Preparing Fruit and Vegetables for Smoothies – Makes for Fast Food!
If your life is busy and you lack the time to be in the kitchen preparing food all the time, one of the best ways to do it is to prepare lots of food at one time so that you can just grab and go. The same goes for even something as easy as making a smoothie in the morning. Preparing fruit for smoothies is best done by preparing the fruit you will need for several days (or weeks) ahead of time. Doing this will make for health fast food when it comes time to prepare your meals or smoothies. Preparing fruit for smoothies starts with fresh succulent ripe fruit. Unless you have a really great connection for good fruit, succulent fruit is not easy to find.
Most stores, especially the larger chain stores have fruit on their shelves that is typically picked a month before it should have been picked, then gassed with nitrogen to give it some color, then waxed to keep it from rotting before it ends up on store shelves where its color is then enhanced with lighting and backdrops to make you think you are walking through the Garden of Eden. The best possible place to get your fruits are from the trees in your back yard. If that aint happening, then through an organic cooperative where you know that you are getting something that does not wreak of pesticides and artificial enhancers to make it look pretty.
The next best thing to having either your own Garden of Eden or an organic cooperative that can hook you up with some great fruit deals is to scope out the local markets (not the big boys) and look for the mark downs on their ‘ripe’ fruit that for some reason, people do not like to buy if it looks too squooshie (squooshie = ripe succulent and ready to eat in my dictionary). I am a thrift shopper so I buy ‘ripe’ fruit from my local markets that has been marked down because it does not look pretty enough to sell. It’s typically 50% off the normal sale price which translates in my langauge to ‘time to buy a bunch of it.” Typically, you can get local stores to really cut you a deal if you are a regular and buy a lot from them often.
HEALTH TIP: If you can’t ripe fruit and have to buy un-ripened fruit, let it ripen before you eat it. Your body can process it much better, and it is much better for your overall health, .i.e. more nutrition and easier to digest.
Once you have fruit that is ripe and ready to eat, and you have a lot of it (more than you can possibly eat before it goes bad) take ten or 15 minutes to prepare all of your ripe fruit and freeze it in cup-sized portions. I use freezer bags. My little preparation and storage secret is that I only put enough in a freezer bag that will allow the bag to lay flat in the freezer. That way, when I want to take some out and use it, it is much easier to cut or break apart if it is not in a large ball in your freezer and frozen as solid as a rock. This is a great way to go especially for preparing fruit smoothies.
I use a lot of bananas in my diet – especially in my smoothies – so I do buy LOTS of bananas in bulk. One of the very best ways to store them for smoothies is to freeze them for future use once they ripen. You can freeze them whole and when you need one, just stick it in some hot water for a few minutes or so, then cut an end off and squeeze the fruit out of the skin. This is really easy to do. I typically freeze 10 to 15 pound of them at a time which I go through easily in a week’s time or less. Some people prefer to peel and cut their bananas up, then freeze them. If this is your preference, you can put a bunch in a non-toxic freezer safe container, breaking up the bananas into thirds, separating the layers with wax paper so it’s easy to separate them when you need a hand full for your smoothie.
If you don’t do smoothies everyday like I do, you can still benefit from frozen bananas. They are great for a lot of things besides just throwing them into your smoothies in place of ice cubes. One of my favorite snacks is to make coconut banana ice cream. Well, there really isn’t it cream in it, but it just sounds better than when you say coconut banana sorbet, right? Kids love this. You can mix in other kinds of fruit as well like blueberries (no white shirts on children suggested), peaches, mango or papaya.
Most all fruits can be washed, dried, and then frozen for future use if you find a deal. A few weeks ago, I found mangos for $.33 each and stocked up on this.  It’s one of my favorites.  I was literally raking the mangos off of the shelves into my cart at that price – typically $1.50 each in stores. When I got home with them (way too many to eat in one sitting for even me), I of course ate two of them before I had unpacked the groceries, but I took all of the ripe mangos and immediately pealed, sliced, and froze them in freezer bags – two mangos to a bag laid flat in freezer (easier to break apart this way). I love to reach in, take out a bag, cut off a strip of frozen mango and snack on it when I get that mango kind of feeling.
