In past, I have explained how to freeze bananas for later use. Similar way you can make smoothie in large batch using seasonal ingredients and freeze smoothies in portion for later use. As a whole, there are three options available.
Freeze Smoothie – You can make smoothie in large batch and freeze them in portion size. But, you will need lot of space in freezer, plus you will have to thaw frozen smoothie every day. Also, you will not be able to change ingredients.
Use Available Ingredients – You can consider to use whatever available for the season of end up paying extra for non-seasonal fruits and vegetables.
Use Frozen Fruits & Vegetables – This is my favorite option, as it allows me to stock up seasonal fruits and vegetables for months. By freezing ingredients individually, you have an option to make smoothie with your choice of ingredients.
In my opinion, freezing your ingredients is best choice, but it comes with minor cons.
When you add frozen ingredients in smoothie recipes, most likely your smoothie is going to be thicker but there are always ways to make smoothie thinner.
Also, all your favorite fruits and vegetables may not freeze well. In this post, I am going to go over freezer friendly fruits and vegetables that you can buy in large quantities and freeze them for later use over months.
Easy to Freeze Ingredients
Easy to freeze ingredients do not require extra prep. Just toss them into container or plastic bags to freeze. If you want them to be separate, you will have to freeze them on baking sheet and then package them into container or plastic bag.
Small Sized Fruits
As we know, berries are almost everyone’s favorite. Berries and small sized fruits are easy to freeze without losing the taste, texture and shape. Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Grapes, Blackberries, Cherries and Cranberries.
Fruits like cherries, you can freeze them by removing central pits. Otherwise you can thaw them and remove pits before adding them into smoothie recipe.
Large Fruits
You can freeze large fruits easily by cutting them into pieces by doing some extra work.
Apples & Pears – I prefer to use apples and pears in smoothie without peeling the skin. You can just cut them into small pieces or slices and freeze them for later use. You can mix well with lemon juice to keep them from changing brown color.
Bananas – In my previous post, I have explained how to freeze banana easily. As a summary, you must peel banana and cut them into small pieces or even dice them before freezing. Banana tends to turn dark and mush after thawing, so I recommend to use them frozen in smoothie.
If you decide to use frozen banana in smoothie, then make sure to use frozen diced banana. You need to think about your blender blades too 🙂 Big piece of frozen banana is similar to a small stone.
Stone Fruits: Any fruits with a central pit, I call them stone fruits. For example, Mangoes, Lychees, Dates, Apricots, Peaches and Plums are stone fruits.
You must slice them and remove the central pit before freezing.
Coconut: You must either shred fresh coconut or cut them into small pieces before freezing. As an alternative to frozen coconut, you can buy dried coconut instead for smoothie recipes.
Citrus: Usually, citrus fruits such as oranges, limes, lemons, grapefruits and similar are available year round. I prefer not to freeze them as we can get it easily anytime.
If you really want to freeze citrus fruits then slice them into rounds or wedges before freezing. Fiber is the most important part of smoothies, so I do not recommend to juice them and freeze the juice.
Pineapple: Who doesn’t love tropical pineapple? It’s very easy to freeze pineapple, just remove the outer rind and remove core, slide the pineapple and chop it into small chunks. Pineapple is very juicy fruit, so I recommend to collect juice that drips while chopping the fruit for later use.
Watermelon: It is always good to freeze the watermelon. It is cheaper to buy whole watermelon and cut them into small pieces and freeze them. Similar to pineapple, while chopping watermelon, make sure to collect watermelon juice.
Vegetables
I am not a big fan of freezing vegetables unless I know I won’t be able to use in next few days.
If you really want to freeze vegetables, all vegetables do not freeze well. Vegetables like Beets, Eggplant and Asparagus can get frozen easily but unfortunately they are not smoothie friendly.
Smoothie Friendly Veggies
Greens
Spinach and Kale are my favorite greens for smoothie. I would say beet greens, collards, kale, mustard greens, spinach, Swiss chard, or turnip greens you can remove tough stems and blanch. After blanching , pat dry and freeze it in freezer bags to use it up to 6 months.
Vegetables (medium)
Vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts or peas you cut into small pieces and blanch them before freezing.
Vegetables (hard)
Hard vegetables such as carrots, winter squash or celery you can just cut into small pieces and freeze them in freezer bags.
What is Blanching?
Blanching is cooking process, in which you cook vegetables for 3-5 minutes and then cooling them to stop cooking and preserve colors.
Step 1: Cut vegetables in small pieces and wash them thoroughly.
Step 2: Take approximately gallon of water per pound of veggies and bring it to boil.
Step 3: Add all veggies into boiling water, cover and cook for 3 to 5 minutes based on type of vegetables. Greens doesn’t require too much cooking, so do not cook more than 2 minutes.
Step 4: After boiling vegetables for desired time, remove the veggies from the boiling water and place them in cold water. By placing them cold water, it will stop further cooking.
Step 5: Once veggies have cool down to normal, pat dry and freeze.
Tips to Keep Frozen Produce Longer
Freezing produce doesn’t mean they will last long. Frozen produce can get damaged easily in freezer. Following few tips will help you keep the frozen produce longer.
Chest Freezer
It doesn’t guarantee to keep frozen produce longer, but it is more for convenience. It gives more consistent temperature and more room for produce compared to our regular refrigerator.
Vacuum-Seal Produce before Freezing
If you are following smoothie lifestyle then vacuum sealing produce before freezing is best option to avoid freezer burn and frost. It is known as sublimation.
So, what exactly happens when you freeze food item? All food items contain moisture that gets converted into crystal once frozen. These crystals gets migrated to the surface of the food and eventually sublimate into surrounding space filled with air. It doesn’t get converted into liquid because of freezing temperature.
Overall, moisture gets build up in surrounding air and end up covering food item with frost. It is not good if you want to use your frozen produce in smoothies.
Once you remove the frozen food item from the freezer, sublimated moisture disappears, but it leaves the freezer burn on the surface of the any food items such as veggies, meat or fruits. You can avoid freeze burn by consuming food item immediately.
As an alternative, most reliable way to avoid freezer burn is to isolate the food item. You cannot achieve this by using container or zip-lock bags. Only way to isolate food item is to remove air using vacuum sealer. This way you can prevent your smoothie produce getting freezer burn and use it for months.
Also, try to freeze ingredients in small batches for better storage and use. I would recommend to pack portions for smoothies for easy use.
Now as you have the list of freezer friendly fruits and vegetables, get started and enjoy healthy green smoothies!