After a particularly indulgent weekend away, I needed something to give my system a reboot and get me back on track and so I wanted to try a juice cleanse. I didn’t want to do anything too crazy and after looking through a bunch, it seemed this one is the best. You replace your meals with six juices and it lasts three days. I didn’t have $250 laying around to spend on juice so I decided to replicate the Blueprint juices myself. After looking up the Blueprint ingredients and going through some DIY versions online, I knew from my juicing experience what to tweak and came up with my own recipes! All in all, it cost me about $60 {plus $10 for the ball jars to store the juices in} for all of the ingredients, a far cry from the cost of ordering the real thing! Most of the juices were great – I drink the green juice all the time anyways and some of the new ones {like the pineapple, mint, apple one} were delicious. The spicy lemonade one is gross, no matter what you do… and trust me I tried it all. If you want to follow the cleanse exactly, you do three prep days then this cleanse and then a phase to “break the cleanse”. Even if you don’t want to cleanse, try swapping one meal a day out with one of these juices to get a boost in nutrients!
Here’s the grocery list if you’re going to do the cleanse, this will make a total of six 16 oz green juices and three 16 oz juices of the others.
The order each day is green juice, pineapple/mint/apple, green juice {again}, Spicy Lemon, Beet/Carrot/Apple and then Cashew. I found it easiest to make the first five juices for the first day the night before I started.Then at night on the first day I made my last juice for the day and the first four for the next day. On the second day I made my remaining two juices and the first four for the next day. On the last day I just had to make my last two juices. I would highly recommend making your juices as close to when you’re going to drink them as you can, as every hour that passes after the juices are made, the more nutrients are lost. You can’t make the whole cleanse before you start, the juices won’t last that long.
The Green Juice = Kale, Apple, Ginger, Romaine, Spinach, Cucumber, Celery, Parsley & Lemon.
Since you drink two of these a day, I find it easiest to make both drinks in one batch so this recipe is for two 16 oz green juices.
I add lime juice to my green juices, you don’t have to if you want to stick strictly to the blueprint juice. I don’t like to juice whole limes or lemons even after peeling because they are still too bitter so I start out by reaming one lemon and one lime into my juicer’s pitcher using a strainer.
I then juice the following with the juicer speed on low:
4 ribs celery
6 leaves romaine
handful spinach
2 small cucumbers
Then juice the following on high speed:
6 large kale leaves
2 large apples or 4 small ones
about 1″ piece peeled ginger {use a spoon to peel with ease!}
few pieces parsley
Stir well with a spoon and then divide evenly into two 16oz ball jars, seal and keep in the fridge.
P.A.M. = Pineapple, Apple & Mint
I found it easiest to cut my pineapple top and bottom off and then cut it into 3 equally sized rounds. You’ll use one round for each day.
With the juicer on high, combine:
the pineapple
2 large apples or 4 small ones
a large handful of fresh mint
Spicy Lemonade = Lemon, Water, Agave & Cayenne
Again, I don’t like to juice the lemons as even if you peel them they are still so bitter. Even making this the way I do, it’s almost undrinkable, lol. I reamed two lemons into a jar with a strainer over it then added a tiny pinch of cayenne and about 1 tsp agave. I then filled the rest of the jar with filtered water and shook to combine.
C.A.B. = Apple, Beet, Carrot, Ginger & Lemon
I cut off the beet leaves and really give the beet a good scrubbing with a brush under running water before juicing to get rid of any additional soil taste. I ream on lemon into the juicer pitcher through a strainer then I juice:
1 medium beet
2 large apples or 4 small ones
5 carrots
1″ piece of peeled ginger.
Cashew Milk = Cashew, Water, Cinnamon, Vanilla & Agave
The key to making the cashew milk is soaking them at least overnight in water. Ours came in a plastic container so I filled it with filtered water and kept it in the fridge.
This can be a little messy but the way I ended up doing it minimized the mess as much as possible. Separate out about one third of your cashews and put them into the juicer while it’s running. You’ll notice that the rim of the catch bowl under the juicing basket is now caked in a cashew butter looking substance but no juice has come out. Take some filtered water and slowly pour it into the juicer while it is still running until you have about 2 oz of cashew milk. Sprinkle a touch of cinnamon into the juicer pitcher along with a tsp of agave and a 1/2 tsp vanilla. Stir with a spoon and then strain the mix into your jar, you can see what still slips through the juicer:
After the first time I made this I also lined the strainer with a cheesecloth to get even more of the grit out and it was much better.
Have any of you done a DIY cleanse at home? I’d love to hear about ones you had luck with or even just your favorite juice recipes!
This sounds tempting as we are on holidays at the moment. after coming back home I will try this one. Sounds like I could go through with ir. 🙂
It’s perfect for times like that when you’re coming off an indulgent few days!
