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Mixed Berry Smoothie

mixed-berry-smoothie-recipe

That’s the New Year over and done with and despite the fact resolutions aren’t worth the mental toilet paper they are written on, it is perhaps time for something a little healthier. For those of you currently thinking along similar lines, you’ll not go far wrong with this extraordinarily frugal recipe for mixed berry smoothie.

People don’t seem to realise how inflated the prices of smoothies are these days. The leading smoothie company in the UK, which shall remain nameless, charges around £2 per 250ml drink and while the recipes they use are very tasty, you feel like you’re paying a premium to stay healthy. Fresh berries are similarly overpriced, so I highly recommend making your own smoothies and doing so with frozen berries which often cost less than half the price.

This mixed berry smoothie recipe is more flavoursome and far cheaper than any that can be found commercially. Additionally, preparing the drink yourself means that you know exactly where your ingredients come from. The smoothie depicted above and below contained West Country honey and yoghurt which were of superior quality to most brands and comparably priced. The reasons for using ingredients produced in relatively close proximity may be less important here than in peanut butter, but it’s still beneficial to do so. Remember, it is possible to source good quality produce and remain frugal in your culinary endeavours!

Mixed Berry Smoothie Recipe

Please check out my tips section for more information about being as frugal as possible… now on to the recipe!

Mixed Berry Smoothie {recipe}

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 150g frozen berries

• 1 banana

• 1 tsp honey

• 4 tbsp natural yoghurt

• 150ml orange juice

Method:

1. Chop up the banana into manageable chunks, throw everything into a blender and blitz until smooth (this page talks about the topic in detail). If it seems a little thick add more juice, or if it’s not quite creamy enough add more yoghurt. If you wish remove the berry seeds pass the smoothie through a sieve, but don’t worry too much!

Cost: Frozen berries are far cheaper than fresh ones and are therefore preferable, particularly at this time of the year and in frugal recipes. Two smoothies made according to this recipe should set one back no more than £1.20 – a very impressive figure, less than half the price of those produced commercially.

137 replies on “Mixed Berry Smoothie”

The frozen berries also help the texture and temp of the smoothie. Perhaps if you needed to thin it slightly and didn’t want to add more calories you might add a smudge of water instead of juice. Also in the other direction if you like it slightly thicker then use a smidge less juice. I do love a smoothie but I so hate cleaning the blender afterwards.

Pretty pics, Frugal! I always freeze bananas for smoothies when they get too mushy to eat. Actually, while you might possibly find the packaging a little wasteful, I freeze strawberries, peaches, etc. in 1/2 cup increments in snack bags during the summer for winter smoothies.

My kids always eat smoothies for breakfast along with a piece of fruit. We make our own yogurt and use frozen fruits. The kids love it and we can control what is in it and now much sugar goes into the yogurt. They are super healthy and full of probiotics.

I make banana and berry milkshakes once the bananas start to look like they are about to escape the fruit bowl. Just put in milk instead of juice and if you are feeling naughty a dollop of icecream instead of (or as well as) yoghurt. Great for after school treat for the kids. Frozen raspberries are a well kept secret, but make sure mixed berries aren’t padded out with grapes – frozen grapes are grim. Love your photography btw!

Great idea, smoothies are really overpriced also in Milan, while the best place to have them seems to me the Middle East 🙂 I am sure this kind of frugality will make enjoy us much more quality than we expect 🙂 Happy New Year!

I’ve been doing this for years now 🙂 It’s what I have after my morning coffee. I’ve also found that frozen berries are perfectly acceptable in place of fresh for most recipes, even if you’re not blending them, e.g. as a pie topping.
Nice post!

