziploc bag smoothie. If you are not a banana lover, frozen peaches or mangoes are a great substitute, as they are hearty and will help make up the bulk of the smoothie. A banana is so sweet and creamy, that it tends to be my favorite.
Add 1 cup of whatever type of frozen fruit you would like.
I did a combo of berries and pineapple here.
Just choose your favorites. You can’t go wrong!
To make the smoothie, put 2 handfuls of spinach (about 2 cups) in a blender.
Add 1 cup of your choice of milk. (Dairy, soy, almond or coconut.) I use almond. Blend until spinach is chopped up teeny tiny.
Add your pouch of fruit containing 1 banana and 1 cup of assorted berries/fruit.
Blend. See how the green disappears into a nice purple? The kids will never know what is REALLY in there. The spinach taste goes away thanks to the berries.
I like to add Chia seeds for extra fiber and protein. This is optional. Some also like to add cinnamon. Some add protein powder or honey if the fruit is not sweet enough. Make sure you taste. The one I made today was so sweet, it DID NOT need any more sweetness.
This recipe made enough for a very full 12 oz mason jar…about 15 oz all together.
Enjoy! So refreshing, and a great way to get in some of your servings of fruits and veggies each day!
Ziploc Smoothie
1 Ziploc
1 banana
1 cup assorted berries/fruit
2 cup baby spinach
1 cup milk (almond, dairy, coconut or soy)
—
Optional ingredients:
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 scoop protein powder
Honey, Stevia or Agave to sweeten if needed
Make your Ziploc smoothie packs, each containing one banana and one cup of fruit. Freeze until you are ready to use them, you can use one right away, the banana does not need to be frozen.
Place spinach in blender. Add milk. Blend until smooth.
Add Ziplock smoothie pack. Blend until smooth.
Add optional ingredients if desired. Blend until smooth.
—————
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evakitchen
August 10, 2016 at 9:24 pmEasy Pumpkin Cheesecake Smoothie
This recipe is the easiest recipe around to make a delicious pumpkin cheesecake smoothie. Make it anytime of year, including the holidays! TIP: you can use cinnamon instead of pumpkin. You need a best blender for smoothies to make this.
Ingredients
15 oz pumpkin chilled
12 oz evaporated milk
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
15 oz pumpkin pack chilled
12 oz evaporated milk
1 1/2 cup orange juice
1 banana
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 dozen ice cubes
Directions:
Put all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix until you reach your desired consistency.
AmyNewNostalgia
August 12, 2016 at 4:32 pmThis sounds delish! Thank you for sharing…I look forward to making it now that fall is coming!
Anonymous
February 18, 2015 at 12:37 amYou are so lucky to have a juicer!!! Some fresh veggie juice will be so refreshing when the weather heats up this weekend!
Blendtec
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Jill K.
October 20, 2013 at 2:23 pmI have been making these smoothie bags of fruit for quite some time. I put whole spinach leaves in the bag too (as they freeze wonderfully). I have also used my juicer to juice fruits and veggies. I freeze the juice into ice cubes trays. Once frozen, I add 3-5 cubes into my whole fruit & spinach bags and keep in the freezer until ready to use. The kids LOVE that everything is ready to go for them!!!
Helen BC
October 17, 2013 at 1:41 pmI do same ziplog idea for my daily fresh juice – keeping it in fridge
The Wedding Genie
December 31, 2012 at 4:52 amThanks you for this idea! I’ve been loving the spinach smoothies but they take too long to make when I’m getting ready for work. I did blend up spinach and freeze in cubes (which I saw on Pinterest) and someone else commented above about freezing yogurt cubes too. Freezing all these in individual baggies will make it soooo much easier! Thank you again!
Toni
December 21, 2012 at 9:16 pmGreat time saving idea! Thanks for sharing!
Chrissie Me and My Munchkin
September 23, 2012 at 11:16 pmWhat a brilliant idea. Totally saving this post!
Anonymous
September 11, 2012 at 7:53 amThis is awesome! Even more time savings, the canning jars fit most blender blades. I use my jars all of the time instead of the blender pitcher, works great and saves on clean-up.
Zeva
July 15, 2012 at 2:05 amWhat a great idea. I already freeze my bananas and yogurt. But I never thought of putting them with my other fruit in individual bags or containers. Genius!
