Prize Pineapple and Parsley Smoothie & Save a fortune on your food shopping
Green Smoothie of the week
I used to think I saved money by planning my meals in advance, and using a list while I was shopping. Now I’m starting to think this isn’t the best way to save money on your shopping. I’ll tell you how I save even more money and avoid wasting anything today. I also share this amazing prize parsley and pineapple smoothie with you. If you’ve never had parsley in a smoothie before you’re in for a treat.
The traditional method of saving money on your shopping
This is the way we’re taught to shop to save money. I would diligently sit down with a recipe book once a week and plan the meals I was going to make for the next week. I’d make a shopping list with all the ingredients and do online grocery shopping which would be delivered. I thought I was saving money because:
- I would only buy what I needed for the recipes I was going to make so I would avoid wasting food.
- I would avoid going to the shops so I wouldn’t be tempted by things I didn’t need, tempting treats or special offers
- I would justify the small delivery charge for my shopping by the savings I made when I went to the shop in person.
Why planning your meals in advance actually costs you more
However when I actually sat down and thought about it logically (Difficult to think logically about anything after you have kids) I realised I wasn’t actually saving money at all because:
- I missed out on special deals on the food I was actually buying but never saw them as I always went straight to my favourites online.
- I missed out on cheaper substitute items.
- I missed out on reduced priced items that are only available in store.
- I always ended up cooking a different recipe which left me with lots of leftover ingredients that I never used again.
- I would often buy more expensive ingredients just because the recipe told me I needed them.
- I missed out on seasonal food as I wasn’t following seasonal recipe books.
- I didn’t spend enough time comparing prices of items and finding the best deals.
How to save money on groceries: Cheap food shopping
So a few weeks ago I was given some free grocery coupons for shopping at the store, so I decided for the first time after having a baby I would go and do my weekly shop myself with my baby and see how I found it. I did take a very long time as I was comparing prices of different items and my baby started screeching constantly at the top of her lungs to get other people’s attention, which was a bit embarrassing. I think she was a bit bored.
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But apart from that I managed to find so many great deals on fruit and veg. I actually found bananas for 10p for a big bunch which is more than a 1/10 of the original price which I was very happy about. I bought about 30 bunches as we eat loads of them. My baby eats about 3 bananas a day and I add them to most of my green thickies and also freeze them and make banana ice cream out of them. Yum!
[tweetherder]You can never have enough bananas![/tweetherder]
I also found 2 massive big bunches of parsley for a very slow price too so I scoured the internet looking for great parsley smoothie recipes and found 2 great recipes which I’m going to share with you today. I also made parsley hummus, raw carrot and parsley soup and made salads out of it. I have to say though, out of all of those meals, I definitely prefer it in a fruit smoothie, by far.
Ways to save money on groceries: Save a fortune on food and avoid waste
So I’ve learned that the trick to save money on your shopping is actually to go shopping when the store reduces the price of fresh produce and buy everything you can get hold of. You can freeze most fruit and veg or cook it and then freeze it to avoid waste. I also buy my cupboard items in bulk to save money. I get home with my fresh produce and look for recipes in my recipe books or on the internet for the ingredients I’ve found. I look for recipes for smoothies for the fruit, salads, soups and stew, rice or pasta dishes for the veg and use some of my staples with them. I also make dips out of leftover ingredients.
When you have made a lot of your own meals from scratch you might be able to whip up a great meal from scratch without a recipe. About half the meals that I throw together are gorgeous and the other half are not so nice. So I still like to look for inspiration in recipes as I can easily get stuck in a rut.
Don’t be afraid to substitute
Unless you are baking cakes, you can experiment with recipes you find so you add in the ingredients you have found cheaply. If you have a good selection of dried herbs and other flavourings, you should be able to whip up a quick healthy meal from any recipe with a few tweaks.