Reblogged this on Suzanne's Blog and commented:
Can’t wait to try this!
I was just talking about the Blueprint cleanse with my boyfriend. Thank you for this! I definitely can use the extra money saved from making this on my own.
xo, ellese rockpaperglam.com
You’re welcome! It’s so much less expensive to do it this way and plus you’ll get more nutrients since they’ll be fresher! Enjoy.
Hi! I have been wanting to try this cleanse for quite sometime, but I too was shied away by the price. I came across your post through Pinterest this weekend, bought all of the ingredients yesterday, and start tomorrow. Wish me luck!
I was also wondering if you plan to replicate the two other deeper cleanses that Blueprint sells on their website (“Foundation” and “Excavation”). Thanks again, I will definitely be keeping up with your blog!
Happy you stumbled across mine, hope day 1 was a success! I haven’t made any plans to do the other two just yet but that doesn’t mean I won’t in the future so stay tuned!
I just made the cashew milk in my turbo blender last night. So simple. Just put all the ingredients in and hit the whole juice button and it’s perfect. I had a real bottle of the cashew juice in my frige and I tasted them both side by side. Can’t tell the difference. Yum. So so so much cheaper. I’m very excited since this is my favorite one and it has great protein in it.
I’m happy that you were able to try it and like it! I love this one too and it’s one of the most expensive of the bunch so I was happy to be able to recreate it at a much lower price point!
Thank you so much for this list
You’re very welcome!!
Reblogged this on A Determined Woman and commented:
If anyone is wanting to do a juice cleanse with me here’s what I’m doing.
Anyone do this in their vitamix as opposed to a juicer?
Will be doing this soon! Thank you for the knowledge! ❤
Do you know if I could just use store bought sugar free cashew milk to save me some time? Will the benefits be the same?
i’m really not sure Angelica but I would think out of all of the juices, this would be the best one to take a shortcut with. The other ones lose nutrients as they sit but I don’t think that would be the case with the cashew milk so it should be ok!
I can’t wait to try these!! I am a forever fan of blue print juices but I can’t swing the cost of a 7 day cleanse every month!! I may just do a monthly 10 day cleanse with this😀 (doing happy dance now)
I am still learning how to make juices as I am a new vegan.. This will be epic!!
You’ll love this Tracey and I’m with you, the real deal is WAY too expensive. These are so yummy and easy to make and best of all easy on the wallet!
Cant wait to read more when you’re done! Really enjoyed reading about your detox as well!
Looks good! Do you have any thoughts on juicer vs blender? I don’t have a juicer but I’d like to try this recipe with my blender; any thoughts on that outcome? Thank you!
I haven’t ever tried this before with a blender but I do know people use it as an alternative! Some things to keep in mind would be that you’d have to remove seeds, etc on some things because the blender wouldn’t separate that stuff out. Also, I don’t know how smooth the juices would be because all of the pulp that a juicer removes would not be separate by a blender. If you try it out, let me know how it works!
This is only for one day? And it cost you $60? How is that much less expensive when cleanses online average $50-$60 a day?
No!! $60 was for all 3 days! so it broke down to $20 a day which is only about a third of what the cleanses online average and I bought everything organic!
I spent about $60 on this cleanse and LOVED it!! I lost seven pounds (although this was not my ultimate goal) and I feel great! I truly feel like this cleanse detoxified my body and left me feeling energized and healthy. It was not hard to jump back into eating, and with healthy foods my stomach did not get upset. The second day was the hardest, but as long as I kept drinking fluids never got too hungry 🙂 Thanks Danielle!!
So happy to hear you did this and enjoyed it Shannon! I agree with you with everything you said, day 2 is always the hardest! I think I’m going to do another round of this after memorial day weekend!
What type of apples did you use?
Granny smith! I like the tartness but some people like sweeter apples for juices to take away the veggie taste!
Just bought a juice at Panera and loved it. Was searching for it to buy on line and found this site. I am going to give this a whirl. Thanks so much for doing all of this for us. I am having some severe health issues and the Christmas travels didn’t help! :>{ I will let you know how it goes. Thanks so much!
Hope this worked out well for you Mary Kay!!
Will the juices really go bad if you make them all the night before the first day and you store them in sealed mason jars in the fridge??
Definitely won’t go bad but the nutrients in the juice start depleting from the second you start juicing things. So the more ahead of time you make the juices, the less nutrients you will get.
Thanks for posting this. I have done the blueprint cleanse several times, and I have to say – I like yours SO MUCH BETTER! The flavors of the fresh juice are wonderful, and I think these recipes taste cleaner/brighter. So glad I found your blog!
You’re so welcome Katie! I agree, making the fresh juices taste so much better to me too!