Power Smoothie has a bit of a startup cost, since you need a blender and a bunch of ingredients. Nothing too hard, but in practice, it seems like most people gain interest in Power Smoothie via having one that a friend makes for them. I’ve set up a Facebook page for Power Smoothie for the sole purpose of helping you find friends who might make you one. If you do end up making your own, consider liking the page to allow others to find you.

You will need:

• Stuff you buy on Amazon.
  • A blender. We’ve had good luck with this $25 blender, though for how much Power Smoothie my housemates and office mates consume, we ultimately decided to get the best blender possible and settled on a Vitamix Pro Series 300. More on choosing a blender
  • Protein powder. I use unflavored whey powder. Some people use this nice chocolate whey powder. For vegans I recommend Sunwarrior Classic protein (from brown rice). These links are all for relatively small quantities, and you’ll want bigger quantities if you become a regular consumer.
• Stuff you buy in a grocery store. There is a lot of “or” in the below; you only need one thing in each category, not a mix.
  • Soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, or some other kind of milk.
  • Olive oil and/or peanut butter. (Or flaxseed oil or coconut oil or yogurt or nuts of whatever kind you want; any of these works for providing fat.)
  • Frozen chopped spinach, kale, or collard greens.
  • Frozen blueberries.
  • Bananas.
  • Unsweetened cocoa powder (optional).
• (Optional) Flavoring ingredients.

Instructions:

1. Pour in ~2 cups of soy milk or other liquid for texture. Better too much liquid than too little.
2. Add a scoop of protein powder, enough to get 25g of protein. Note that you probably want to use more than one scoop if you’re using the vegan protein powder.
3. Add a tablespoon of olive oil or peanut butter, or 100-200 calories’ worth of whatever your chosen fat source is.
4. Add any flavoring ingredients you’d like (optional).
5. Add ~.75 cup of frozen blueberries, 1 banana, and ~.75 cup of your frozen green leafy vegetable (spinach, kale, collard greens).
6. Add a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder or whatever else you’d like for flavoring. No additional sugar is needed thanks to the fruit you’ve already put in. More on flavorings
7. Blend and serve. It will take several glasses to hold a full Power Smoothie unless you invest in some ridiculous large container, like this or this. More on blending and containers
8. Eat carbohydrates separately. I often pair a Power Smoothie with a couple of slices of whole wheat bread, and anti-wheat people can use something else (rice, potatoes, pita chips, whatever).

A standard Power Smoothie is around 600 calories prior to the addition of carbs, and $3-5 worth of ingredients.

More info and alternative recipes

• Details on Making a Power Smoothie lays out the reasoning behind each ingredient recommendation, and what alternatives you might use, as well as a discussion of blending/containers/logistics.
• Power Smoothie recipes: specific recipe variations, with calorie counts and cost estimates.