Zeva
July 15, 2012 at 2:01 amGreat idea! I already freeze my fruit and yogurt. But it never dawned on me to do individual bags or containers. That will save so much time in the mornings.
molly
June 16, 2012 at 9:16 pmI “pinned” this idea MONTHS ago and was wondering if, as another time saving idea, you would be able to freeze the pureed spinach/almond milk in ice cubes trays and save them in the same ziplock bag? Do you think it would keep? I’m just looking for ways to streamline this smoothie making process even more, and prolong the life of the fresh spinach. Just a thought!
Thanks for the great tip!
Rachel Martin
January 19, 2014 at 11:34 pmI pureed spinach with a little water and poured it into muffin tins, froze, and then put ’em in a big ziploc bag. I was able to “put up” a whole Costco-sized bag a fresh spinach in one gallon freezer bag: about 30 spinach cubes, each with nearly 1 cup of spinach in it. And they blend up well, too. (This genius idea wasn’t mine; saw it on someone else’s blog.)
Anonymous
June 11, 2012 at 10:56 pmWhen I first started experimenting with stevia, I hated the aftertaste. However, I found no aftertaste using liquid stevia in smoothies or plain yogurt; it must be the cold dairy. I am usually fortunate to get raw milk, and I always use yogurt for protein. Make SURE you blend the spinach with dark berries and don’t use too much at first (voice of experience here).
Susan
April 28, 2012 at 9:06 pmYou have to grind your flax seeds otherwise your body will not digest them and they only pass through. Only grind what you need, or for up to three days otherwise they lose their nutritional value.
I think that this baggie idea is brilliant 🙂
Sarah @ Natures Nurture
April 8, 2012 at 12:13 pmI love this idea! You’ve solved such a big problem with smoothie-making – the grab-n-go factor. I’m going to go make my bags now 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Anonymous
April 7, 2012 at 10:02 pmThis is the coolest idea. I love that the fruit is ready to go. It would be neat to have a container in the freezer full of the fruit packs all ready to go. I freeze blueberries and will keep this idea in mind for summer preservation. Thank you.
Bethie
Nica
March 21, 2012 at 10:54 pmThis is such a great idea and can’t wait to try it out. Is there any way to know a roundabout calorie count for each smoothie? I am currently trying to keep a daily food and exercise log so I am trying to keep track of where my calories are coming from. Thanks!
Vickie S
March 19, 2012 at 1:23 amGoogle “Jamba Juice recipes” for some ideas. I love the idea of spinach, though I have kids who like spinach so I don’t have to sneak it in!
Sil
March 7, 2012 at 8:16 pmcan u throw fresh spinach in the bags as well and freeze it? looove ur blog btw!
Anonymous
September 30, 2012 at 7:47 pmI was wondering the very same thing.
Anonymous
December 11, 2013 at 1:38 amI do and i dont prepare it I just freeze it fresh and it is great in smoothies.
kbgirl
March 1, 2012 at 8:21 amI love this!!! I featured your post on my blog!! It should be up by 9am Pacific.. Thanks for the inspiration!
java diva
February 29, 2012 at 10:31 pmI process spinach & kale & freeze it. I love this smoothie kit idea, so much cheaper than buying Jamba Juice at the store. I just made some kits & threw in some of the frozen spinach/kale mix.
Michelle...
March 22, 2012 at 2:25 pmI love the idea of processing & freezing spinach & kale. How have you pricessed them?
Michelle...
March 22, 2012 at 2:27 pmI mean processed them.
Anonymous
February 29, 2012 at 2:58 amLove your idea… since everything is frozen and cold, one doesn’t have to water things down with ice cubes – great!
How about using Spaghetti sauce jars for drinking your smoothie… I keep mine, clean them out and use them for saving odds and ends of everything. I love them, as most have interesting things on them and I can see what I have. (But don’t put them in the freezer.)
Mik Harewam
February 28, 2012 at 9:22 pmI love your post. Found it from Pinterest. x
Anonymous
February 28, 2012 at 1:08 amHello, great tip, now the mason jars are freezer safe, you can save the baggies and prepare as above and put into jar, freeze and then empty jar in the morning into your blender, when made pour pack into your jar.
Anonymous
September 30, 2012 at 7:46 pmMake sure it’s a wide mouth jar or you may have a hard time getting everything out if it all freezes together.
Rachel Martin
January 19, 2014 at 11:25 pmI’ve certainly seen other bloggers that swear by it. I’ll give it a try as soon as I acquire some. Apparently the warning is to make sure they’re “real” Mason jars (that is, the higher-quality jars), so breakage isn’t so much an issue.
