When making smoothies and shakes, using high quality ingredients will elevate your recipes and bring the most bang for your buck.
We recommend using organic fruit that has no sugar added to it. Frozen fruit can sometimes include added sugar in the form of syrup, so be sure to check the label, or try this simple method instead!
Buy regular fresh fruit from the produce section and freeze it. It is much more affordable to buy a fresh pineapple and cut it yourself instead of buying a pre-cut container. Sure, it might be more convenient to buy pre-sliced fruit, but you’ll be spending way less on more fruit if you cut it and freeze it yourself.
Freezing your own fruit makes it more versatile and makes it last longer. If you buy a bunch of bananas and let them get brown, don't throw them away! Instead, peel them and place them in a tupperware for later use in smoothies or banana bread. The same goes for strawberries, blueberries, pears, pineapple, kiwi and mango. Taking the extra time to cut your own fruit is more sustainable because you’re wasting less plastic, and it’s way more affordable than buying a big bag of fruit.
Bananas contain a whopping 14 grams of sugar. Although it’s natural, unprocessed sugar, it’s still a decent amount of sugar. In our recipes, we usually recommend using half of a frozen banana, and usually about ⅓ cup of other fruits to keep the sugar content low.
We also use unsweetened milk or water in our recipes. Sugar can sneak into recipes easily, so being aware of your sugar intake is helpful. Using chilled water as your base might sound like it would make the smoothie too runny, but if you add peanut butter or almond butter, the smoothie will be delightfully thick and creamy. Try our homemade 2-ingredient almond milk recipe to save even more money and cut out extra unnecessary preservatives.
Feel free to check out our smoothie boosters blog to find out how to add extra nutrients for mood and health boosting properties.
