I’m not a big juice drinker, but I do enjoy smoothies and protein shakes regularly. I couldn’t quite decide which category these Naked Smoothie drinks fell into the first time I saw them, but the flavors sounded tasty and I was intrigued by the relatively short shelf life, which immediately made me think they probably used fresh fruit and not a lot of artificial ingredients. Are these Naked Smoothies a healthy snack, a tasty treat or both? Read on to find out!
I’ve actually seen the Naked Smoothies at Starbucks and other grocery stores as well as Costco. I always thought they looked and sounded good, but not being a juice drinker, I didn’t buy them.
Other beverages I’ve reviewed from Costco are the Blue Monkey Sparkling Juice Drink, Boba Bam Instant Boba Pack, Kirkland Signature Organic Oat Beverage, Kirkland Signature Organic Lemonade, Sambazon Acai Superfood Drink, Kirkland Signature Organic Juice Boxes and the Vonbee Honey, Citron and Ginger Tea Base.
Location in Store
You can find the juices in the refrigerated beverage section near the almond milk and iced coffee. The item number is 591734.
Taste
There are four different flavors in the pack, green machine, berry blast, mighty mango and strawberry banana. All of the flavors are delicious but I think that’s because they’re so sweet!
Green machine is quite sweet, the main flavors I taste are mango and banana.
Berry blast is less sweet than the others and has a strong apple juice flavor with the most noticeable berry flavor being blackberry.
Mighty mango is thick and sweet, it’s like drinking mango puree or nectar. This one is my favorite.
Strawberry banana is slightly artificial tasting and probably my least favorite of the four, it’s not bad it just has a strong slightly artificial banana flavor.
Cost
The case of 12 smoothies costs $16.99 Canadian at Costco which isn’t cheap at all. I know that I’ve seen them for a few dollars per smoothie at places like Starbucks so Costco is probably one of the cheaper places to buy them. There are three of each flavor.
Convenience
The expiry date isn’t the same on all four kinds of smoothies, the green machine expires about a month after the other three which I find a bit odd but I’ll just drink the other ones first. These need to be kept refrigerated and have a twist-off cap.
The smoothies are perfect for a kids’ lunch or an on-the-go breakfast. The size is great, there’s not too much or too little smoothie, just the right amount.
Nutrition
Calories
All the smoothies contain a lot of sugar but there isn’t any sugar added, it’s from the fruit in the smoothies.
The green machine smoothie contains 170 calories, zero grams of fat, 500 milligrams of potassium, 20 milligrams of sodium, 39 grams of carbohydrates, zero grams of fibre, 35 grams of sugar and two grams of protein.
Berry blast contains 140 calories, zero grams of fat, 33 grams of carbohydrates, two grams of fibre, 32 grams of sugar, one gram of protein, 400 milligrams of potassium and 15 milligrams of sodium.
Mighty mango contains 180 calories, zero grams of fat, 400 milligrams of potassium, 43 grams of carbohydrates, zero grams of fibre, 35 grams of sugar and one gram of protein.
Strawberry banana contains 180 calories, zero grams of fat, 43 grams of carbohydrates, three grams of fibre, 25 grams of sugar, one gram of protein, zero grams of sodium and 600 milligrams of potassium.
Ingredients
All of the smoothies are vegan and non-GMO. They all contain banana and “natural flavor”. One thing I find surprising is that the green machine contains gluten. It gets its green color from spirulina, alfalfa, broccoli, spinach, barley grass, wheat grass, parsley, ginger root and kale.
Berry blast contains strawberry, blackberry, red raspberry and cranberry juice.
Mighty mango has mango puree, orange juice, banana and lemon juice.
Strawberry banana has apple juice, banana puree, strawberry puree, orange juice and chokeberry juice.
Scoring
Taste: 9/10
Cost: 7/10 (Not cheap but cheaper than other places where you can buy the Naked Smoothies).
Convenience: 10/10
Nutrition: 7/10 (They don’t contain any added sugar and are vegan but they aren’t low in calories and still have a lot of sugar).
Overall
Give it a try!
I love the taste of these but I don’t love how much sugar is in each one! I bet kids would really enjoy these in their school lunches.
Have you tried these smoothies? What did you think of them?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
