Thrifty Recipes~ Smoothies

 I'm not sure about all of you, but I always get a ton of sweets around the Holidays.  Being an administrator at a child care center, people want to acknowledge you by giving you a small token gift, which usually is some sort of food.  I find this to be very thoughtful, but after 2 weeks of binge eating sweets, I'm ready for a detox. I need to get my eating habits back on track.  This is why I had the idea to prep some healthy smoothies to keep in my freezer. 

I have a pretty busy work schedule, so I'm always gone.  I love making a smoothie for breakfast or lunch, but I just never have the time to prepare it.  I figured if I had everything all ready to go, I'd be more likely to make myself a healthy smoothy in the morning.

I know that for me, it's hard to get in all the fruits and vegetable servings that I need in a day.  Having a smoothie in the morning helps me get all my servings in without even thinking about it.

 When shopping for smoothie ingredients, I always keep price in mind.  I prefer Greek yogurt in my smoothies for the protein that it offers, but Greek yogurt is usually more expensive than regular yogurt.  This is why I bought a mix.  I made sure to get a few regular Kroger light yogurts, because at $.40 a piece, you really can't beat the price!  I also prefer almond milk in my smoothies for the taste.  Kroger has a great line of organic foods called Simple Truth.  They are very affordable, compared to the other organic foods.  The almond milk was on sale for $1.65, much cheaper then the organic skim milk that I usually buy.  I also try to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.  Unfortunately, with the time of the year, fresh strawberries were $5, so I had to go with the frozen strawberries for the price.  Bananas are always a great choice for smoothies.  They are always the most inexpensive fruit in the produce aisle and they're delicious!

I always try to stretch out my ingredients, that way I'm always getting the most for my money.  I was able to get 8 smoothies out of the ingredients that I bought.  It ended up coasting about $1.40 for each smoothie.  Here are the recipes that I used.  (Keep in mind, I don't always follow the correct messurements, so it's okay to use your best judgement while making these.)

Smoothie #1
1 cup of spinach
1/2 cup of Greek yogurt
1 banana
1 Tbs peanut butter
1/2 cup almond milk

Smoothie #2
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup mango
1/2 banana
1/2 cup strawberry yogurt
1 tbs honey
1/2 cup almond milk

Smoothie #3
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup strawberry
1 banana
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt 
1 tbs honey
1/2  cup almond milk

 *Note: Don't freeze the milk! Make sure that you add the milk in when it's time to blend your smoothie.  This will make it easier to blend all the frozen ingredients.*

Once everything is all packed up, you can put your bags in the freezer and they are ready to go for the next time you feel like a smoothie. 

Go ahead and try out these recipes. Let me know what you think!  I hope all of you have a healthy start to 2015!