Freezing fruit for smoothies

kittygrrl15

Rather than reaching for a frozen bagel for breakfast, I'm trying to incorporate delicious smoothies. With two little kids orbiting and me needing to attempt to get to work on time, I had the brilliant thought that I'd cut up all my fruit ahead of time, portion it out into plastic containers and freeze to pull out each morning. "It'll be perfect!" I thought to myself, "Just dump in fruit and some ice and yogurt, maybe a splash of milk, and whiz bang, I'll be off to the races in like 2 minutes instead of 5 if I cut everything up that morning!"

False. I prepped 4 different combos of fruit last night and pulled the banana mango pineapple out today. The fruit was in a giant block which required me bashing it with a spatula over and over to get everything down to the blades and then it was SO thick and frosty when it was finally as blended as I could get, I had to use the same spatula to carefully plop it out into my thermos. This 15 minute routine is not going to work. Also, when I got to drink it, I was less than pleased with all the little fruit bits in there- I like my smoothies, well, smooth. It wasn't horrible, but not like with the fresh stuff that really purees down.

Any suggestions on how to do the ahead of time prep of the fruit without it turning into a fiasco every morning? I can't get a new blender, so while a Vitamix might be nice, what I've got will have to stick around. Can I put the freezer fruit into the fridge overnight without it turning to total mush the next morning? The thought of slimy defrosted bananas skeeves me out- though admittedly I haven't tried it to see what happens...

endermako

This is what I do to freeze my fruit

Use a 13x9 pan covered in Parchment Paper so the fruit doesn't stick. Place all of the fruit you want to freeze evenly across the paper. Try to dry off any of the wetter fruit like pineapple or kiwi. I use blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries. in about an hour they are frozen and I can put them in ziploc freezer bags together without having them stick. I dont use ice the frozen fruit is good enough for me. Then I put my 1c almond milk and protein powder in.

SoDamnHungry

I buy frozen fruit in bags.

But when I do freeze it myself, I keep the bananas in its original form but sliced so it's easy to break at various points, and I freeze oranges in their segments. Not much moisture so they don't stick together.

mmm_drop

I portion out all my fruit ahead of time as well, but pull them out of the freezer the night before.

sumokitty3

I run the frozen smoothie bag under hot water for a few minutes - it usually thaws it enough to make the blending process easier. Also, I add plenty of liquid (2 cups or so) into the blender before adding the frozen fruits.

segovm

I add a little prepared juice to my frozen stuff. Right now I add about half a cup of carrot juice and a cup of Naked Juice but I plan on just using organic apple juice and the carrot juice in the future. With that I can get a cup of frozen berries a good size banana and about a cup and a half of ice in there to make a 32 ounce frozen carb bomb of tasty goodness.

happycauseIride

Agree with the others. You don't need to add more ice because the fruit is frozen already. If you need a filler add water or almond milk or something liquid.

endermako

if you can afford freezing fresh fruit is the best. the difference is very noticeable between fresh frozen and frozen fruit in the bag.

kittygrrl15

Thanks for the suggestions all! Yes, clearly my added ice this morning was a rookie mistake- the last thing I needed was anything else frozen in there! I love the idea of freezing on a sheet and then bagging- I'm probably too lazy for that though. Running it under hot water is another good tip.

Mmm_drop- is your fruit still partially frozen the next day? I suppose the consistency shouldn't be an issue esp since I'm going to pulverize it.

mmm_drop

Yes, the core is still quite frozen and the outside is mostly defrosted.

sistrsprkl

I keep a container in the freezer and just keeping adding leftover fruit that my kids don't eat (usually bananas). Sometimes, I'll rinse it off to make sure it's clean. But freezing a couple pieces at a time in a large container usually ensures that I don't end up with a big block.
Also, for freezing berries, sometimes, I freeze them on cookie sheets and then transfer to ziplocks once frozen.

kittygrrl15

Not that anyone is on the edge of their seat, but I thought I'd follow up with this to share that taking the sliced up fruit stored in a plastic container from the freezer at night (9-11 PMish) to be used in a smoothie with yogurt and a splash of milk the next morning (8:30 AMish) has worked great the last 2 days. It's the 2 minute prep time I was looking for and still delicious.

Yes, the bananas kind of gross me out when I see them slop in, but the texture of the whole thing has been great and I get far less (little to none) chunks. There is no beating the fruit to a pulp trying to get it to mix down into the blades. I can easily pour the 2+ cups of liquid into my thermos, but it is still thick enough and plenty cold/icy with no extra ice added.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions!

ValGogo

Strawberries should be but up and frozen flat and in a freezer bag.

Or slice the bananas and place them on foil flat and fold it into layers.

Bluebarries can be frozen in a baggie too and they come apart easily.

peaches nectarines, slice them and freeze flat-ish

I freeeze all my fruit for smoothies that way.