Summer is here and with it comes an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. As the temperature rises, it's hard to resist all the colorful produce at the grocery store this time of year and it's great to incorporate more smoothies into one's diet. Prepping smoothies in the morning can be time consuming, we love having these make-ahead smoothie packs on hand.

Smoothies are an easy way to incorporate fresh fruits and veggies into your diet. When you find your favourite fresh produce at the grocery store, make it into handy freezer packs to save yourself some time and effort the next time you crave a smoothie. Whether you want to blend a quick breakfast for the kids or fuel-up after a workout, all you have to do is add these freezer packs to your blender along with juice (and in some cases yogurt or grains, like steel cut oats or Chia and Flax seeds). Tah-dah, your smoothie is ready with the push of a button!

During recipe development, the Hamilton Beach Test Kitchen found that using room temperature juice works best when making smoothies with frozen fruits and vegetables. We know most of you will use juice that you already have in the refrigerator and that’s just fine too. You may need to add more liquid to achieve the consistency you want, or use the blender tamper to help mix the ingredients as the smoothie blends. Blender tampers are used to push ingredients closer to the blender blade, removing air bubbles and giving your smoothie a more consistent texture. Depending on how icy you like your smoothies, you can also leave the freezer pack on the counter while you hop in the shower or run the plastic bag under warm water in the sink for a few seconds to help thaw out the ingredients a bit before blending.

Try our Green Fruit Smoothie, Berry Smoothie, Pineapple Orange Cream Smoothie or Hidden Green Smoothie to get started. While these are just  a few of our favorite smoothie recipes for summer, have fun with it and experiment mixing and matching your favorite fruits, vegetables, and juices until you find your favorite refreshing combination.