This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
If you love green smoothies AND want to maximize your time and money while making them, then this smoothie prep tutorial is for you! I love buying fresh, in-season produce, yet I don’t want it to go bad before I use it all in my daily smoothie. Meal prep smoothies get me through busy seasons with ease.
Meal prep smoothies are my jam! I love doing smoothie prep in batches so I make one mess at a time and get a week (or month) of ready-to-blend smoothies for my efforts. Today, I’m sharing all my tips and tricks to make smoothies for the week as well as giving you a sample menu and shopping list to get started!
Table of Contents
How to Meal Prep Smoothies for a Week
First, gather the following items: measuring cups, quart bags or canning jars (I like wide-mouth jars best!), a permanent marker, your favorite fruit and leafy greens and either my blog or the Daily Blends Smoothie App. These items will make meal prepping smoothies a breeze. Next:
- Decide which recipes you’ll make for the week and have them on hand. Feel free to use my free 10-Day Smoothie Challenge recipes.
- Slice or cut fruit into chunks. You can also cut fruit into smaller pieces and freeze ahead of time on lined baking sheets or use packaged frozen fruit. This helps keep the fruit and leafy greens from freezing together in a large clump, plus the smoothies blend more easily.
- Label bag or jar lids with recipe name and date. Be specific. You might also want to include how much of which liquid gets blended with each smoothie pack (to have when you’re ready to blend).
- Measure out the ingredients and pack into jars or bags.
- Remove as much air as possible from bags and jars when sealing closed. Pack fruit and leafy greens tightly into the jars and screw on the lids.
- Place in freezer. Don’t pack your bags/containers too tightly together. There should be some air circulation to help the contents to freeze quickly.
When you’re ready to use your meal prepped smoothies, remove smoothie pack from freezer. Add liquid base to container or bag (which helps defrost the fruit slightly). You can also thaw for a few minutes on the counter or in warm water. This helps the fruit and greens come out of the container more easily. Pour into blender and blend until smooth.
Prep smoothies for the week, month, or quarter, whichever length of time fits your time and lifestyle (and space!) best. I took the 7-day Smoothie Challenge inside Daily Blends Smoothie App for recipes and prepped for an entire month!
Tips for Make Ahead Smoothies
- Pick recipes with similar ingredients and buy in bulk. This saves money and cuts down on the number of ingredients needed.
- Buy seasonally! Choosing ingredients that are in season (or better yet, local!) also cuts down on cost. Food has the highest nutrition when harvested during its rightful season. Plus, it just tastes better.
- Help your future self by labeling! Know what that prepped jar needs for the liquid base so that when you are ready to blend, you are prepared.
- Set aside time to prep. Whether it’s on the weekend, Monday morning or Thursday evening, make time for prep. This helps you set yourself up for success.
- If you don’t like to or have time to chop up fresh ingredients then buy frozen! I love getting frozen pineapple and mango from Costco to save myself time. Frozen ingredients are picked at height freshness then flash frozen to preserve as many nutrients as possible.
Have any more tips for meal prepping smoothies? Drop a comment below and let us all know!
Smoothie Prep Menu
If you’re looking for some make-ahead smoothie recipes to get started, try out this plan:
- Beginner’s Luck Smoothie
- Clear Skin Smoothie
- Mango Spinach Smoothie
- Vegan Tropical Smoothie
- Spinach Banana Smoothie
- Island Green Smoothie
- Chia Seed Smoothie
For this round of meal prep smoothies, I stuck with tropical smoothies that have similar ingredients so that I can buy in bulk. Here’s the shopping list to prep the above seven smoothies:
| 7.5 cups Spinach | 3 Bananas |
| 1.5 cups Mango | 1 Avocado |
| 1 Lemon | 2 tbsp Chia Seeds |
| 4 Oranges | 2.75 cups Coconut Water |
| 3 cups Pineapple | 2 cups Water |
If you want to simplify your shopping list further, swap coconut water for regular water (which you don’t need to purchase), and you can meal prep smoothies for a whole week with eight ingredients.
For this list, I would pick up my supplies at Trader Joe’s and opt for frozen mango and pineapple, while choosing fresh for the remaining ingredients. Since avocado is only needed in one recipe, I’d just add it into a few other smoothies for a healthy fat boost.
