Smoothies can make a delicious snack, breakfast, dessert, or post-workout meal. What better way to make smoothies at home than with a DIY Smoothie Bar?
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I’ll send you budget recipes and money-saving tips every week!
Smoothies, what at first seemed like a healthified milkshake, hit the scene over 20 years ago. Who knew that the early 90s trend would become a daily American habit?
Smoothies are not only widely available in cafes, grocery stores, and smoothie bars, but they have also become a regular staple for all walks of life. Exasperated parents serve them to finicky children — with and without vegetables stealthily concealed. Fitness enthusiasts rely on them for including extra protein and fresh produce on-the-go.
The rest of us just like them. Morning, noon, and night.
Smoothies can play a supporting role in a healthy diet at breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and snack time.
The trouble with smoothies, however, can be that a parent with more than one child may encounter a dilemma. Joe doesn’t like banana in his smoothie; Jane doesn’t like strawberries. How can you please all the people?
You could head to a local smoothie bar and let everyone have his pick. But, that’s expensive, and let’s be real commercial smoothie bars include a lot of added sugar in their offerings.
You could make a pitcher full at home, but then you’ve got the whole “I-don’t-like-that” dilemma. Or you could…
set up a DIY Smoothie Bar at home.
Tips for Setting Up a DIY Smoothie Bar at Home
Make sure you have the right equipment.
Whenever you set upon a project, whether it’s painting the baby’s room or making smoothies at home, it’s important to have the right equipment. In this case, you’re obviously going to need a blender.
Not all blenders are created equal, however. Years ago, we moved to a high speed blender with travel/party cups which made a huge change in our smoothie-making game. Not only did we no longer have an issue with clumps of frozen fruit or ice in the smoothie, but we also had an easy way for each kid to make his own. You can read my review of our current blender here.)
You don’t have to have a high speed blender to make smoothies at home. It is ideal, however, you can just as easily use a standard blender or even a food processor.
If you have a standard blender, you might check to see if the base fits glass canning jars. Some models do, providing a makeshift option for party cups.
Load up on the right ingredients.
For smoothie making at home, there’s a wide range of possible ingredients to include. Here’s a short list of options, but get creative with what you know your people like.
- liquids, such as milk, coconut milk, almond milk, soy milk, and juice
- frozen milk cubes
- frozen cubes of almond milk
- leftover evaporated milk
- sliced or chopped fruit, preferably frozen: berries, bananas, stone fruit, mango, cherries
- spinach or chopped kale
- yogurt
- protein powder or powdered milk
- nut or seed butter
- avocado
- chia seeds or ground flax seed meal
- sweetener, such as honey or agave nectar
- cinnamon, nutmeg or cocoa powder
- crushed ice if your fruit isn’t frozen
Lay out a variety of ingredients on your DIY Smoothie Bar and let each person assemble his own smoothie concoction.
If you’d like to make the DIY Smoothie Bar a regular thing at your house, set up a Smoothie Station in your freezer.
Let the kids do it themselves. (And be okay with a few messes.)
Kids love to eat. They love to cook and mess in the kitchen. It only follows that they will enjoy making their own smoothies — and make some messes along the way. Come to terms with this cook-mess-eat reality. Chances are, you probably make messes, too. Might as well say, “Yes!” and let them help. You can make memories and messes all at the same time. Oh, yes, yes, you can.
Make extra to freeze for later.
While you’re letting everyone make his own smoothies, consider freezing extra to enjoy later. You can avoid some messes this way. 😉
Freezer Smoothies make for quick snacks and breakfasts. Your future self will thank you once you fill the freezer.
Mary
My sis is looking for a good and tasty protein powder to add to her smoothies. Unfortunately, she has spent a lot of moola trying to find one that doesn’t taste so weird. Any suggestions???
Leanne
@Mary, I don’t know about protein powder, but Costco sells a fat free, high protein Greek yogurt called Fage. It has 20g of protein per serving. It works wonders in smoothies.
Jennifer
I really enjoy the “yes-mom” posts. Keep them coming! We love our magic bullet. I bought ours to make baby food a couple years ago, and it worked great. We use it to make salsa, and milkshakes. Next smoothies. I’ve avoided smoothies, for some reason I thought they would be too hard. Silly me! We will be pulling ours out for dessert tonight. Thanks for the idea.
Mo
Thanks for sharing these look very yummy. I need a blender to make these, something I have been thinking about getting. My daughter loves smoothies! Happy Mother’s Day!
Gabrielle
Love this post! I think it’s a great idea. Pre-motherhood, I did smoothies a lot for a to-go breakfast. Whenever I saw that we had a few bananas that were about to go bad, I would peel them and put them in a baggie in the freezer for future smoothies. It’s a great way to not waste those bananas.
My daughter is only 16 months, but I’m looking forward to doing do it yourself salad bars when our family is larger.
cassie
what a great idea for kids! i can’t wait until my son is older and we can do these types of things together 🙂
Susie's Homemade
Yummy!!
Bianca
I am so happy to have found your site!! I am trying to be a yes-mom too..Thanks for the encouragement..
Creative2xmom
So I have a question more about the Bullet. Have you used it to make things like dip? I’m looking for something small to blend spinach or make hummus. I’m so leery of buying anything.
Stacie
@Creative2xmom,
Basically, you put everything in the “bullet” and blend it. It’s super easy to clean up as well. Go to YouTube search for Magic Bullet and it shows how to use it. So simple! I suggest you look for one on Ebay, they’re cheapest there!
Jessica Fisher
I regularly make salsa in it, so I imagine hummus would work fine.
Angie
@Creative2xmom,
The Magic Bullet comes with a recipe book, and there is actually hummus recipes in there. I just got mine for Mother’s Day- haven’t used it yet- but I’ve been looking through the recipe book, excited to try it out. Yummy stuff!
Nolie
I love the magic bullet. We got one as a gift and use it at least 3 times a week to make milkshakes.
Candi
We love our Magic Bullet too! It’s the best thing for smoothies, salsa and purees. Smoothies are a regular during the summer, especially with frozen berries. So yummy!
Stacie
We have been blessed recently with a Magic Bullet and LOVE IT! We use it at least once a day. My son gets on the school bus at 6:30 so he usually has a smoothie because it’s so quick and delicious!
Melissa
I just wanted to tell you I love these “Yes-Mom” posts. They are so encouraging and reminded me that I, too, want to be a “Yes-Mom”.
Thanks.
Hattie
Oooooo…I have all of those ingredients in my freezer, as well as strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries…I think I see a smoothie snack in our future this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon…:)
Valerie
I have always wanted a magic bullet – when I used to see the add – and then when I would see it in the store. Perhaps I might just get one yet.
Creating memories with our kids is so very special for you and for them. My boys are 18,17 and 13 and they are already saying “remember when …”
Keep up the good work mom!