We throw Dole frozen mangos and strawberries and orange juice in the blender. It is great. Once you start using the blender it seems pretty easy.

Anonymous wrote:Here's my favorite green smoothie recipe:

lots of pineapple
big handful of spinach
half an avocado
cilantro ~1/4 cup?
nub of ginger, peeled
Juice from one lime
enough OJ to make the blender work (not much, <1/2 cup)

Yum, so delicious!

I do something similar, but I watch my sugar, so no tropical fruits for me. Mine is

1/2 apple
Italian parsley
Ginger
sliver of lemon (inc peel)
huge handful of kale
Ice
Water
Avocado

We prep salad toppings one night and use them for the next 2-3 nights. So we'll cut up some carrots, dice tomatoes, slice cucumber and red peppers, or whatever are the toppings for the next couple of days. We put them in small bags in a box. Then we buy the bagged salad, take it out, wash the whole bag, spin it and put it back in the bag. The next few nights, we can come home, put the salad in a bowl, add toppings of choice and we have salad in about 45 seconds.

We also always have fruit on hand. At night, after dinner, you can wash and prep some fruits for the next day and they're ready to go when you come home and don't have the time to prep.

Anonymous wrote:Also, cleaning a blender after having made a smoothie is a hundred times easier if you do it right away and not let anything get dried out and caked on. Pour out smoothie, add some water and a tiny squirt of dish soap and blend it again. Rinse and dry, easy peasy.

This! I have a green smoothie everyday and I make enough for my kids, too!

Here's my favorite green smoothie recipe:

lots of pineapple
big handful of spinach
half an avocado
cilantro ~1/4 cup?
nub of ginger, peeled
Juice from one lime
enough OJ to make the blender work (not much, <1/2 cup)

Yum, so delicious!

Smoothies really are an easy, great way to get your servings of fruits and veggies. I toss in yogurt, a banana, some frozen fruit and kale and voila! Instant healthy breakfast. As others have said, cleanup is a breeze if you do it right away. Just rinse out smoothie, add more water and soap, blend. Clean pitcher in a minute.

I am a big spinach salad person. I always have on hand bags of organic spinach and make lunch and sometimes dinner salads with all kinds of good stuff-- can be a mexican theme with beans, cheese, salsa or some kind of meat- chicken, turkey meatballs from trader joes with carrots, walnuts, cheese, balsamic vingar, EVOO. I usually add something crunchy to it to give it more interest (tortilla chips, pita chips). It's been a great way to feel like I'm eating more veggies and is also a quick dinner option for those nights we are too tired to make something more involved.

Wegman's has prepped veggies. Expensive, but great for lazy days!

Chop veggies when you return from the grocery store so they're easy to grab & eat.

Eat your meal in stages - I often snack on hummus and veggies while I'm feeding my toddler and prepping our dinner.

Frozen veggies are easy to cook in the microwave and the nutrition in them is still pretty good. Veggies that still taste good after being frozen include: corn, peas, carrots, sugar snap peas, spinach. Frozen cubed squash is only ok for making soup.

Make a big pot of soup with lots of veggies on the weekend and have that for lunch.

I'm with you though - I usually eat left overs for lunch. We always make extra.

Sorry to break it to you, but I do daily green smoothies and my Vitamix takes 30 seconds to clean-I run it at least 2xs a day. I also have fresh vegetables each and every night. Often roasted in the broiler. I eat primarily vegetables. It does get expensive, so my staples are mountains of Kale (cheap cheap cheap!) swiss chard, broccoli, eggplant, beets, and, different varieties of cabbage. Veggies are very cheap if you shop at the Korean grocery.

Oh and I do work FT as well and have 3 kids, so I know what a crazy life this is working and trying to eat well. I have no option as we are a Gluten free home, so just about everything is cooked from scratch.

I always have veggies ready to eat like cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, raw green beans, sliced mushrooms, raw spinach, etc. so even if I'm having a super busy night and just throwing a frozen pizza in the oven I top it with lots of veggies, or I just throw some in a wok with stirfry sauce. The grocery store sells salads already made. I always buy one of those garden salads and just add dressing to serve with whatever I make for dinner. Or have it for lunch.
I love frozen fruit, the texture is different than fresh so you may like it frozen. I buy grapes, pull them off the stems, wash them and freeze then, I also buy frozen pineapple and blueberries alot. They make a really good snack right out of the freezer.

We bought an extra pitcher for our blender because we've been loving smoothies so much. And definitely rinse right away - helps so much!

We joined a CSA to try new veggies and to encourage us to eat more veggies in general. From that perspective it was successful, but it did get tiring in the end to eat SO much kale.