Common Questions Around Smoothie Prep
Yes! While smoothies start to lose some nutrients about 15 minutes after blending, you can definitely blend one the night before. Just give it a good shake before you start to drink.
Yes! Simply add your fruit and veggies and leafy greens to a mason jar or freezer-safe container and freeze! When you’re ready to make a smoothie, thaw slightly on the counter then dump into your blender along with the liquid of your choice and any superfood boosts you want and blend. This is a great way to make sure your ingredients don’t go bad.
Yes! The key to a meal replacement smoothie is adding in protein and healthy fat. These two components will help you get full and keep you full longer.
Make Ahead Smoothies
Did you know that you can even freeze already blended smoothies? For real! Make sure you use freezer-safe containers and leave space when filling them, as liquid expands when frozen. Put in the fridge the night before you want to drink, carefully defrost in warm water or just toss it into a cooler if you’re taking it with you.
I love smoothie prepping blended smoothies for road trips. They act as ice packs for snacks and are perfectly chilled but defrosted when I’m ready to enjoy them.
Meal Prep Smoothies
Ingredients
- 5 cups spinach
- 2 cups kale
- 3 bananas
- 5 oranges
- 3 mango
- 1 pineapple
- 2 cups strawberries
Instructions
- Decide which recipes you'll make for the week and have the recipe on hand. Feel free to use my free 10-day smoothie challenge recipes. For this sample guide I'm using my original Simple 7 Smoothie Guide.
- Slice or cut fruit into chunks. You can also cut fruit into smaller pieces and freeze ahead of time on lined baking sheets or use packaged frozen fruit. This will help keep the fruit and leafy greens from freezing together in a large clump and the smoothies will blend more easily.
- Label bag and jar lids with recipe name and date. Be specific. You might also want to include how much of which liquid gets blended with each smoothie pack (to have when you're ready to blend).
- Measure out the ingredients and pack into jars or bags.
- Remove as much air as possible from bags and jars when sealing closed. Pack fruit and greens tightly into the jars and screw on the lids.
- Place in freezer. Don't pack too tightly together. There should be some air circulation to help the contents to freeze quickly.
When ready to use
- Remove smoothie pack from freezer. Add liquid base to container or bag (which helps defrost the fruit slightly). You can also thaw for a few minutes on the counter or in warm water. The fruit and greens will come out of the jar/bag easier too.
- Pour into blender and blend until smooth.
Equipment
- freezer
- measuring cups
- quart sized jars or bags
- permanent marker
Video
Notes
- Smoothie packs will keep for several months in the freezer but are the very best quality when used within 2-4 weeks.
- This sample prep guide uses naturally sweeter fruits. To lower the natural sugar in a smoothie, swap 1 banana with 1/2 an avocado.
- If hoar frost forms on the fruit and greens, it is still perfectly safe to consume. It can be rinsed off with lukewarm water.
- Store smoothie packs away from foods with strong odors. Glass jars offer the best protection against odors.
- Pick smoothie recipes with similar ingredients for bulk purchasing and to save money.
what time should make green smoothies?
Hi Elba.
Anytime is a good time to make green smoothies. Morning, Lunch, Dinner or a snack. Cheers!
Hi there! I have just joined this group of “healthy smoothies” drinkers and from what I have read from comments made by those who appreciates what you are doing, I am totally glad to be part of this group. I am 67yrs old and wants to be healthy as my diet in the past leaves nothing to be desired, so I am determined to become healthier than I’ve ever been in my life and while on this journey lose kilos ( alot I might add) as well. I will keep you posted along the way. My day of reckoning starts tomorrow!!! yaaay!!!!
I make the whole recipe which is normally two servings each morning then drink one at breakfast and one for lunch or a snack later on,
Great idea! 🙂
Hi, I’m new to this smoothie business!
Freezing sounds like an ideal solution to me for saving time, but how long is it safe to leave the fruit and veg in the freezer for before they are bad to consume? Thanks! 🙂
Hi Jenny.
Thanks for the comment. What type of container will you be using? I know most containers suggest 3-6 months.
I place my fruits in plastic containers in the freezer or zip lock bags.
Mason Jars take up too much space in the freezer. I store my greens in a big ziploc bag and grab as needed.
Great tip for saving freezer space.
Hi
I’ve been using frozen fruits most of the time. Am I getting the same amount of nutrients as fresh fruits?
