I already had a few batches of smoothies ready to go before I started with my vegetarian diet plans, and I’ve done this sort of thing before. The rough part is when I need bananas and REALLY need to use them up before they go bad and my work schedule has changed.

Not gonna make that blender do it’s thing at 1 a.m. when my birds are trying to sleep, after all. They’d be extra loud at dawn to remind me of their displeasure at having their sleep interrupted so late (they’re worse than me without my coffee fix when sleep is low).

I tend to batch-prepare smoothies for freezing and have done this a half dozen times. I don’t just make 3 or 4 smoothies, but several different flavors and about 10 recipes. I actually write down recipe numbers on the bags and have a little booklet that has what’s in them so I can save space on the labels (and time).

The tough part is getting the pairings right, a good mix of fruits and enough volume to make it nice and filling. The more I’ve made smoothies, though, the more I learned certain fruits or flavors don’t work well together. My biggest mistake early on was pairing watermelon and orange. I figured it wouldn’t be so bad, but the combination really wreaked havoc with my stomach.

I found a terrific resource online that I’ve consulted to make sure I didn’t make that mistake of mixing different acid and alkaline fruits or veggies. It’s from The Baker’s Almanac and it’s a fruit-flavor pairings chart. It’s not so much for smoothies, but baking and recipes in general. It’s pretty easy to follow, and even includes things like wine pairings, nuts, spices, chocolate, etc.

For example, I had one bag of fresh cranberries left over and needed to use them up, and remembered an old recipe (I hang onto older ones that didn’t quite work so I can tweak them). So, I combined cranberries, canned pumpkin, bananas, and almond milk to make a pretty good smoothie. I will add cinnamon toast protein powder for a bit of sweetness the day I put it in a shaker cup.

I got silicone quart bags that I pour the smoothies into. I mix enough ingredients to hit the 64-oz fill line and divvy that up into 4 bags. I get food labels and put them on the bags, then freeze them in the small freezer before moving them to my big one. When I decide I want a smoothie the next day, I get a bag and stand it up in the fridge door that night so it will be thawed enough in the morning to get out of the bag. They can stay in there thawed about 2 days max (some don’t taste so well after that, the consistency doesn’t feel right and can start to ferment from the natural sugars, which will definitely NOT be tasty).

I wasn’t feeling well enough to exercise today (dammit), so I figured I could use up the last of the bananas and clean the kitchen before work. At least one meal a day is gonna be easy to take care of this month, or it works as a filling snack. My schedule is changing every week these days, and one day I’ll have to work a full open to close. Smoothies will make things easy and I can take my time with them.

Well, I have a few more to make, so I’m getting back to it and cleaning up afterward. At least I’ll be able to get rid of some of that peanut butter that’s been mocking me and demanding I eat it with the last of the bananas (weirdly enough, never had the peanut butter and banana combo most kids grew up with until I actually put them together in a smoothie, go figure).

I’m waiting for my kitchen cabinets to be re-organized and everything off the counters (probably by tomorrow afternoon) before I get the BIG cutting board out and knife to cut up those watermelons I just bought. Those will be the base fodder for the next batch of smoothies I make, and the pieces freeze well. I almost can’t wait, but the budget is going to make me do it (hee hee).