Pro Tips for Making YUMMY Meal Replacement Shakes

When it comes to eating healthy, blending up a delicious, nutritious meal replacement shake is pretty easy. Until . . . you start thinking about prepping all your fruit, chopping up the veggies, buying all the miscellaneous ingredients, and coming up with recipe ideas. Even something that looks simple can start to feel like a burden.

But, when you’ve got these easy tips and tricks in your back pocket, you can whip up a healthy, delicious meal replacement shake in no time at all… with easy prep AND clean-up!

Tips & Tricks for Making Simple, Yummy Meal Shakes

Let’s start out with a couple of rules for how to make meal replacement shakes that are healthy, nutritious, and filling. These guidelines will help you find the right meal replacement shake base, ingredients, and recipes that work for your lifestyle and that you’ll crave.

1) Fewer calories than your average meal

When you’re looking at meal replacement shake recipes, the first thing you’ll want to assess is whether or not the shake has fewer calories than a typical meal. If the recipe calls for high-density foods such as nut butter, cocoa powder, or milk, that calorie count can go up quickly.

2) Get a balance of essential nutrients

When you’re consuming a meal replacement shake, you could be skipping out on a meal filled with whole foods that contain essential vitamins and minerals. It’s important to look for a meal replacement shake base and recipes that include healthy ingredients such as fruits and vegetables that will give you those vitamins and minerals you need.

3) Check the protein content

It’s important that your meal replacement shake have enough protein to keep you feeling full until your next meal. Your meal replacement shake should have between 10 and 20 grams of protein. Our meal replacement shakes have 15 grams of protein in each shake. And, if you add protein-rich foods to your shakes, such as milk or yogurt, you’ll get even more protein.

4) Check for sugar and hidden calories

The purpose of consuming a meal replacement shake is to limit your calories per meal. To do this, you want to make sure that your meal replacement shake doesn’t include hidden calories or sugar. Be sure to read the label of your meal replacement shake and to consider the calories and sugar content of what you add to your shake.

With these basic meal replacement shake rules, you’re setting yourself up for success in building a meal replacement shake recipe that will keep you feeling full and satiated while also helping you work towards your weight loss goals!

Below, you’ll find more tips and tricks so that you can quickly and efficiently make healthy, nutritious meal replacement shakes with minimal stress.

Prep Your Fruits & Veggies Ahead of Time...

If there’s only one tip you take away from this article, it should be this one... Prep your fruits and veggies for your meal replacement shakes ahead of time! There are a few different ways you can do this. You can:

Chop your fruits and veggies at the start of the week and put them in the fridge
Chop your fruits and veggies and then freeze them
Blend your fruits and veggies, pour them into a non-stick muffin tin, then freeze the smoothie base. Pull out one or two “frozen pucks” to use in your meal replacement shakes.

Having your fruits and veggies pre-chopped and prepped makes putting together your shakes SO much easier. You don’t have to think about what ingredients you want to use... Just grab, blend, and go!

Buy Frozen, Pre-Cut Fruits & Veggies

If you know you’re going to be short on prep time for making your meal replacement shakes, simply buy frozen, pre-cut fruits and veggies. You can even find frozen smoothie mixes in the freezer aisle that already have a blend of fruits and leafy greens ready for making meal replacement shakes.

There are a couple of benefits of using frozen fruits and veggies. When you use frozen fruit:

You don’t need to add ice, so you get great texture and flavor without watering it down
You get to eat fruit that was frozen at the peak of freshness, so it’s packed with nutrients
You don’t have to chop, prepare, or freeze the ingredients. Just dump them into a blender and go!

Try a VARIETY of Flavors!

Another tip for making great meal replacement shakes that you love is to have a variety of flavors and recipes on hand. If you have just one shake powder flavor, you’ll quickly get bored of your meal replacement shakes. Instead, find a couple of different shake flavors and recipes you like and keep the ingredients on hand so you can make them when cravings strike.

Our meal replacement shake powders come in a variety of different flavors to keep you coming back for more. Try our chocolate, vanilla, salted caramel, toasted coconut, mocha, and chocolate mint in our variety box to get a mix of yummy flavors.

Add Fiber

For a truly filling meal replacement shake you need two key ingredients: fiber and protein. Fiber is essential for helping your body slow down how it processes sugar. There are a few different ways you can ensure that your meal replacement shake has enough fiber:

Choose a meal replacement shake powder that contains 5-10g of fiber
Add high fiber fruits and vegetables to your meal replacement shake mix
Add chia or flax seeds to your meal replacement shake for extra fiber and nutrients such as omega-3s

Balance the Ingredients for Texture

A great meal replacement shake has the right flavor, nutritional value, and texture. Getting the right texture is all about balancing your solids and liquids. You want a cold, creamy texture that’s not too runny or gummy.

