Divas: Healthy smoothies that won’t break the bank

Quick, easy, nutritious and delicious. Chock full of vitamins, antioxidants, protein and it’s cheap!

What more can you ask from your breakfast? Not a darned thing.

Smoothies are so popular right now. I’m sure you’ve seen prepackaged frozen smoothie blends at the grocery store.

While they are convenient and certainly cheaper than buying a smoothie from TropicJambaSmoothie-Mart, you can make smoothie packs yourself better and much cheaper.

It’s simple. A smoothie pack is the ingredients for individual smoothies, frozen in baggies. When it’s time for breakfast you blend with liquid and enjoy.

Cheap and Easy Smoothies - Here’s the magic formula to make one (2 cup) smoothie: Place 1 cup fruit and a handful of greens in a baggie. Add around ½ cup of additions of your choice (see below for a plethora of ideas) Squeeze the air out and seal the bags. Freeze the bags flat for maximum storage.

When it’s smoothie time; toss the contents of the smoothie pack and one cup liquid in the blender. Add protein powder or other last minute add-ins and blend until smooth.

To make the easiest breakfasts on the planet, every couple of weeks spend a half hour making a bunch of smoothie packs to save time.

Here are some mix and match goodies to put in your smoothies. Variety costs very little more and you won’t get sick of smoothies.

Liquids – milk, almond, soy, or rice milk, coconut water, fruit juice, coffee, green tea.

Fruits – bananas, berries, apples, peaches, nectarines, melons, kiwi, pineapple, citrus, grapes.

Greens and Other Veggies - spinach, kale, fresh herbs, cucumber, pumpkin puree, cooked carrots or beets.

Healthy Fats, Fiber and Protein - coconut oil, avocado, protein powder, peanut butter, almond butter, yogurt, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, oats, chia seeds, flax seeds, green superfood powders, silken tofu.

Flavor boosters – figs, dates, fresh ginger, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, herbs, cocoa powder, Stevia, honey, shredded coconut.

It really doesn’t matter what you put in as long it’s healthy by your standards and you enjoy it.

Want to kick it up a notch? Freeze things like yogurt (see my stars?), coconut water, even pureed spinach in ice cube trays and pop the cubes in the smoothie packs.

Money-saving tips – Some of the least expensive ingredients are: frozen fruit blend, (mix and match the fruits for variety) spinach, yogurt, bananas, oatmeal, peanut butter and milk. When you see a good deal on ingredients you like, stock up. Buy really ripe fruit on clearance in the produce department. Anytime you find cheap fruit in season buy extra and freeze it for smoothies. (I’m looking at you, melons!)

PB&J Smoothie – 1 cup strawberries, ½ banana, 2 tablespoons peanut butter, 1 cup milk.

Berry Cheesecake – 1 cup frozen berries, ½ cup cottage cheese, 1 cup milk.

Sweet and Green – 1 cup spinach leaves, 1 frozen banana, ½ cup strawberries, ½ cup yogurt

Almond Banana – 1 cup almond milk, 2 tablespoons almond butter, 1 frozen banana

For more smoothie recipes visit www.divasonadime.com

Cheers to breakfast ready when you are!

Fabulous Food contributed by Patti Diamond from Divas On A Dime – Where Frugal, Meets Fabulous! NEW website and blog - www.divasonadime.com Join us on Facebook at DivasOnADimeDotCom.