Smoothies are great for breakfast and lunch, but they also make quick, easy dinners. Make your own smoothies to save money, eat more healthfully, and bring convenience to your own home.
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Ever since I was in college, the siren song of the smoothie bar has been strong for me. Even after we bought a pretty heavy-duty blender, I found myself tempted to go get a smoothie rather than make one at home.
Kinda silly, really. Smoothies are so easy to make, and so much better for you when you make them with fruit and other real ingredients.
That was the deal breaker for me. That’s what made me break up with my smoothie bar: realizing that they put junk in their smoothies and called it good.
Yes, there are lots of sweeteners and other things added to smoothie ingredients, but you can reduce this if you regularly stock plain yogurt and frozen fruit to make your own.
This Strawberry Mango Smoothie with Banana totally hits the spot.
Making smoothies yourself.
My 16yo son is a smoothie-making aficionado. He loves our Smoothie Station and pesters me when we run low on ingredients. Kinda nice when I want to make one for myself!
Smoothie-making is very simple provided you have a blender or a food processor. Over the years we’ve had an Osterizer, a Magic Bullet, and a Ninja. And I’ve used the food processor to make smoothies as well. All work just fine in my mind.
Making smoothies cheaper.
We stock our Smoothie Station with frozen fruits and yogurt that I find on sale. I estimate that the cost of one 16-ounce smoothie is about fifty cents to a dollar, making it a very economical alternative to commercially prepared smoothies. Plus, it doesn’t have the junk.
If you have extra evaporated milk that needs using, this is a great recipe for that. Frozen almond milk cubes are a great addition as are frozen milk cubes.
Strawberry Mango Smoothie with Banana
Ingredients
- 2 cup frozen mango chunks
- 1 cup frozen strawberries
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 ripe bananas
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in the blender.
- Run the blender until smooth, scraping the sides if necessary.
- Serve immediately or pour into plastic cups with lids and store in the freezer. Thaw slightly before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
This is part of the DIY Convenience Foods series. Browse the archives for more recipes that you can make better and cheaper at home.
Dawn
This sounds amazing! Just wondered if there is a particular product you use to store the smoothie in if you freeze it.
Jessica Fisher
I like the Ball plastic freezer jars. You can read more about freezing smoothies here.
christy b
I make my picky child a smoothie every morning. Honey greek yogurt, banana, almond milk and flax seed. That is my
base smoothie then either add strawberries and or I add chocolate.
Kerry
Jessica – did you ever end up getting a “power” blender? My beloved Oster finally lost its oomph. When I was at Costco ready to purchase the same blender again, the Ninja sang its sweet siren song. I bought it, brought it home, and let it sit in my pantry while I mulled if it was “too much” blender for me. (I already have a food processor that gets little to no use). Finally I removed that bad boy from its packaging and gave it a go. All I could say was “wow”. My smoothies were SO much better! Everything blended so quickly and consistently – I didn’t have random sized chunks. I loved my Oster, but I REALLY love the Ninja!
Jessica Fisher
Nope. We just have the Osterizer and the Bullet right now. I’m glad to hear that you liked the Ninja, though. How fun!