To get a better texture, consider using frozen fruit or bases instead of ice so that the flavor doesn’t get watered down. And, the order in which you add ingredients can help improve texture. If you’re adding leafy greens, blend those first before adding other fruits and veggies.

Freeze Your Liquid Base

Most meal replacement shakes call for ice when blending, but that’s not a requirement. Instead of using ice, you can use frozen fruits or freeze whatever liquid you’ll be adding to your meal replacement shake.

You can freeze milk, milk alternatives, or yogurt for adding to your meal replacement shake and getting the right texture and flavor. Simply pour into an ice tray and leave in the freezer overnight.

Include Lots of Different Fruits & Veggies

For the best and healthiest meal replacement shakes, you want to make sure you’re getting variety in your diet. Experts recommend “eating the rainbow” to help you get the right balance of vitamins and micronutrients!

When building the recipe for your meal replacement shake, be sure to use a variety of fruits and vegetables in different colors to get all the nutrients you need. It’s also important to have a balance of fruits and vegetables so that you’re not building a sugar bomb of a meal replacement shake! The fiber in whole fruits and vegetables will help your body to slowly process the sugar in fruits so that you don’t have a sugar crash.

Add Avocado for Healthy Fat & Creaminess

When it comes to superfoods, avocado is top of the pack. Avocados are packed with healthy vitamins, minerals, and fats. The best part: avocado can lend a creaminess to your meal replacement shake.

You can even prepare avocado ahead of time and freeze it! Then simply grab a quarter and toss it into the blender when making your meal replacement shake. The avocado will add healthy fat which will help to keep you full longer and will create a delicious creamy texture for your shake.

When in Doubt, Add Banana

If you’re making meal replacement shakes for the first time and aren’t sure what to add or are trying to create a new recipe, when in doubt, add a banana!

Bananas are the perfect meal replacement shake ingredient. They’re affordable, easily frozen, act as a thickening agent for smoothies, and provide natural sweetness and fiber.

Thin it Out With Coconut Water

If you find that your meal replacement shakes are too thick or are looking for an alternative liquid base other than water, try out coconut water.

Coconut water is great for meal replacement shakes because it’s lightly sweetened and contains electrolytes. If you’re making a meal replacement shake with lots of thickeners, like nut butter, banana, and avocado, thinning it out with coconut water creates the perfect balance.

Instead of a Shake, Go for Overnight Oats

Tired of meal replacement shakes and want something to chew on? You can make overnight oats with your meal replacement powder for a healthy, on-the-go breakfast.

Simply place a scoop of overnight oats into a jar, add a liquid base (such as a milk or milk alternative), add flavors you love, add your meal replacement shake powder, and leave the oats in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, you’ve got oats on the go or you can pour it into your blender for a more smoothie-like texture.

Prep Smoothies for The Week and Freeze

If you know your week ahead is really going to be busy, there’s a hack you can use to prepare all your smoothies at once.

First, find a recipe you know you like and won’t get tired of throughout the week.
Invest in some wide-mouth mason jars.
Blend all of your ingredients in the blender.
Pour your smoothie into mason jars, leaving at least an inch of room at the top.
Freeze your mason jars.
The night before you want to drink one, take it out of the freezer and leave it in the fridge overnight. This will give it time to thaw so it’s ready for breakfast the next day.

Clean Your Mixer By Blending

For many of us, cleaning the blender is the main problem with making meal replacement shakes. So, here’s how to make it easy.

After you’re finished making your meal replacement shakes, simply fill your blender a third of the way with hot water, add a drop of soap, and then blend. Rinse and leave it to dry.

Easy as can be, you’ve got a clean blender.

Meal Replacement Shake Recipes for Inspiration

Now that you’ve got a number of tips and tricks under your belt for making great meal replacement shakes, here are some recipes to get you started. Find a few that you like, get the ingredients, and start making delicious and nutritious meal replacement shakes with ease!

When it comes to eating healthy and sticking to your weight loss goals, it’s important to find healthy, easy-to-make recipes. These tips and tricks will help you efficiently make delicious and nutritious meal replacement shakes that you can eat every day. By freezing your liquid base, buying pre-chopped, frozen fruit and vegetables, and hacking how you clean your blender, you can throw together a meal replacement shake you’ll LOVE in no time!

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