Tip on freezing fruit: If you pick them fresh and want to wash them, be certain you spread them out on a towel and let them dry thoroughly before you put them in the freezer. If you let your fruilt be thoroughly dry befor you freeze it, it will taste much better and will not be as ‘soggy’ or ‘mushy’. I slice my mango into long thick slices. It’s more fun to eat that way. ;-)
Preparing Fruit and Vegetables for Smoothies - Makes for Fast Food!,
This is a neat site. Looking forward to reading more articles soon. Who would I speak with about getting some personal health and nutrition coaching?
I will be very excited once you get your website content moved over from your old website! So many good articles there and I miss referring to them. Thanks for your great coaching on nutrition! You are the GREEN Mustache Man for sure!
splendid site and it seems that you really are passionate about what you are doing to help others. thanks for the inspiration!
You need to do some videos here and show people how to make the these smoothies you talk about. Nice site and very informative David Ward. You are the man!
TTTTHHHIIIIISSSSS is the best! Thanks!
I started doing this with my fruit for smoothies and it has simplified my smoothie making experience. It’s also a great way to save money by buying that ‘over ripe fruit’ that is always marked down in some of the local stores, then freezing it. A GREAT way for preparing fruit!
As always David Ward, you have excellent suggestions! Preparing fruit this way is the easiest for making smoothies. Thanks for the success tips in making my diet healthy! I have lost 27 pounds since I started eating as a way to live instead of living to eat. Best regards, JE
This is excellent for smoothies, and I am even trying it for veggies that I steam now. I know that steaming them is not considered “RAW” food diet, but I am getting closer! Thanks for your help and encouragement. I am losing weight faster than I have ever done so, and have more energy than ever! Preparing fruit for smoothies this way is great!
This really does help to make healthy fast foods, especially as it is getting warmer! Preparing fruit this way makes so much sense! Thanks for the tips!
I’m extremely inspired this site! So often I go to sites with this kind of information and they are littered with advertising and affiliate links, and lots of sales hype for whatever they are selling. Your site is just so refreshing. It’s like you genuinely care about people’s health and not just wanting to sell something. Kudos for you. BIG Kudos!
We are so excited about the green smoothies and trying all the different combinations of fruits and vegetables as we do. Thanks for turning us onto this.
This is a great idea! Thanks for the info as usual! I love your 12 step program! I am half way to my goal!
Greetings! I am thrilled about your website David! I really love what you are trying to do here! Thanks for all of the information, and I PROMISE I will be sending you my ‘green mustache’ picture soon! Will you be carrying the protein powders here on your website soon? I don’t have a health food store near by and would need to order them online. For now I am using a vanilla whey protein, but will fix that soon. Will my green mustache count if I use ‘whey protein’ – LOL…
This is an excellent idea. Going to start doing this for sure. Can I freeze the core of pineapple and then use it in my smoothies? Is there anything in it that would be bad for me. I just hate wasting it everytime I cut up a pineapple.
This is delicious!!! Just thought I would let you know. Can’t wait to see more recipes up on this site!!! Great information for the ‘big boned’ of the world! LOL!!!!! I am loosing tons of weight already after a week (7 pounds) of replacing my breakfast with this, increasing my water intake, and doing away with coffee, sodas, and junk food. YAAAY!!!!!! :-) Hubby very happy!!!
Good information throughout your website, but I LOVE this recipe. Just tried it yesterday for the first time and was amazed at how much it curbed my appetite for the day. I had mine with mango and banana only, but look forward to trying other combinations and the complete recipe soon! YUMMMMY!
Thank you for another informative blog. I am seeing how much diet does play into the overall health of people and their mental health, and really appreciate this website you have started. Best of success to you in this venture.
Always good content on all of your websites. I like this website alot. Sorry to hear you lost so much of your content when you converted to WordPress. Hope to see more of it soon!
Great tips! I am saving lots of money buying the reduced price fruits like you suggested and just freezing it for my smoothies! Same with tomatoes and avocados too (My personal favorite combo)!!!! Thanks for carring about others as you do Sam!