Smoothie fans know that there is simply nothing like having a smoothie to kick-start the day or enjoying one in the afternoon as a power snack or mid-day meal. Nothing hits the spot better when your body is craving some quick, homemade nourishment! But let’s face it, no matter how simple smoothies are, at the heart of the blending process, there are still some steps to take that can eat up minutes in the morning. Sure, your fabulous high speed blender might do most of the work, but what about everything else you have to do? You know, going to get all the ingredients, finding them in the fridge, chopping or thawing if necessary. Then there’s scooping out your powders or seeds, grabbing the non-dairy milk and water, adding the ice, blending, washing the dishes, and finally, putting your smoothie into a prepared glass or to-go container (praying you have one clean). And this is all in the midst of  rushing out the door in the morning on the way to work. Oh and wait, you forgot to add the greens and that favorite nut butter that makes your smoothies so good!

As you can see, smoothies, as divine and simple as they are and may seem, still require a little more than just tossing everything in and flipping a switch. So, to make things easy on yourself in the mornings, it’s helpful to take part in a trick that many people love and use that certainly isn’t new, but still underutilized despite our love for smoothies.

Save Time With Smoothie Prep Jars

The answer my friends, is smoothie prep jars! Nothing scientific here, but lifesaving for sure. Smoothie prep jars allow you to prep all your healthy, filling ingredients in a glass jar, and put your fresh ingredients and non-dairy milk  and/or water in your blender the night before. All this goes into the fridge, and in the morning, you just grab, toss, and blend. Done! No hunting for anything, since everything’s already ready to go.  It’s as easy as one, two, three!

Oh, and that to-go container? You can use the jar you store your ingredients in to pour your smoothie into so you never have to hunt for one or worry about one being clean. (This is also better than using plastic baggies, which many people use, that’s not only wasteful, but also doesn’t provide an instant container.)

To get a head start on the week and prevent from making your jars every night, just prep them 7 days in advance, which you can easily do in 20 minutes one day on the weekend or one day after work as dinner cooks. Gather all your frozen fruit and greens if using, your superfoods, seeds, nuts, spices, cocoa, oats, nut butters, etc. You can even add vegan protein powder  if you want (or use those handy travel-size packs- just recycle if you can!).

In your blender container each night, you’ll just pour your non-dairy milk and water, and add any fresh ingredients to that you like to use. Rise and shine in the morning, grab your blender, freezer pack of ingredients, toss in the blender, add some ice if needed, blend, and wash. Pour back into the glass and you’re ready to go!

Here are Some Good Ingredients to Put in Your Smoothie Prep Jars:

In the Jar, Layer in This order:

• frozen or fresh greens
• frozen or fresh chopped fruit,
• powders of choice (plant-based protein powder, superfoods, oats, etc.)
• nuts and seeds if using ( or nut butter)

Great Combos Include:

• spinach, blueberries, raspberries, almonds, flax, chia, oats, spirulina or green superfood powder, vegan protein powder, cacao, goji berries
• kale, cranberries, pumpkin puree, pumpkin seeds, chia, oats, maca, vegan protein powder, vanilla extract, almond butter
• spring mix greens, raspberries, blackberries, 1/4 a banana, sunflower seeds, cacao, green superfood powder, oats, chia, pumpkin seeds, flax
• spinach, kale, avocado, strawberries, lemon juice, stevia, spirulina, vegan vanilla protein powder, chia seeds

Tip: Get creative and try whatever combos you think you might enjoy! Just layer these in your jar and either freeze or refrigerate. 

In The Blender:

Put your non-dairy milk (soy, cashew, coconut, almond, etc.). Choose unsweetened, and feel free to even include plain, unsweetened coconut vanilla yogurt as well if you enjoy. Add some water, ice, blend, and you’re done! Oh, and at least soak the blender in the sink so you can wash now or later. (If you have a Nutribullet or Vitamix S30, there’s no need since you can use the blending cup as your to-go cup that you take with you and just wash the blade.)

See all of our smoothie recipes and for more blending goodness, check out 10 Incredible Dishes You Can Make in a High-Speed Blender.

Do you make smoothie prep jars (or other smoothie prep packs)?

Recommendation: Download the Food Monster App

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The Food Monster app has over 8000+ recipes and 500 are free. To access the rest, you have to pay a subscription fee but it’s totally worth it because not only do you get instant access to 8000+ recipes, you get 10 NEW recipes every day! You can also make meal plans, add bookmarks, read feature stories, and browse recipes across hundreds of categories like diet, cuisine, meal type, occasion, ingredient, popular, seasonal, and so much more!

Lead Image Source: angelmama1919/Flickr