That’s what I hope people do with my green thickies. I don’t like the thought of people buying ingredients specifically for my recipes and not using them all. For example, using half a melon then throwing away half. Make up your own recipe the next day and use up the other half a melon. Just follow the recipe for the staples (liquids, greens and oats) and add in whatever fruit you have in your house or can find cheaply.
I always see what fruit is ripe in my house and use that for my daily green thickie. I then either make up a recipe or find one online. You can easily search the Green Thickie’s recipage for key ingredients so you only make what you have in at the time.
Prize Pineapple and Parsley Smoothie
You might be thinking Yuk! I’d never put parsley in a smoothie, but trust me this is absolutely gorgeous. The flavours work so well together. It tastes amazingly fresh and still sweet and smoothie like.
I was never a massive fan of parsley in savoury dishes. I preferred coriander or basil but something happens to parsley in a smoothie. It just comes alive and totally enhances the taste of the fruit. You’ve got to try it to understand what I mean. It just completely works.
A lot of leafy green herbs don’t have the same number of nutrients as something like kale which is probably the healthiest food on the planet in terms of nutrients. But parsley is still high up there in the nutrient stakes.
Parsley is extremely high in vitamin K which is needed to prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke, and it’s very anti-inflammatory. It’s a powerhouse of nutrition.
This smoothie actually contains over 3 times the recommended amount of vitamin C for one day and over a third of your daily iron and calcium requirements for one day. That’s how healthy it is!
One tip is to chop your parsely before you add it to your blender, even if you have a high speed blender it can end up wrapped around the blade and overheating the motor.
This green smoothie of the week recipe is so simple and only had 5 ingredients. The original recipe on Choosing Raw also contained spinach, hemp protein and avocado but I really wanted to bring out the flavour in the parsley and keep the fat content low. I haven’t included any nuts or seeds in this smoothie as I don’t always include nuts or seeds every day in my smoothies if I’ve overdone the fat in another recipe. It’s still a very filling smoothie though.
The next day I made this Mango Parsley Recipe on Green Plate Rule which was also gorgeous, and the next day I STILL had parsely left over so I headed over to Healthy Blender Recipes and made this Zesty Raw Vegan Grape Parsley Lemonade Green Smoothie, which was also delicious. I’d recommend giving them a try if you find yourself with leftover parsely on your hands.
I hoped I’ve given you some food for thought (!) on how to save money on your weekly shop. How do you save money on your food shopping?
Let me know your thoughts on this Prize Pineapple and Parsley Smoothie. Would you ever consider putting parsley in a smoothie? You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Have you checked out my Ultimate Guide to Green Smoothies Part 2? This monster guide explains how green smoothies are good for over 40 health conditions, and how they can benefit different people such as men, athletes and even pets.
Prize Pineapple and Parsley Smoothie (Green Smoothie/Green Thickie)
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Non Dairy Milk oat, rice, soya, almond, hemp, coconut drink or raw nut or seed milk If you are drinking this straight away substitute half a cup of milk with half a cup of ice or frozen milk cubes to be added at the end.
- 3 Cups Pineapple chopped 1 small pineapple
- 2 medium bananas fresh or frozen
- 1 Cup Parsley chopped tightly packed or 2 cups loosely packed. (Or Spinach or any other mild greens if you aren’t brave enough for the parsely.)
- 1 Cup Oats If you don’t have a powerful blender and want the smoothie very smooth you can soak the oats for an hour before blending
Instructions
- Blend the ingredients in the order listed. Add more water if required to thin it out. Substitute any of the ingredients for whatever you already have. If your smoothie is too warm, you can cool it down in the fridge
Notes
Gluten free*, raw*, vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, egg free, sugar free, wheat free*, soya free*, salt free, nut free*
* If you want to check if you can drink green thickies on your special diet please read this first. This will suggest some substitutions so you can still enjoy Green Thickies with ingredients you can tolerate.
Comments always put a smile on my face, so please take a minute to say hello below. Many thanks and blessings to you.
I have shared this recipe on Gluten Free Fridays, Wednesday Whatsits, Cast Party Wednesday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Fresh Foods Blog Hop, Healthy Vegan Fridays and Wellness Weekends.
