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These tips for making green smoothies are part of my e-book, 100 Days of Green Smoothies: Simple Recipes For Weight Loss, Detox, & Better Health!  For more tips and 100 fabulous green smoothie recipes, go get your copy from Amazon.

If you spend a little time at the beginning of the week prepping your ingredients and tools, it will only take a few minutes each day to make your smoothie. Here are a few quick steps to make each week a breeze:

CHOP AND FREEZE YOUR BANANAS

You’ll find that many of our green smoothie recipes include bananas. Bananas give any smoothie a nice smooth, thick consistency. While you can use fresh bananas (no worries if this is the route you go), I prefer to freeze mine for the best outcome.

Here’s how to do it:

• Peel your bananas
• Chop each banana into 4 pieces
• Arrange on a baking sheet
• Freeze for 2 hours on the baking sheet
• Transfer to a large freezer bag

Then when it’s time to make your smoothie, if the recipe calls for 1 banana, you would use 4 banana pieces. If it calls for 2 bananas, use 8 banana pieces. Easy-peasy!

FREEZE ANY OTHER PRODUCE THAT MIGHT GO BAD

You’ll have to be the judge of this, but if you have produce that looks like it won’t last the week, freeze it. This goes for spinach, berries, etc. It is also possible that at the end of any given week, you might have produce leftover. To save money and reduce waste, freeze those leftovers as well. You’ll be able to use them for a future week. Just remember to check the freezer before heading to the grocery store.

When freezing, you can even create individual produce bags for each smoothie recipe. For instance, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of baby spinach, 1 banana, and 1 cup of berries, you can freeze all the ingredients in a single freezer bag and then dump them in the blender when you’re ready to make it. This is particularly useful for busy mornings when you’re in a rush.

MAKE SMOOTHIE BATCHES

I like to make my daily smoothie fresh each day and mix things up. If you’re short on time, however, you can always double up the ingredients and make two days worth of smoothie at once. Simply put half in a Mason jar and store in the refrigerator.

What other smoothie hacks do you use?