This smoothie is super tasty, takes all of 5 minutes to make and fairly low in sugar. I call this low sugar in the sense that it is much lower than your average protein smoothie, which often contains 40-100 grams of sugar. This weighs in at 14 grams of sugar and in the context of a full day, it can easily fit into a keto eating style OR simply a healthy, well-balanced diet.  On the low end this recipe costs approximately $1.88 per serving and on the high end $3.75 per serving. Not bad at all! As per usual, I get into the nitty-gritty of the recipe below.

Cost Breakdown:

*Please keep in mind these are approximations and can be influenced by time of year and food availability. All costs are calculated in CAD. These approximations reflect the cheapest possible prices you can find for conventionally grown/farmed foods at discount grocers or from bulk providers like Costco. If you are able to afford organic ingredients, that’s great! Just keep in mind there will be an additional cost to what’s shown below. 

• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries ($0.50 – $0.75)
• 1/2 frozen banana ($0.15 – $0.30)
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk or other milk of choice/water ($0.50 – $0.75)
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder vegan or whey ($0.50 – $1.25)
• 1 tbsp chia seeds ($0.10 – $0.35)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil ($0.13 – $0.35)

Total cost of recipe: $1.88 – $3.75  |   Cost per serving: $1.88 – $3.75  |  Cost per 100 calories: $0.48 – $0.97

Swaptions:

This section outlines swap options (swaptions) for some of the ingredients, how to edit it for certain dietary preferences and things you can add on if you please! If it’s within your budget to purchase local, organic ingredients I certainly recommend that but if not just stick to whole and minimally processed foods and you’ll be ahead of most! If you’re looking to maximize your budget you can swap out ingredients with those that are on sale. Just follow the guide below.

 

Ingredients:

• Protein Powder –> Choose your protein powder of choice whether that be vegan, whey, beef, egg etc. Some people don’t do so great digesting whey protein. In that case, I recommend vegan, which is a tad more expensive.
• Almond Milk –> Enjoy any milk of choice or you can even omit and just use water! 
• Coconut Oil –> If you don’t have coconut oil readily available you can use olive oil, avocado oil or flax oil. Feel free to enjoy other oils, but I do not recommend canola oil, corn oil or vegetable oil.

Dietary Preferences:

• Make it Vegan –> Use a vegan protein powder

Add-Ons:

• Feel free to jazz up the smoothie if you like! Some of my favourite additions are cacao nibs, hemp hearts, a bit of granola, low-sugar chocolate chips and of course you are more than welcome to add in leafy greens. 😉