The diagnosis: “Husband Frustration”.
There’s the laundry build-up. But, that’s manageable.
Then, the trash. Truthfully, the added chore is somewhat enjoyable.
Have we discussed the toilet seat? Yea, I won’t go there. After all, this is a food post. I promise, I’m getting to the food.
Out of all the hubby frustrations, one tops many lists: food. The laundry can build (you know how much I love laundry) and the trash is manageable, but having a husband who doesn’t enjoy the full experience of salted kale chips, chia seeds, or beets just isn’t fun for any real food wife.
My real food conversion came via a dare from Dustin (AKA, my husband). His tempting dinner dare sent this former fast food loving gal on a real food crash course. Boxed pasta with mystery sauce was quickly replaced with large helpings of seasonal veggies. Juice loaded with artificial sugar was replaced with homemade green juice, kombucha, and good ol’ water.
Dustin happily accepted our new food life at home, but lunch at work often involved fast food indulgence or a quick stop at his favorite barbecue chain. Truthfully, I don’t blame the poor man. Our real food life at the time consisted of an extreme plant-based, no animal-products diet. The man just needed a good helping of bacon. Bless his heart and hungry tummy.
Over the years our real food diet has evolved. Food isn’t black and white, good and bad. White flour isn’t always the enemy, and the occasional pan of decadent brownies topped with homemade ice cream is a satisfying treat. As I’ve chill-laxed (yep, I totally said that) and learned to cook satisfying meals in my own kitchen, Dustin has slowly (all on his own) renounced the fast food pit stops. In fact, today he’s a fully converted real food junkie.
Need evidence?
Evidence provided.
Back in May I ventured away from home for a girls’ trip to Indiana, leaving Dustin on daddy/babysitter/cook duty. I spent the day before my trip shopping for food and preparing as many plan-ahead meals as possible. I walked on the plane the next morning with full confidence my family would survive, and prayed the meals I prepared would be enjoyed.
Monday evening I arrived home to two happy (fed) kids and a clean house. After a few hugs and kisses the kids couldn’t wait to share their new daddy/kid activity: smoothie-making. Dustin took smoothies to a whole new level while I was gone, creating fancy, nutrient-packed treats. I beamed and wondered why I ever fretted.
Today, Dustin is all about the smoothie-making. It’s been nice to relinquish a bit of kitchen/cooking duty. In fact, the man has become so serious about his smoothie endeavors he recently high-jacked borrowed my blender, taking it to work, just to make an afternoon smoothie and instantly becoming the most popular man at work. In order to support his smoothie-making love, I spent my weekend creating quick and easy freezer smoothie packs.
Each smoothie pack is loaded with fruits and leafy greens, all the ingredients needed to make a delicious afternoon smoothie without the fuss of gathering ingredients or “wasting” time at work.
You don’t have to be the crazy smoothie-making guy at work to enjoy the benefits of freezer smoothie packs. Freezer smoothie packs are perfect for busy school mornings or a quick afternoon snack. Today, I’m sharing five of my favorite smoothie pack recipes. These recipes will help get you started.
5 Freezer Smoothie Pack Recipes
Ingredients
Very Berry Smoothie
- 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1 cup strawberries fresh or frozen strawberries
- 1 banana sliced
- 1 cup apple juice sweeter version
Mango, Strawberry, & Banana Smoothie
- 1 cup mango fresh or frozen mango
- 1 cup strawberries fresh or frozen strawberries
- 1 banana sliced
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
Berry Grape Smoothie
- 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1 cup strawberries fresh or frozen strawberries
- 1/2 cup grapes
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
Tropical Bliss Smoothie
- 1 cup pineapple fresh or frozen pineapple
- 1 cup mango fresh or frozen mango
- 1 banana sliced
- 1 cup orange juice
Sweet & Sour Berry Smoothie
- 2 kiwis peeled and halved
- 1 1/2 cups strawberries fresh or frozen strawberries
- 1/2 cup peaches fresh or frozen peaches
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
Instructions
- In labeled ziplock bags, combine the ingredients for each smoothie except the liquid. Keep bags in the freezer.
