Portable smoothies are a delicious, convenient snack to pack for winrter sports. They make fruits and vegetables in a more accessible form, save money over store-bought pouches, and produce less waste.
One of the drawbacks with store-bought pouches like applesauce, Noka, and Munk Pack is they are often low in calories: 70-120 calories/pouch. When made thoughtfully, homemade smoothie pouches can be more energy dense. Skiing, touring, and snow biking burn a ton of calories, so it’s best to have food items that are more energy dense to promote more adequate fueling and limit the amount of volume one needs to carry.
There are many pouches on Amazon, and I recommend 4-5 oz pouch sizes as these are sized better for ski jacket pocket. Many are top-rack dishwasher safe, although I find more success rinsing and cleaning with a bristled brush.
Green Pina Colada Smoothie
Makes 10, 4 oz Pouches
Ingredients:
1 large banana
1.5 cups frozen pineapple tidbits
1 can (~13.5 oz) coconut cream
4 scoops unflavored protein powder (or vanilla)
2 cups, lightly packed fresh spinach
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (not needed if using vanilla protein powder)
Beta:
Assemble the pouches. Ensure the lids are screwed on tight, and open the bottom, ziploc side of the pouches. Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Fill the pouches over the sink and be careful not to over-fill the pouches or they will run over when closed. Sometimes a little bit of smoothie gets trapped in the bottom zip closure area, so run the bottom of the pouches under gently running water to flush out any smoothie. Store in freezer and remove as needed.
Estimated Nutrition- Calories: 197 kcal, Carbs: 15 g, Fiber: 2 g, Fat: 13.7 g, Protein: 7 g
vitamin A: 587 IU (25% DV), vitamin C: 9.6 mg (12% DV) , vitamin K: 30 ug (33% DV), Calcium: 65.5 mg (8% DV), Copper: 0.2 mg (22%), Iron: 1.6 mg (9%), Manganese: 1.0 mg (54% DV), Phosphorus: 117 mg (16%), Potassium: 282 mg (10% DV)
If you’d like to make other smoothie flavors, I recommend using fat-dense foods as the base of the smoothie such as coconut cream, coconut milk, triple cream yogurt (siggi’s makes one), full-fat yogurt, nut butters like almond, peanut butter, tahini, avocado, etc.