Do you find daily green smoothies expensive?

[bright_eyes]

I've been wanting to get into making green smoothies but thinking about buying a constant supply of enough greens and fruit to make daily smoothies seems like a lot of money to me. Especially if I want variety. I could do frozen mixed berries and spinach and it probably wouldn't cost much but neither would be organic. The thought of having a variety and having it all be organic is way out of my budget.

How much do you think it costs you to drink green smoothies every day?

[425lisamarie]

I buy spinach at costco or this other restaurant supply store, it's cheap

[avendesora]

I use fresh greens and frozen fruit. If I spend money on fresh fruit, I want to enjoy it in its original form. We use banana, kale, and pineapple, almost every time. We don't get bored. Sometimes we add frozen mango or organic oj concentrate. Usually I buy pineapple and mango from TJ's, neither being organic.

[Koalamom]

We are on a tight budget and don't find it too expensive. Lately we have been making the same kind of smoothie of bananas, blueberries, and whatever greens I can get. Wild blueberries are $2 lb at costco; organic spinach is really cheap there and lasts a while, and I rotate the greens with swiss chard (non org), romaine lettuce (org), kale (org), and for free wild edibles like dandelion and violet. Nettles infusions are the base instead of water and no dairy since we are allergic. And once farmers markets start, I can get produce even cheaper and all organic. And then I can go berry picking and freeze for the rest of the year. I ran out during the winter of stored berries.

[425lisamarie]

Originally Posted by avendesora

I use fresh greens and frozen fruit. If I spend money on fresh fruit, I want to enjoy it in its original form. We use banana, kale, and pineapple, almost every time. We don't get bored. Sometimes we add frozen mango or organic oj concentrate. Usually I buy pineapple and mango from TJ's, neither being organic.

Me too. My kids LOVE fruit and just want it as is, but they love banana, blueberry spinach, honey, plain yogurt smoothies.

I never got the hiding fruit in food seems kind of a waste since it's so good on it's own. I mean of course if you have an unlimited budget and your kids won't eat it on it's own I guess

[SollysMom]

My daily green smoothie consists of....

• Fresh kale (I buy a huge 16oz bag at Wegmans for $2.50 and pack as much as I can in my Magic Bullet cup for each smoothie)
• 1/2 cup orange juice (I buy a gallon at Sam's Club for around $5.00)
• 1/2 cup yogurt (I buy Stonyfield Farms by the quart at Wegmans for $3.50ish)
• 1 banana (bananas are dirt cheap)
• 2 tbsp ground flax seed meal (a bag is around $7 at Wegmans but lasts quite a while)
• 1/2 - 1 cup frozen sliced strawberries (I buy huge bags at Sams and they last a while, not sure the exact cost)

So, my smoothies are not organic except for the yogurt, but I definitely don't think they're very expensive at all. In the past I've also used frozen spinach (from Sam's) instead of the kale and that worked well too.

ETA: I also buy frozen blueberries at Sam's and sometimes do the same as above except 1 cup blueberries instead of strawberries, and milk instead of OJ - so the flavor is blueberry/banana. I call the other "S-O-B" for strawberry/orange/banana.

[hildare]

i usually try to pick veggies and berries and freeze tons.
i have a free source for spinach (father in law's garden) and blueberries (good friend!) and only have to labor to pick.
other friends go to berry farms and pick- it's way cheaper that way. you can freeze enough to last quite a while.
still haven't figured out how to get the liquid free but i have at times just used water rather than juice and i couldn't tell the difference. i like to add yogurt too but that's another expense. fatherinlaw makes yogurt too but the milk's not free.

[GoGoGirl]

My green smoothies are very inexpensive. I use fresh kale (it's always the cheapest vegetable at our grocery store), which I chop and freeze. Then I add a frozen banana, 1/2 an avocado, and OJ. I'd say the whole thing is under $2 for two servings.

[lil_earthmomma]

I use frozen fruit and fresh baby spinach. I am really lucky that our grocery store gives away it's brown banana's for free. I take those, slice them up and freeze them and add them to smoothies. Yum!

[jimblejamble]

I get my produce at Costco for a great price but even if it were a little pricey, I'd rather spend a few dollars every day on something very healthy than buy cheap unhealthy food and thus more money at the doctor's office.