- To use a freezer pack, add 1 cup liquid to the base of the blender followed by smoothie pack contents and any extras such as chia seeds or coconut manna. Blend until smooth.
Video
Nutrition
Note: Add 1 cup of greens to any smoothie pack before freezing for added nutrients.
- Build your own smoothie pack recipe: 2 cups fruit, 1 sliced banana, 1 cup greens (optional).
- Add 1 cup of liquid (water, coconut water, juice, milk) to the blender, then add frozen smoothie pack contents.
- If you’re using frozen fruit to build smoothie packs, work fast. Defrosted fruit will stick together once frozen resulting in a giant ice block.
- Boost your smoothie’s nutrition by adding chia or flax seeds. Adding coconut manna or half a avocado will produce a creamier smoothie.
- Freeze yogurt in ice cube trays. Add the yogurt ice cubes to smoothie packs. Or add fresh yogurt to the blender after adding a liquid, followed by the smoothie pack contents.
Could plain greek yogurt be used for the yogurt in your recipes?
Hey Melissa, For smoothies, yes.
Thanks for providing such nice recipes for making smoothies. I will try some of your recipes and definitely give feedback about how the test is. Please provide some idea of how we can make the fruit salad with freezing.
Hello,
just wondering if you have heard of alternative bags to store as the plastic are good as they do not take up room in the freezer like a lunch box would. However I’m worried about the amount of plastic being used weekly for these and how we should all be cutting down on plastic use.
Hey Jade, Yes, Stasher bags are a great option. http://amzn.to/2BiV57Q
Hi Kristin, I have started a new health-binge, cutting out all bad foods, soft drinks etc. I have also began at the gym, and have started taking a protein shake as I just don’t have the time to get the protein intake I need. I was wondering, with these recipes, could I add my protein powder? Or would you recommend searching for other recipes? I love how these can be prepared prior! Thanks 🙂
Hey Elle Zo, Awesome, I’m excited for you! You could definitely add protein powder to the packs. Here’s more information about making your own smoothie packs: https://livesimply.me/2017/10/03/how-to-make-your-own-freezer-friendly-smoothie-packs-prep-ahead-smoothie-hack/
Will I be able to fit one pack in a 650 ml nutri ninja/bullet cup?
Hey Jamie, I’m not sure.
Love your info! A note for Alissa – the best way to clean your blender:
add dish soap and water in it and turn it on ! Let it swirl away then rinse well….all done 😮 )
Thank you, Beatrice! Great tip!
Thanks for the ingredient list – very helpful. Another thing I’ve been doing as I’m terrible at good blender practices (either it’s soaking in the sink or I can’t be bothered assembling it in the morning because I’m an alarm snooze criminal) is to put the blended smoothie in ice cube trays (in “meal prep” weekend time) and then the morning of all you need to do is put the ice cubes in the jar you drink your smoothie and by the time it defrosts I drink it. 🙂 if you you have it for breakfast or early morning can put in the fridge to defrost overnight.
Thanks again for the recipes. A lot simpler than some of the recipes I’ve tried and keen to try it out.
That’s such an awesome idea, Alissa! Thank you for sharing!
OMG, i have apparently been missing a standard (and brilliant) organization tool! “MEAL PREP WEEKEND” I dont have to wake up to an alarm, thank dog, but i might get up more willingly if i knew dinner was already prepped for cooking. I actually did know about this do-ahead dealio from watching the adorable Rachael Ray do the same thing on one of her old shows. However she managed to use almost an entire half gallon of cream/half n half for the week’s meals!!! I will sit myself down and make a game plan for prepping a week of smoothies, then plot out a week’s worth of dinners; cutting up, measuring and containing all the stuff for each meal. I love cooking but all the shopping and prep makes me irritated, which is possibly why i avoid even deciding what’s for dinner until dinner TIME!
Anyway, thanks for helping put my head in a different place, i can now see the future of dinner, and it’s good!
