Tinned fruit etc for smoothies

glensmen

I've just discovered how great and easy to make smoothies are! What is the best place to buy tinned, jarred or frozen fruit, and which are better to buy fresh (either in terms of price or quality)? Feel free to throw in your favourite smoothie recipes.

Fire_Fox

Farmfoods frozen berries £1 for a 500g pack, if not Farmfoods then Aldi. Bananas fresh or frozen (by you). Farmfoods frozen rhubarb £1 for 750g but obviously you would need to stew a batch up in the microwave the day before. Pineapple is cheaper and tastier fresh than canned but a PITA to prepare, I assume you could chop and freeze since you can buy frozen tropical fruits. I found a lot of fruits too bland to really add much, fresh plums were a disaster but maybe that is because I bought cheap ones and I wasn't that impressed with canned peaches.

Other good ingredients are frozen defrosted spinach (totally disguised by berries I swear), fresh avocado (so creamy, a change from a banana), plain Smartprice cottage cheese (adds creaminess and protein), cocoa powder (packed with minerals, antioxidants and fibre so really healthy), peanut butter.

Some good recipes here
http://www.marmaladeandmileposts.com/archives/category/food/sane/smoothies

My own creation
33g scoop strawberry whey protein powder
Two servings black forest fruits (160g)
One serving frozen spinach (80g)
Half an avocado
Sugar free Cranberry Classic to thin
A little sweenener if wished.

McKneff

I do my own smoothies, market stall towards the end of the day, value is brilliant.

Dont just stick fruit in though. I promise you that you cannot taste some vegetables in there.

I put a couple of florets of cauliflower and at least a couple of sprouts in mine. I hate cauliflower and sprouts, but in the smoothie, I cant taste them but Im getting the goodness from them. Broccolli too.
As long as its in with the fruit

Edwardia

I bust my smoothie maker liquidising soup in it but it always handled making gazpacho well.

If you put apple in and make a smoothie don't be too surprised if it solidifies in the fridge because of the pectin

glensmen

Thanks to all. Don't worry Edwardia - none of them have made it as far as the fridge yet! I just make them using a hand blender, seems to work fine. Seems too good to be true - something that is so nice, filling, healthy and relatively cheap!