We are mid summer here in Tasmania and I have been adding the odd smoothie to my breakfast menu. I use spinach from our garden and my last smoothie had raspberries and strawberries from the garden as well. I think the idea of “smoothie” has gone lateral to the max. It can almost be a savoury drink these days with all of the veggies etc. that people add. I am a bit of a purist and like a reasonable amount of sweetness and so use fruit. I tend to use whatever is seasonal at the time but I do freeze bananas for using in smoothies to give them the right thick texture. I like to add a scoop of rolled oats to my blender goblet rather than milk, and a few nuts, to give the smoothie a bit of heft…Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall would call it a “Thickie” but mine is just “breakfast” before I get stuck into unravelling my day 🙂

It’s a shame I can only press like once because I like like like this post. In fact I love it. I’m reading this at breakfast time here in Australia and was wondering what to eat. You’ve inspired me to have a smoothie. I use frozen berries purely for convenience but they are a lot cheaper. I’ve never used oj before so will try that next time I buy some. I make them and take them to work as well.

Thanks heaps for your post today 🙂

Smoothie prices are ridiculous over here, too. I even make my own yogurt and really like how each smoothie can be customized for individuals and whatever fruit you have stashed in the freezer.

We have similar smoothies every morning and you are right–they are quite economical. We use soy milk instead of juice, but otherwise it’s about the same. Yum!!

Hi, happy new year…even here in Oz at peak berry season its still cheaper to use the frozen ones…we use the same recipe without the oj…add ice…even more frugal…wonderful photos btw….Cheers

Hello Nick, I love your pictures of your frosted frozen berries. My youngest teenager has a smoothie just like the one you made every morning and I can contest they are quite good. However we also add just a couple of ice cubes to mix and it makes it really frozen and delicious just like teenagers like it. Take care, BAM

We are smoothie obsessed here at the Cat Farm! And we use a recipe very similar to yours. I absolutely refuse to buy smoothies. It’s a crime against fruit. And frugality. And the blenders that live in our kitchens. People of the world: blend your own fruit! It is easy, and you can throw all sorts of stuff in there that you’re trying to clear out of your fridge!

By the way, your photos are fabulous.

What a lovely-looking drink! I used to make a very similar recipe all the time but haven’t for a while–now I’m looking for yogurt and thinking about tomorrow’s breakfast. 🙂 Happy new year!

As I sit here checking out all that I’ve missed during the holiday frenzy, I receive a text message from my daughter advising me that she is hungry. What do you know, I just happen to have all the ingredients for this lovely-looking smoothie on-hand. I’m going to the kitchen this instant to make us all this Berry Smoothie!

Done! Boy, that was fast. Not exactly a mixed berry smoothie seeing as I only had frozen raspberries left, but delicious nonetheless! Thanks for the inspiration. And my duaghters thank you as well!

I totally agree that homemade smoothies are so much better than the store-bought ones! I make myself a fruit smoothie like this most mornings, and I add in protein powder when I am having one after a workout. I have never added honey though, I may have to try that next time!

We have some great raw honey and my bro in law swears by banana, milk, natural yogurt and honey as a great post exercise recovery drink. Carbs, electrolytes and protein all in abundance, I like to blueberries too to mask the milky taste (Evil cow juice = yuk).

Such a good idea for summer down under! And a good way to try out the new Bosch kitchen mixer (goooood Santa). I’m pretty sure it will be cheaper than shop bought smoothies at $6 a pop.

This looks so good! I use frozen fruits and berries, too, and usually make a smoothie for part of my breakfast, thanks to a friend’s leaving me her Magic Bullet, which makes one large smoothie at a time. One thing I don’t do: I never mix citrus and dairy, so with dairy I use apple juice as a rule. It’s very good with yoghurt. I nearly always use a banana, too, as I like the texture it gives. My supermarket recently began carrying organic bananas and they are not that much more money than the usual ones.
Hope you had a good holiday season! I wish you a great new year, too! ~ Linne

As I’m a fan of the smoothie, this one caught my attention. Nice photos, as always. I’ve taken to adding spinach to my berry and banana smoothies, believe it or not. You can’t taste it over the berries and banana, but you get a lot of valuable nutrients. I also add cocoa once in a while. Just because.

[…] Smoothie morado, el elegante. Porque no nos digáis que no mola el color. Fresquito y con sabor a frutas del bosque. Una maravilla para paladares exigentes y todo un reto para la leyenda urbana de que la naranja y el yogur no hacen buena pareja. Lo hemos sacado de aquí.  […]

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