Our whole family love smoothies and I make them weekly in our house.  I love knowing exactly what my kids are eating and knowing that I can use up all of my old, mushy fruit so we waste less.  In fact, the more we eat smoothies, the better we feel (especially in the summer – it’s a great way to cool down).

You don’t have to buy new stuff to make great smoothies, but I totally get it why Will Smith was passionate about his blender in “Enemy of the State” (watch it: worth your time) – I’ve gotten two for gifts over the years and my excitement grows with each new blender.

Make Smoothie Space In Your Freezer

Get yourself set-up to be organized by creating a small space in your freezer for the smoothie supplies.  You’ll also need some way to store the old, mushy fruit in individual servings (we use reusable containers or sometimes ziploc-style bags) I always have smoothie ingredients ready to go in a small plastic bin in my freezer filled with smoothie ingredients.  It’s much faster to grab the items I want in the morning easily and whip up a unique blend for my smoothie.

Simple Smoothie Ingredients for the Perfect Smoothie

(notice – no added sugar, if I need a sweetener I use a little fruit juice or pineapple).  I use whatever I have on hand and mix ingredients until my blender is full:

• Frozen fruit (strawberries, bananas, pineapple, blueberries) – leftover & mushy is fine! Just freeze it
• Fresh fruit (bananas, raspberries)
• 100% Fruit Juice (apple juice, orange juice) – a little goes a long way
• Water (or ice) – use this to get the consistency you want
• Optional: Spinach, Chia Seeds, Nut Butter

Make better ice cubes for Smoothies.

Sure, an icy smoothie is my favorite, but sometimes the ice can make it taste watered down.  Now, I make ice cube in advance.  I use nearly expired yogurt, the juice from canned fruit, or extras from when I make too much smoothie to make flavorful ice cubes that add more nutrition to my smoothie.  Just pour the extras in a dollar-store ice cube tray and freeze.  You can bag them up and pick out what you want when you need it.

Be smart with the extras.

We make our smoothies in mega batches.  Usually everyone in the house gets their own reusable, insulated cup.  And we’ve also started freezing our extras in Popsicle containers.  The kids are ecstatic when they get to eat Popsicle for breakfast – and it’s just fruit, ice/water and spinach! Yum!

Smoothies are a fun, easy, healthy addition to your diet.  Use these simple tips to make them a regular part of your meals.