Kale Green Drink

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch or join us as our family of 6 eats, or tries to, on $6/day.

Let's talk about kale. It's green. It's pretty. It's can handle cruddy soil if you're growing your own (as opposed to its more needy counterpart, the spinach leaf) and it can endure cooler temperatures. In fact, it's sweeter after it's gotten a little frost-bitten, so it's peak season is during the fall and winter. It lowers cholesterol, acts to detoxify the body, has anti-inflammatory properties, and of course tons of antioxidants. It also contains a crazy amount of vitamins K, A, and C, as well as lots of nearly everything else. For more info, have a look here.

And it's cheap. A bushel of about 9 oz. of kale cost half as much at Walmart as a 9 oz. bag of spinach. When used raw in a smoothie, the tastes of the two greens are surprisingly similar.

Kale Green Drink
Makes 3 cups
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: .80
(kale: .15, applesauce: .10, strawberries: .25, peaches: .20, banana: .10)

Note on kale: If you're new to green drinks you might want to start with 2 cups.

Note on fruit: This tastes better if at least some of the fruit is frozen when you start out. Then it's nice and cold and smoothie-like instead of warm fruit-drink like.

3 C kale (middle rib removed unless you've got a strong blender)
1 banana
1 C strawberries
1/2-3/4 C peaches
1 C apple juice

Blend till smooth.

This will supposedly keep for up to 3 days (with most of the nutrients in tact) if it's sealed and refrigerated, though I've always drunk it right up sooner than that.

PRINTABLE RECIPE