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Hi, I’m Katherine. I lost 56 pounds and recovered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by replacing meals with Green Thickies – my original smoothie concept.
Amber @ The Cook's Sister says
What an interesting green smoothie! I’ve tried spinach in my smoothies, but parsley sounds like it would add a lot of flavour! How would you suggest I try parsley in a green smoothie for the first time?
Stopping by from Wednesday Fresh Foods (my recipe is the stuffed mushrooms)
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Thanks so much for your comment (Sorry for the delay, it went to my junk folder) Parsley is gorgeous in smoothies but you do need to pair it with the right fruit. I tried it with pear and didn’t really like it. I think it’s great with pineapple. This morning I actually had another parsley smoothie. This one was even better. It had pineapple, apple, banana, peach and sultanas (and oats) and was one of the nicest smoothies I’ve ever had. If you have any of the ingredients from the parsley recipes I tried, I’d recommend those first, but just add a little bit and see if you like it first.
Mom Photographer says
That sounds wonderful. So refreshing. It would really awesome to start a day with smoothie like that. Such an energizer!
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Yes, I find parsley so refreshing in smoothies and I didn’t realise until recently how good it is for you too. Bonus!
Lisa says
I totally agree with your philosophy on planning meals…so many people think that I do it backwards, but I always buy my produce based on a) what’s in season and available and b) what is on special and then c) plan my weekly meals around it. I find that certain ingredients inspire me! And above all else, I try not to let anything go to waste. I make smoothies with ripe fruit, I make soup with excess veggies, I freeze extra portions of prepared meals or I blanch and freeze garden produce that is over-abundant at a certain time of year.
I look forward to trying this Pineapple Parsley smoothie! It sounds quite interesting and I am always up for trying new flavour combinations. :)
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Thank you so much Lisa. I’m glad to find someone else who does it this way. I know a lot of people who buy what they are drawn to in supermarkets but they end up throwing out so much food or they get led to junk food. I’ve not met anyone else who saves money on their food in this way, so it’s great to know I’m not the only one. I do exactly the same thing with my excess fruit and veggies too. I’ve been going more frequently to the shops recently and just got a massive load of bananas for a ridiculously low price again. The checkout assistants wonder what I do with all these bananas, but 3 of us drink smoothies every day. I often have them for lunch too, my baby eats at least 3 a day plus we have banana ice cream or spinach and banana ice cream too. I love it when I get a good deal.
That’s great you are up for new flavours. Me too, I’ll try any new flavour combination as long as it’s healthy! Thank you for your comment.
kristy @ gastronomical sovereignty says
your smoothie does look good! and i love the addition of the parsley :) very fresh tasting i’m sure!
…another way to save money whilst grocery shopping? eat locally and in season. of course buying strawberries in february is expensive – they have to be specially grown, flown half way around the world, all those middle men need to be paid, etc. buying fresh, local, and in season isn’t the CHEAPEST way to shop but it is the healthiest and if you really want good bang for your buck, don’t you want the most nutrients, vitamins, proteins, and general good stuff you can get? …we wouldn’t get the cheapest phone or car we could find because we’d know we’d be wasting our money – i think it’s important to remember that when it comes to food too.
thank you for linking up with us at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Blog Hop – I hope to see you back again this week with another seasonal post :) xo, kristy.
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Well said Kirsty. I totally agree. Most of our fruit is shipped over from another country but a lot of it still follows seasonal patterns. Eating seasonal is the best way to go for many different reasons. Thank you so much for visiting.
Carrie @ Carrie on Vegan says
Looks amazing, Katherine! I’ll be featuring this on my blog tomorrow. :)
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Thank you Carrie. That’s very kind of you. I’m loving Healthy Vegan Fridays!
Maddy says
JUST MADE THIS AND IT BLEW MY MIND
Maddy says
Made it with light coconut milk and the combo was so creamy and refreshing