Make a Month of Green Smoothies in an Hour

Have you gotten on the green smoothie wagon yet? Over the past few years, I've started making them for breakfast each day. It started out to be about health and an easy breakfast I could sip as a busy work-from-home mom, and then I became utterly and completely addicted. I love my daily smoothie!

All About Green Smoothies

Maybe you've wanted to try green smoothies, but you haven't known where to start. Or perhaps you've been too busy to look for recipes or tackle the daily prep involved.

That's where make-ahead frozen smoothie packs come into play. They are awesome, and you'll wonder what you ever did without them.

What is a green smoothie?

Let's start with the basic makeup of a green smoothie. First, it doesn't have to look green! A good green smoothie is built on several things—leafy greens, fruit (sometimes veggies too), liquid, and other nutritional add-ins.

Typically, a green smoothie is 40% greens and 60% fruit, liquid, and other add-ins. You can play with that ratio until it feels right for your taste buds.

Leafy greens: chard, spinach, kale, collards, bok choy, romaine, and other sweet lettuces, mint, parsley, cilantro

Fruit: berries, pineapple, mango, citrus, avocado, pears, apples, bananas, melon, dates (can be fresh or frozen)

Veggies: cucumber, celery, fennel, tomatoes, carrots, beets, pumpkin or butternut puree

Liquids: water, coconut water, milk, non-dairy milks (coconut, hemp, soy, oat, nuts), juice, tea, fermented and cultured beverages (kefir, kombucha, buttermilk, whey, yogurt )

Sweet naturals: dates, agave, honey, date syrup, maple syrup, flavored stevia drops

Nutritional add-ins: chia seeds, flax seeds, acai powder, green or other superfood powders (beetroot, cacao, maca, spirulina, wheatgrass), protein powder, spices, hemp seeds, whole nuts, oats

How to make a frozen green smoothie system

1. Buying in bulk

You've probably seen commercially prepared smoothie packs in the freezer sections of some stores. Awesome, but you can do it for less money at home, especially if you hit up a sale on fruit and greens.

Try to use what's in season in your area. It can be a little harder for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter. That's when I rely on buying fresh and frozen food in bulk at discount grocery stores.

2. A different smoothie each day

For these packs, I used baby spinach, fresh pineapple (got a killer deal on them!), bananas, blueberries, and blackberries. With those four fruits, you can mix and match to create a slightly different smoothie for each day or make the same one.

And you can always add different elements later if you want to change them up. Leafy greens freeze really well. You can puree them and make ice cubes ahead of time, or just toss the leaves into the bag.

3. Getting the right bags

Reusable quart-size resealable freezer bags are great because I can rinse and reuse them over and over. Mark each one with the date you made the pack, and cross it out once you've made the smoothie.

The packs won't last forever before the quality is affected by hoar frost (ice crystals). Think of it as a once-a-month or every-other-week kind of task, though these will last for several months if you're feeling particularly ambitious and want to make a ton.

4. How to pack a pack

Put the leafy greens into the bag first, followed by the fruit. I do about 2 packed cups of baby spinach and 2 to 2-½ cups frozen and/or fresh fruit. You could add the chia or flax seeds, but I find they stick to the bag. (Plus, sometimes I like to soak my chia seeds before blending.)

5. Working for your blender

Remember that cutting fruit into smaller pieces makes it easier on your blender. Bananas, if they are really ripe, usually do okay halved, but you can slice them up before you put them into the bags.

If you don't have a high-speed blender, like a Vitamix, Blendtec, Ninja, and the like, then you might want to try making leafy green ice cubes for better blending. Another option is to only make freezer packs with the fruit and then use fresh leafy greens.

6. Avoid frost

Squeeze out as much air as you can, and seal the bag. Removing the air helps prevent frost from forming.

7. Easy stacking

For easier stacking in the freezer, you can flatten them out a bit more just before sealing. The bags will freeze more quickly if placed in a single layer in the freezer.

You could also freeze the fruit on cookie sheets and then transfer them to the bags. Totally up to you on that.

8. When it's time to blend

When you blend, add 1 cup of liquid with the packet contents. The greens will break up a little easier after having been frozen, but you will probably need a little more liquid than normal for your blender to puree them properly.

When I make a fresh smoothie (not from a frozen pack), I layer the liquid, then greens, then fresh fruit, then frozen fruit, and seeds or other add-ins on top.

9. Experiment with flavor combinations

It's really fun to mix it up with other varieties of fruit and greens. Above (left to right):

Banana-blueberry: 1 large banana, 2 cups blueberries, 2 cups spinach

Pineapple-blueberry: ½ banana, 1-½ cups pineapple, ½–¾ cup blueberries, 2 cups spinach

Kiwi-watermelon: 1 sliced kiwi, 1 cup diced watermelon, 1 cup grapes, 2 cups spinach

Banana-berry: 2–3 cups mixed berries, ½ large banana, 2 cups spinach

Melon-berry: 1 cup melon, 1-½ cups mixed berries, 2 cups spinach

Pineapple-banana: 1 large sliced banana, 2 heaping cups pineapple, 2 cups spinach

We've got 10 more 3-ingredient smoothie pack combinations here. This detox smoothie recipe is another favorite. Or try this wrinkle-reducing berry and kale smoothie.

10. And that's it! Easy and quick.

P.S. Ready to start juicing? Try our 3 Juicing 101 recipes!

Quick Green Smoothie Recipes

This article was medically reviewed by Dr. Gina Jansheski, a licensed, board-certified physician with more than 20 years of practice experience. Learn more about Hello Glow's medical reviewers here. As always, this is not personal medical advice, and we recommend that you talk with your doctor.