Anonymous
February 27, 2012 at 6:30 pmI love smoothies! I have been doing the same thing (grabbing a ton of bags out of the freezer to make mine). Question for you though…do the bananas freeze well? I’ve heard that they will turn black-ish… and can you freeze spinach in them?
amity
February 27, 2012 at 9:26 pmThe fruit itself doesn’t turn black. If you freeze the entire banana in the peel, the peel will turn black. It doesn’t effect the flavor at all.
Anonymous
June 26, 2012 at 3:17 amI peel the bananas and break in half. Then I freeze them. They may darken but no flavor loss. Love the prebagging.
Anonymous
February 24, 2012 at 6:03 amI’ve been doing this for awhile but I also freeze plain greek yogurt into ice cube trays, pop them out and put two cubes into each of my baggies with the fruit.
sahjen
March 1, 2012 at 4:09 amGenius!!! I was trying to think of how I could incorporate yogurt in there 🙂
Toni
December 21, 2012 at 9:17 pmOh, good thinking!!
Anonymous
February 21, 2012 at 6:19 pmcan you use frozen spinach?
Anonymous
February 21, 2012 at 1:34 amwhat a great idea to get your smoothie in everyday….my son loves smoothies this will work so much easier than pulling out the big bags of frozen fruits everytime! Thank You for the ideas! Carla Sue
Budget Design Girl
February 21, 2012 at 12:15 amYum! Looks a lot like the smoothie I had this morning, complete with about the same amount of spinach! Love that you put yours in Mason Jars! Where did you find them, are they vintage or new? I never thought to pre-make them in zip lock bags. Duh. Sometimes the best ideas are so simple, and seem obvious in hindsight. Why did I never think to do that? Genius for crazy school days!
xo-Lisa
Amy Bowman
February 20, 2012 at 4:05 pm@Dawn–yes, try them out. I have a few more recipes coming up that have them in it. They are a great little superfood!
Amy Bowman
February 20, 2012 at 4:04 pm@Missy–love the idea of juice packs..I feel another blog post coming on!
@Adventuresindinner–thanks!
@Julies–yeah, it does seem like some chia seeds break down easier than others. My smoothie was not entirely smooth. Sometimes I leave them out if I am in the mood for complete “smoothness” 🙂
@Anonymous–yes, you can for sure use flax seeds. I would use ground, as they digest much better, and add more liquid.
Anonymous
February 20, 2012 at 3:52 amcan you use flax seeds
Dawn's Craft Place
February 20, 2012 at 12:13 amOh yum! I have been hearing a lot about chia seeds and need to get some
Thanks for sharing
julie s
February 19, 2012 at 11:29 pmFor some reason my chia seeds do not break down in the smoothies. I’ll get all of the little seeds stuck in my teeth…every time. What am I doing wrong
Kristen
March 19, 2012 at 1:21 amI have used chia seeds before but ground them up in a coffee grinder or magic bullet before adding them. I grind up a bunch so I have it ready when I want.
Brianna Villegas
October 19, 2012 at 10:59 pmChia seeds are meant to be eaten whole, they soak up moisture and make you feel fuller.
Sweetie Mulls
January 26, 2013 at 3:36 pmIf you mix your smoothie in the blender first – drop the chia seeds on top, then put the blender on the lowest setting, which will suck the seeds into the drink and separate them. Then increase the speed setting to the highest for a few seconds and it should be mixed into your smoothie nicely.
Anonymous
April 12, 2013 at 12:52 amchia seeds absorb many times their weight in liquid….all you have to do is soak them in a small amount of water for about 15 minutes. will turn into a jelly like consistency. then add to smoothie or recipes! you can also store in fridge in this state so it is ready for use.
Anonymous
December 11, 2013 at 1:35 amI always have chia seeds in the fridge soaking in either almond milk or water and just scoop out a tablespoon full when needed. (They turn into a gel like substance once soaked) They will keep up to a week in the fridge.
Missy
February 19, 2012 at 5:17 pmA fantastic time saving idea – I’ve also seen people do “juice packs” for those that do fresh juice and put all the juicing ingredients into a veggie saving bag. Grab the bag and done – brillant!
{Adventuresindinner}
February 19, 2012 at 7:43 pmThis is brilliant! I would have these anytime :0)