Maybe @kristenmarr would like to do an issue with week-o-dinners in a future blog post? (Just please easy on the spicy stuff, not everyone likes hot flavors)
I am highly allergic to strawberries. Could you replace them with raspberries? Or do you having other recipes that use raspberries?
Thanks in advance!
Hey Stephanie, The smoothie(s) may be a bit seedy with the raspberries. You could try a raspberry and blueberry combo, or just blueberries.
wouldnt it be easier to pre blend them and then just add the pre blended (blent? 😉 ) to the blender with the milk or juice? honestly asking, not being smart
i mean blend the berries and yogurt and then freeze it all together in ice cube trays and then re-blend with coconut milk or juice?
Hey Valerie, You could definitely do that. I’d probably freeze the blended fruit in ice cube trays so they are easier to blend later with the liquid. You could also blend the smoothies and freeze the pre-made smoothies in freezer-safe mason jars.
OMG! I just found you & the first thing that caught my eye was your freezer smoothies. I have been learning Clean Eating for about a yr. now & have been making smoothies for a couple of yrs. Your story sounds so much like mine. Hubby still coming around, doesn’t like smoothies too much, yet. LOL Love that your hubby came up with freezer smoothies! I can not believe I haven’t come up with that! It takes me forever to make just one smoothie. Sometimes I make a big batch for extra, but never thought to do it his way. Great way to work together! Thank you so much for the great idea & I can’t wait to read on!!
I just made some smoothie packs this weekend! Another recipe I found had the great idea of freezing yogurt in ice cube trays. That way you can add the yogurt to the packs easily as well! Then you are literally only dealing with the true liquid (juice, water, etc) when blending.
Absolutely love the ideas. I’ve added them to my Must Do folder ( future tense- wait until fruit prices get within reason). Question: A lot of the recipes contain banana. I get the nutritional value, and how bananas help thicken and add a creamy texture, but I really, really dislike the taste of banana in anything . Besides your suggestion for avocado, any suggestions for a replacement ingredient in freezer bags that’ll replace bananas in similar way?
Hey Paula, I think you could add yogurt during the blending stage to reach the same creaminess. 🙂 Enjoy!!
This is great! Wonderful article and we are looking forward to trying out these smoothie recipes!
love these recipes- can you tell me where you got the smoothie drinking glasses?!
Thank you, Lorraine. I purchased them from Target.
Thanks for these! Love having them ready in the freezer and they are delicious. I had to add extra liquid but I think it’s because my blender isn’t so great and everything gets stuck. Thanks again:)
Hey Kat, I’m so glad you’re enjoying the smoothie packs. Yes, the liquid will greatly depend on your blender, so feel free to add more. 🙂
I love this. I’m getting ready for back to school and these would be great for the kids in the morning or after school.
Hey Erlene, Thank you! Freezer smoothie packs are perfect for busy school mornings. Enjoy!!
Thank you so much for this! My husband is on a major mission to improve his diet and we’ll definitely be adding these in. At the risk of sounding like a total pain in the butt, is there any chance you have the calorie info for each recipe?
Hey Corrie, I’m so glad the smoothie packs will be helpful! We don’t count calories, so I don’t calculate the calories in my recipes. The My Fitness Pal calorie counter may be helpful–you can plug in the recipe and the calculator generates calorie information: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/
This is such a great idea! My baby loves smoothies! We put keifir in our smoothies to add a little bit of a probiotic boost.
Thank you, Kelly! The freezer smoothie packs make life (particularly with kids ;)) much easier. I love that you add kefir to your smoothies, great idea!
I just want to know if the food stored in these plastic bags maintains its nutrients, because I want to start to make the smoothie packs for all week at Sunday.
Hey Ana, I’m not sure of any issues with nutrients being lost via plastic bags :). Some people aren’t a fan of using plastic for plastic’s sake, so choose to use glass jars instead.
I have search everywhere for the “perfect” ratio for a basic fruit smoothie and you have nailed it!!
Awesome, Elizabeth! Enjoy the smoothies!!