Q: How Long Do Smoothies Last?
I responded to a similar question a while ago in an online forum. This issue comes up a lot, acually, so I figured I'd provide our response here on the blog rather than simply through an email reply. Here's that response, reworked a bit for our blog:
Optimally, I suppose we'd all just eat things whole, most of the time, instead of blending/juicing ...
But, we do blend/juice things for various reasons.
Optimally, we should drink smoothies as quickly as possible. ...
But, many, many people store smoothies in containers for later and feel no worse for it. (In other words, their health does not decline from doing this.)
Technically, there may be some negligible scientific basis for decreased nutrition in stored smoothies ...
But I've met few people that are hard-core about it.
Likely, your smoothie could be slightly less nutritious than a freshly prepared one. ...
But surely it's better than anything else you could have (e.g., pasteurized bottled smoothies or sugar-containing smoothies sold at some restaurants).
So, my *opinion* is: It's a non-issue. Go ahead and enjoy your smoothie now or later throughout the day. Obviously, storing it in a hot car or in direct sunshine isn't advisable. But, under normal circumstances, a smoothie will hold up fine for quite a while, especially if stored in a refrigerator or cooler. Also, as we mentioned in a video recently, a good trick is to incorporate some frozen fruits to help keep your smoothie cool. This could mean blending in a frozen banana or adding some frozen blueberries to act as ice cubes.
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Wendi points out that, if you continually are storing smoothies, you may not be placing enough emphaiss on your health. Your health should be more important than the time you save in preparing the smoothie ahead of time. You may want to consider restructuring your time or eating fresh fruit instead of a stored smoothie on an ongoing basis. If anyone has further tips about keeping smoothies fresh throughout the day, please share in the comments section!
Original Comments
Below, we have included the original comments from this blog post. Additional comments may be made via Facebook, below.
On August 5, 2009, wrote:
Personally, I like my smoothies freshly made. I don't like the taste of them when they sit and start to separate.
On August 5, 2009, wrote:
When I take my smoothie 2 work I use all frozen fruit water & greens. I carry it in a cooler with ice packs. It stays fresh 4 lunch
On August 5, 2009, wrote:
When I have a three-hour class I know I will get hungry before it's over, so I make a double smoothie and drink half of it at home before I go to class and half about three hours later, which is during class, because of driving time, etc.
On August 8, 2009, wrote:
3 days a week my green smoothie goes to work with me on ice, but the rest of the week days it is devoured as soon as it is made. I always use frozen fruit and fresh spinach.
On December 22, 2009, wrote:
always use frozen fruit and fresh spinach.
however the item is very good for lunch also~