Smoothies at Home
Where do I even begin when talking about how much I love smoothies?! They’re just the perfect treat! Smoothies have always been a big part of my life (and my relationship). I really could drink them any time during the day. My favorite is after I have my coffee in the morning and I’m not exactly hungry yet, but I know I need to put something in my body. Smoothies are always the answer! We recently upgraded our blender and decided to do the math for how much we save by making them at home. The difference is unbelievable!
I pretty much just stick to the classics when it comes to what I put in my smoothie. Strawberry banana has always been my favorite. My husband is much more adventurous with his, mixing it up with guava, blueberries, pineapples, mangos, etc. The base ingredients always stay the same, no matter what fruit we decide to put it in. What we’ve found makes the best texture and taste (for 1 smoothie) are:
~A glass of ice
~3 scoops of vanilla frozen yogurt
~splash of milk
~1 tbsp of sugar
This might sound a little silly, but the layering of the smoothies really does matter. I put in the ice first, followed by the milk, sugar, frozen yogurt, and fruit. We did just use a cheap Oster blender before, but that had a difficult time blending all the ice. We upgraded to a 1000 watt Ninja blender and absolutely love it. I keep it on high during most of the blending, but also switch between the other settings. Just like makeup, the secret is to blend, blend, blend!
When we would go out to get our smoothies, it was almost always at Smoothie King. They offered their medium smoothies for $5 on Fridays and that’s a sale we’d take advantage of every week. Making our smoothies at home now, we’re able to have four times as many for a fraction of the price. Here’s the cost breakdown:
- Strawberries - $4.50/package
- 5 smoothies/package = .90/smoothie
- Banana - .30/smoothie
- Yogurt -$2.00/carton
- 6 smoothies/carton = .33/smoothie
- Ice, milk, sugar - practically free, too small to consider
Adding all of those together, it only costs me $1.53 to make a smoothie. Let’s round it up to $2.00 just for good measure, considering tax and the other ingredients.
My husband doesn’t like bananas, so his math is a little different:
- Strawberries -$4.50/package
- 5 smoothies/package = .90/smoothie
- Guava - $2.50/package
- 4 smoothies/package = .63/smoothie
- Yogurt - $2.00/carton
- 6 smoothies/carton = .33/smoothie
- Ice, milk, sugar - practically free, too small to consider
The total for his smoothies only costs $1.86. Again, rounding up to $2.00 to make it even for tax additions and the other ingredients.
A smoothie at Smoothie King was $5 when we purchased them. That was only once a week, costing us around $45 a month after tax. However, that’s only for 8 drinks. We probably make around 40 smoothies (with real fresh fruit) at home every month now. To make 40 smoothies at home, at $2 a smoothie, would put us at $80. To get the same amount of smoothies a month at Smoothie King, it would be close to $200. So by making them at home, we’re saving $120!
A smoothie at Smoothie King was $5 when we purchased them. That was only once a week, costing us around $45 a month after tax. However, that’s only for 8 drinks. We probably make around 40 smoothies (with real fresh fruit) at home every month now. To make 40 smoothies at home, at $2 a smoothie, would put us at $80. To get the same amount of smoothies a month at Smoothie King, it would be close to $200. So by making them at home, we’re saving $120!
I’m not a couponer, I’m not always very good at math, and sometimes budgeting might not always be my strong point, but I know how to spend my money wisely. Purchasing the more expensive blender did seem like quite an investment at first. But by saving $120 making the smoothies at home, the blender already pays for itself just within the first month.
This isn’t to say not to go to Smoothie King or anywhere else to treat yourself every now and then because I will definitely still make occasional visits. It’s more just to show how much money can be saved, how affordable it actually can be to eat healthy, and to provide some other fruit combination options, as well as the best base ingredients.
I hope you enjoyed this post! If you did, please feel free to share it using one of the buttons below. If you have any other questions, leave them for me in the comments. Do you make smoothies at home? What are some of your favorite fruit combinations?