Helloooo,
Let’s talk smoothieee! So as the vegan white girl that I am, I drink smoothies nearly every day. They get your digestive system going in the morning if you know what I mean, and for me they replace tea or coffee even. I find them super useful weeks where I have long days out of the house where I know it’ll be trickier to get some fruit and veg in me as I’ll live off tesco meal deals and pasta, so with one smoothie you can nail your five a day in one yummy go. Now, there is this illusion that they are very expensive, now yes admittedly they’re not “cheap”, but even as a student I have found ways to make a big glass cost less than £1. Now I gotta say too though, I do not see a smoothie as meal, I would not be thriving on a breakfast consisting of a smoothie. Also, I’m not gonna lie I prefer drinking smoothies than “eating” them from a bowl but for aesthetic reasons bear with. Smoothie bowls are quite nice sometimes if they’re thick and quite chilled like a sorbet, but you need a blender that can mash up frozen stuff which my cheap blender cannot so….But smoothie bowls also have a perk of filling you up more as you eat them slower rather than gulping it down (like me).
Green smoothies:
I am a big fan of green smoothies, and I now how gross they look (like witch’s brew) but honestly if you make them nicely they will taste nice. Personally, I am not a fan of beetroot or carrots but I looove adding spinach, cucumber and kale to smoothies ‘cause you get all the benefits and a funky colour but none, I repeat NONE of the taste. For green smoothies, I love to add some spinach (like one to two hands full), kale (all washed and kinda crunched in my hands), cucumber, lemon juice, a bit of fresh ginger (surprisingly cheap), banana, frozen mango or berries or whatever you like, coconut water or apple juice or even water to bind, and green grapes! Now I haven’t seen a lot of people add grapes to their smoothies and I honestly think it’s a game changer, it makes it sweet and frothy. I always like to add a binding liquid either water or coconut water (which is super healthy for you but less sugar) or apple juice.
The trick to cheap smoothies is frozen fruit, now remove all negative ideas about frozen fruit, cause in fact they taste pretty good, they were also picked at peak ripeness, they keep for longer and you’re not importing Venezuelan strawberries in November… You can also get chopped frozen ginger, and spinach and all that stuff. So frozen fruit is key!
Something I had an issue with, was having a cheap blender, which meant it would brake if I used frozen goods on it, and as I am on the money saving bandwagon, the solution was preparing it the night before by adding all my frozen ingredients to a jar and leaving it to thaw overnight in the fridge and then in the morning shabam I could just blend it all up. Currently I don’t own a freezer (I know true deprival), so what I do is I just keep my frozen fruit packages in a Tupperware so they don’t leak everywhere in my fridge. I tend to buy two combos like berries and mango and use them up over 3 days which is fine. I also tend to add some of my “normal” fruit that is maybe past its prime, like some wrinkling apples, or bumped pears etc.
Some smoothie mix ideas:
- Spinach, banana, mango, grapes, cucumber + coconut water
- Banana, grapes, peaches, strawberries + coconut water
- All the berries and then two bananas to take off the acidity + apple juice
- Red grapes and raspberries and kale and banana + coconut water
What’s your favourite combo?