Hey Micasha.
Fresh is best, but frozen is a close second. We love added frozen for the chill factor.
I prep in regular mouth pint mason jars 1 serving (1/2 recipe)
When ready to use take off top, add liquid, screw on Oster blender blade to mason jar. Blend and drink from jar. Less clean up.
RAWESOME! Love that!
Do the greens still blend okay mixed with everything? Or do you still recommend blending the greens and liquid together first then the fruit?
Hey Christine.
Great question. When everything is frozen, just add the liquid and blend. Cheers. 🙂
My blender does NOT like everything frozen so I just let the bag rest on the counter or soak in water. Then I blend greens with liquids first. I don’t have a fancy blender so this works well for me.
Great tip, Lori! 🙂
Aloha! 🙂 I would like to ask if it is okay to mix oats to any smoothie? Thanks!
Okay, so I recently discovered my blender blade end will fit my Mason Jar….game changer!!! So i can I freeze green tea, cucumber, apple, watercress, kale, celery and pineapple together in the jar? Or do any these need to be separated? Its so convenient to screw on the blade and blend!
Hey Misty.
Awesome. I personally haven’t done this, but here is a link all about using your mason jar with your blender:
Hello,
Is there any reason why I shouldnt blend a weeks worth of smoothies and then separate and freeze the individual portions? I’m not a morning person so it would be easier to grab a portion on my way out the door and wait for it to defrost…..
Thanks!
Hey Sophie.
You can totally do that. It will take a while to completely deforest, if you freeze a solid blended smoothie. We just prefer to blend that morning, there is just something about a freshly blended smoothie to us.
Cheer + Happy Blendin’!
Hi I appreciate your advice but have a question on freezing vegetables. The Fresh Preserving site says “Vegetables require blanching, a critical step to cleanse off surface dirt, brighten the color, help retain vitamins and reduce the action of enzymes which can destroy the fresh flavor.” Do you blach yours?
Hey Denise.
Great question. Before freezing, we wash. 🙂 Here is a link to all things washing your produce. 🙂 https://simplegreensmoothies.com/dirty-dozen-list
Is this how-to in PDF form anywhere to be added to the Kindle app?
Hey Candice. Great question. At this time we do not. If you have an Apple product you can press the square button with the arrow, and add to you home screen. 🙂
Sorry, I don’t, but Firefox on Android 4.4+ (Kit Kat) has a “Save as PDF” option under ‘page options’. I used that to import into Kindle, if you don’t mind. 🙂
🙂 Awesome feature. 🙂
Thank you. 🙂
You are so welcome! 🙂
I see you featured the yellow variety of banana. Does the type of banana matter?
Hey we like a sorts of bananas, go for what you enjoy most. 🙂
My sister got my butt up off of the couch and became my walking buddy this past week! She is in CA and I and am in NH, so we call each other as we walk. Now she has encouraged me to do the 30 day challenge together and I’m looking forward to it! I have a couple of question. 1. about using green tea in the smoothies…can you use matcha green tea powder and water in place of the tea bags? It certainly would make our smoothies greener! 2. Can you suggest specific smoothies that would be good for weight loss? Thanks
Hey C.
Thanks for the comment! Great job on moving your body towards health and fueling it with yummy green smoothie. Here is a green smoothie you might enjoy. https://simplegreensmoothies.com/fat-burning-smoothie
Hey! I LOVE that you can freeze everything! Great time saving idea. I thought the greens would go mushy and gross.
I use a magic bullet and have 6 individual cups, and just recently started making 4-6 cups all at once, putting in everything except the liquid and frozen items, and storing in the fridge, this really helped save time too. And I just discovered slicing bananas that are at my “perfect” ripeness, freezing on a baking sheet and then putting in a ziplock bag in the freezer. Again, I thought they’d turn brown or mushy, and they don’t at all! Smoothies rock!
Wonderful, DebB!
Recipe cards??? I could use those. I have my recipes saved all over the place. Email, Facebook, Pinterest, printouts, you name it! Help!
Hey Kate.
Here is the link where you can purchase the October Recipe cards. 🙂 https://simplegreensmoothies.com/challenge
Thanks for your support.
If I freeze the already made smoothies instead of just the ingredients, how long do the smoothies stay good in the freezer?
Here is a great link to know how long everything will last in the freezer.