For those who use frozen spinach in your smoothie, which kind do you use?

[u/719696]

I'm still getting into making smoothies. I tried to just use the frozen bags you get at the store but those seem to need to be cooked first before freezing. Then I started getting the fresh ready to eat bags and leaving them in the fridge but I wasn't sure if they were safe to freeze. What kind do you use?

[u/ChiTownSmallFry]

4 yrs of buying fresh triple washed spinach. Throw it in the freezer right away, then put frozen pieces directly into the blender. No issues so far…

[u/HyenaOk3375 → u/ChiTownSmallFry]

Same I grab 2 or 3 fresh from Costco and they go right into the freezer

[u/iamabarnacle]

I grab regular spinach from the produce section and freeze whatever we don't eat fresh. You don't have to cook spinach first.

[u/Famous_Management]

I use the Target brand (Good&Gather) steam-in-bag cut leaf spinach, and I love it because it comes in little nugget shapes that make it super easy to make sure I'm putting roughly the same amount in my smoothies every day. It does say to cook first, but honestly I've been using it straight out of the bag for years and have had no ill effects.

[u/angelwild327]

Spinach that's frozen has been blanched before freezing, so you do not need to cook it, you never need to cook it, if you don't want to.

[u/HighColdDesert]

What do you mean by " I tried to just use the frozen bags you get at the store but those seem to need to be cooked first before freezing"?

You can buy frozen spinach at the store and use it directly in your smoothies. It is already washed and slightly cooked.

[u/719696 → u/HighColdDesert]

I bought a bag then noticed the warning to cook it first. Then I read online about it and I just see a lot of split on whether it's safe or not. So I just haven't used it yet

[u/NewRazzmatazz2455 → u/719696]

Are you outside the US?

[u/719696 → u/NewRazzmatazz2455]

No

[u/HighColdDesert → u/719696]

Cook it first before what? Re-freezing (since you said "cooked first before freezing")? Or using in a smoothie?

Many people throw commercial frozen spinach straight into the blender for a smoothie. It is cooked before it is frozen.

If you want frozen vegetables for the convenience, many other vegetables work just as well in a smoothie as spinach. Frozen cauliflower is a good one.

I harvest an assortment of leafy green vegetables both from my garden and from the wild land around, changing over the season. When there's more than I can use fresh, I blanch it for a few minutes in boiling water then freeze it. Either freeze it in divided portions that you can pull out of the freezer and use at one time, or pull a larger container from the freezer to the fridge and use it up over the next couple of days.

[u/WakingOwl1]

I buy the cheap bags of store brand chopped spinach. The chopped is easy to pour into my beaker.

[u/GrandBill]

I use the kind packed into frozen bricks (very inexpensive and take up less space), thaw them in the fridge and spoon out a portion every day for the smoothie.

[u/Fuzzy_Welcome8348]

I use the frozen kind

[u/WhereRtheTacos]

I prefer fresh but ive just put it in the microwave real quick to heat through them thrown it in the smoothie the few times ive used frozen (after reading the same info u did lol)

[u/Glittermeeple]

I buy frozen. Then I nuke it in the microwave for 30-60 seconds before putting it in the blender

Shrug. Hasn’t caused me a problem yet in the last decade….

[u/rio8envy7]

I grab a bag of spinach from the grocery store produce section then freeze it when I smoothie prep.

[u/ApprehensiveArmy7755]

Fresh spinach is so easy to use. 

[u/titanup001]

I used to just buy fresh, blend it all up with some water, and pour the slop into ice cube trays and put in freezer. Then throw two or three cubes in your blender for smoothies.

[u/Findmyeatingpants]

I either get the frozen nuggets at Walmart or I get a big container of fresh spinach from Costco and freeze it in a freezer bag. Both work great.

[u/holistichandgrenade]

Why would spinach need to be cooked? I use frozen - it doesn’t need cooking.

[u/719696 → u/holistichandgrenade]

I don't know I'm guessing to kill any bacteria. the frozen bags I've seen usually say to cook before eating

[u/Moppy6686 → u/719696]

I get emthe type that can be microwvaed in the bag. I microwave it as soon as it arrives and throw it bag in the freezer.

[u/Impossible_Mix_4893]

I buy the Walmart brand. It's fine.

[u/brattygrandma]

I usually buy fresh and cook to take some of the oxolates out of it then freeze in molds!

[u/Diligent-Serious]

I no longer use any leafy greens in my smoothies unless they have first been cooked (now that we’re living in a world of diarrhea lettuce). I tried using frozen spinach but it seems to confer a weird chalky flavor; same with kale. Instead, I buy frozen bags of kale/spinach that can be cooked in the bag in the microwave (Great Value brand is fine). After cooking the kale or spinach, I put it in a colander, rinse it, squeeze out the water, pat it with a paper towel, and add it to my blender. It turns out fine, and I have once again checked myself safe from the runs. I greatly prefer using the fresh leafy kind that comes out of a bag, but “prewashed” simply does not mean what it used to.

[u/Iongdog]

You don’t need to cook it

[u/Wild-Earth-1365]

Why on Earth would you buy frozen spinach, cook it, and then freeze it?

You can't honestly think that makes sense.

[u/719696 → u/Wild-Earth-1365]

That's just what I read about online how some people do it, I haven't done it myself

[u/kawaii-- → u/719696]

You can use raw spinach or frozen. Just dump it in.