Here’s a little-known secret: Use at least one frozen ingredient in your smoothie recipe — or a handful of ice cubes — to make your smoothie thicker and give it a delicious chill!
There are many benefits of freezing your smoothie ingredients:
- Nutrition: Freezing your ingredients helps to preserve their nutritional content. Frozen fruits and vegetables retain vitamins and minerals longer than fruits that are not frozen.
- Antibacterial: Freezing food can reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses. Freezing kills many of the bacteria and organisms that cause food to spoil.
- Zero Preservatives: Frozen food is free from preservatives, i.e., it’s more natural!
- Shelf Life: Freezing can extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, so they stay fresh for months.
- Seasonality: You don’t have to go vitamin-free during winter but eat healthy (frozen) fruits and vegetables all year without excessive long-distance transportation.
- Plastic Waste: You can prepare zero-waste smoothies easily by purchasing raw ingredients, cutting them, and saving them in handy and reusable boxes. No plastic!
- Food Waste: Freezing food can reduce food waste. Fruits and vegetables can be frozen and blended later, rather than throwing out any leftovers.
- Convenience: The last thing you want to do is cut ingredients during a hectic day. Freezing food is super convenient and allows for easier meal preparation. Pre-frozen ingredients can make meals much faster to prepare.
- Money: You save money because you can purchase larger amounts of ingredients at a discount and have zero food waste.
You can either buy frozen fruits and veggies or cut them into handy portions and freeze them for future use.
🌸 Sustainability Tip: Freezing food could reduce global food waste by an astonishing 83%! Roughly one-third of food is thrown away worldwide, and 45% are fruits and vegetables. Freezing can largely eliminate this waste. (Martindale and Schiebel, British Food Journal 2017)