Pregnancy · Breakfast

Green Monster Freezer Smoothie Packs

Name: Green Monster Freezer Smoothie Packs
Total time: 250 min
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: 150 g baby spinach; 300 g frozen mango; 2 bananas, sliced; 2 tbsp hemp seeds; 1 tbsp chia seeds; 500 ml fortified soy milk; 1 lime, juiced

Pre-bagged freezer packs of spinach, mango, banana and seeds that blend into a sweet green smoothie - zero-decision mornings.

A batch job that pays out all week: the packs go into the freezer while you have energy and come out on the mornings when you have none. Cold, smooth and low on smell, it is one of the easier breakfasts to face in the queasy early weeks, and it stays useful long after they pass.

Green Monster Freezer Smoothie Packs - Pre-bagged freezer packs of spinach, mango, banana and seeds that blend into a sweet green smoothie

Easy

Vegan FolateFiberIronCalcium

Ingredients

for 2 people

150 gbaby spinach
300 gfrozen mango
2bananas, sliced
2 tbsphemp seeds
1 tbspchia seeds
500 mlfortified soy milk
1lime, juiced

Open this recipe in the interactive app to scale servings, switch to oz and cups, and tick ingredients off as you cook.

Per serving (approx.): 360 calories · 14 g protein · 54 g carbs · 10 g fat · 10 g fiber

Method

Pack. Divide the spinach, frozen mango, sliced bananas, hemp seeds and chia seeds between single-serve freezer bags, keeping the spinach at the top so it does not compact. Press the air out and seal.
Freeze. Lay the bags flat in the freezer so they stack neatly and thaw evenly. Freeze for at least 4 hours, until solid. They keep for up to 3 months, and it is worth making a few at once.
Blend. Tip one frozen pack into a blender with its share of the fortified soy milk and a squeeze of the lime juice. Blend on high for 45 to 60 seconds, until completely smooth with no lumps of frozen mango.
Drink. Pour into a glass and loosen with a splash more soy milk if it is thicker than you want. Drink straight away, while it is still cold and the chia seeds have not yet thickened it.

Worth knowingA bag of spinach vanishes behind mango's sweetness - folate, fiber and fortified calcium in a glass you can hold one-handed.

Is this safe during pregnancy?

Yes - nothing in the bag is on the pregnancy avoid list. The one step that matters is washing the spinach well before it goes into the packs, since NHS guidance on foods to avoid asks for well-washed fruit and vegetables; after that, it is fruit, seeds and fortified plant milk all the way down.

Substitutions & allergens

Fortified oat milk swaps in for the soy milk - removes soy; keep it a fortified one so the calcium tag still holds.
Frozen pineapple does mango's sweetening job just as well.
No hemp seeds? Use ground flaxseed, or simply double the chia.
Kale can stand in for the spinach but tastes distinctly greener - ease it in.
Lemon juice works where the lime goes.

Storage & reheating

The packs are the storage plan: flat bags keep in the freezer and blend straight from frozen, no defrosting needed. Once blended, the smoothie is best drunk straight away; if you make it ahead, lid it, refrigerate within 1-2 hours and finish it within 48 hours, per FSA chilling guidance. If a pack ever thaws in the fridge, treat it like any defrosted food and use it within 24 hours.

Checked against the public guidance we follow - see our sources & editorial standards.