Smoothies are one of my favorite treats during the summer time. And since we’re all frugal-minded, who wants to pay almost $5 for a smoothie at one of the local smoothie joints? I know I certainly don’t! Plus, they’re much healthier when you make them yourself. I have been making my own smoothies at home for quite some time now, and I think I’ve finally got it down to a science. I wanted to walk you through my smoothie-making process step by step, as well as throw out a few hints that I have learned from trial and error.
How to make a delicious, refreshing, inexpensive, healthy smoothie:
1. Stock up on fresh fruit when it is rock-bottom price. Luckily, since most of us probably make smoothies during the summer, that is when most fruit prices are at their lowest. Some people like frozen fruit, but I personally love buying the fresh fruit and freezing it myself. Just a couple weeks ago at Publix, I got $72 worth of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries for a measly $8. Now that’s what I call a DEAL! This picture is just SOME of the berries I got. 🙂
2. As I buy fresh fruit that I want to use for smoothies, I wash it all, and then put one-serving size quantities into sandwich baggies. Then I throw them all in the freezer. I personally find this easiest. When I want a smoothie, I just open up my freezer door and pull out a single serving size of each type of fruit I want to use in my smoothie, dump them into the blender, and voila! (I do reuse my sandwich bags for freezing more fruit, so as not to waste them.)
3. So now it’s time to make a smoothie. What ingredients do you need? You can use any type of fresh fruit, frozen fruit, yogurt, juice, and milk. Some people use ice with fresh fruit, but I’ve found this to not work very well. It tends to water down the smoothie and not get fully blended. This is why I opt for the frozen fruit method. It gives you the ice and fruit in one – no need for ice at all! I usually use a couple baggies of various types of fruits, a 4-6 oz yogurt, and some milk. For this smoothie, I used strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberry YoPlus yogurt.
4. Dump a couple baggies of fruit into the blender. Add a 4-6 oz container of yogurt. I think that the yogurt gives the smoothie some creaminess and sweetness. Then I add milk almost up to the top of the fruit pile – not quite covering all of the fruit, but very close to the top as seen below.
5. I press the “ice crush” button a few times to break up the frozen fruit in the beginning. Once it’s sounding a bit easier on the blades, I switch to the “blend” button.
6. I add more milk, a little bit at a time as needed, until a funnel forms in the center of the mixture (as seen below). This is one of the biggest tricks I’ve found. Once I see that funnel, I know that I have the PERFECT consistency for a creamy smoothie. I let it blend on its own with the funnel for about 15 seconds, and then it’s ready!
7. Serve and enjoy! I like to serve the smoothies in fun glasses, like the ones pictured below. 🙂 This smoothie made 2 servings, as you can see.
So that’s easy smoothie-making in a nutshell! What are some of your tips for making smoothies? Do you enjoy making them at home, too?
Meagan is the author of the blog Frugal Fun & Fortune, where she writes about saving money, giving to others, delicious Vegetarian recipes, simple living, and her life adventures. Her greatest passions include chasing after God wholeheartedly, social justice, being a good wife to her sweet hub, books, and music. Visit her blog to have FUN while saving money!