Blueberries are such a brilliant little berry for anyone watching their weight, aren't they? At just 57 kcal per 100g, they're one of the lowest-calorie fruits you'll find in UK supermarkets. A whole 150g punnet is only 86 calories, and they're completely Free and a Speed food on Slimming World. Win-win!
In this guide, we'll dive into the calories for fresh and frozen blueberries, popular treats like muffins and smoothies, and how they stack up against other berries for weight loss.
Fresh blueberries are fantastic! They come in at just 57 kcal per 100g. To give you an idea, a single blueberry is roughly 2g and a tiny 1 kcal. So, that standard 150g punnet you pick up in your local UK supermarket? That's only about 86 kcal!
| Portion | Weight | Calories | SW | WW Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 blueberry | 2g | 1 kcal | Free | 0 |
| Small handful (30 berries) | 60g | 34 kcal | Free | 0 |
| Large handful (60 berries) | 120g | 68 kcal | Free | 0 |
| Standard punnet | 150g | 86 kcal | Free | 0 |
| Jumbo punnet | 400g | 228 kcal | Free | 0 |
| Frozen blueberries (100g) | 100g | 55 kcal | Free | 0 |
Now, frozen blueberries are actually a tiny bit lower in calories than fresh, coming in at 55 kcal per 100g compared to 57 kcal. Honestly, the difference is so small it barely matters! Both are completely Free on Slimming World, which is brilliant. I always keep a bag of frozen ones in the freezer because they're loads cheaper per gram and just as good for you. I tend to grab the frozen ones for cooking or my morning porridge, and save the fresh ones for snacking or adding to a nice yoghurt.
Oh yes, lovely blueberries are indeed a Free Food and a Speed food on Slimming World – absolutely no Swips cost, no matter how much you fancy! This goes for all fresh and frozen blueberries too, so stock up! Just a heads up though, dried blueberries and blueberry juice *do* have a Swips cost. That's because when you take the water out (or press it into juice), you lose the natural bulk that helps you feel full.
You'll even spot blueberries marked with an 'S' in the Slimming World app, showing they're not just Free, but actively encouraged as a Speed food! It's such a clever trick: by filling about a third of your breakfast bowl with juicy blueberries instead of, say, more oats, you're cutting down the calories of your meal without feeling like you're eating less. Genius, right?
Alright, so we touched on this earlier, but let's properly compare! Frozen blueberries come in at 55 kcal per 100g, which is barely different from fresh at 57 kcal per 100g. Honestly, nutritionally speaking, there's next to no difference. Freezing is actually brilliant for locking in all those amazing antioxidants, so you're getting just as much goodness as fresh ones.
And here's the best bit: frozen blueberries are SO much more budget-friendly! You can usually pick up 100g for around 50–80p in the frozen aisles of places like Tesco, Aldi, or Lidl. Compare that to a fresh 150g punnet which can set you back £1.50–£2.00! For everyday things like popping in your porridge, whizzing into a smoothie, or stirring into yoghurt, frozen is definitely the savvy choice. You're getting roughly a third of the cost per gram – bargain!
Right, let's get real. While fresh blueberries are amazing, a typical supermarket blueberry muffin (around 120g) is a different story entirely. We're talking approximately 430 kcal and a whopping 22 Swips! Yikes! The good news is, if you fancy baking, you can make a Slimming World friendly version using things like fat-free yoghurt, sweetener, and self-raising flour. You can get those down to a much more respectable 150–180 kcal per muffin and just 3–5 Swips. Much better!
It's not the blueberries causing that calorie jump, honest! They're only 57 kcal per 100g. The massive leap (to around 360 kcal per 100g for the muffin itself) comes from all that flour, butter, and sugar in the batter. The actual blueberries add minimal calories. And just for a fun (or perhaps slightly horrifying!) comparison, a Greggs blueberry muffin packs around 505 kcal per muffin – that's roughly 25 Swips. Phew!
Absolutely you can, but like anything, it depends on what you pop in! A lovely blueberry smoothie made with 100g frozen blueberries, 150ml skimmed milk, and some fat-free yoghurt comes in at approximately 170 kcal. But be warned, if you swap to full-fat yoghurt and add a dollop of honey, that jumps up quite a bit to 280–320 kcal. Every little counts!
For us Slimming Worlders, if your smoothie is made using all Free ingredients – think blueberries, fat-free yoghurt, and skimmed milk (within your Healthy Extra A allowance, of course!) – then it's fantastic news: 0 Swips! Just always double-check the official app for the latest guidance on blended fruit, as sometimes smoothies are counted a little differently from eating the whole fruit.
Yes, absolutely! Blueberries are a fantastic ally when you're trying to lose weight because they're a brilliant low-calorie, high-volume snack. Think about it: a generous 150g bowl of blueberries is only 86 kcal. That's similar to a single digestive biscuit, but with so much more fibre (2.4g per 100g!), more actual food to fill you up, and a much stronger feeling of satisfaction. This is the one I grab when I'm being good!
They're also packed with goodness! Blueberries are actually one of the fruits with the highest antioxidant levels, even more so than strawberries and raspberries – honestly surprised me when I looked this up! The NHS considers just 80g of blueberries a five-a-day portion. I've found that adding a daily handful to my porridge or yoghurt really helps cut down on those annoying mid-morning snack attacks, compared to breakfasts without any fruit.
So, where do blueberries fit in the berry family? At 57 kcal per 100g, they're kind of in the middle ground, calorie-wise – a bit more than strawberries (32 kcal) but more than blackberries (43 kcal). The great news is, all the berries you find in UK supermarkets are Free on Slimming World! Honestly, the calorie differences between them are so tiny that for weight loss, it really doesn't matter which you pick. It's more about which ones you genuinely love and will actually eat regularly!
| Berry | Calories per 100g | SW | Speed food? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strawberries | 32 kcal | Free | Yes |
| Raspberries | 52 kcal | Free | Yes |
| Blackberries | 43 kcal | Free | Yes |
| Blueberries | 57 kcal | Free | Yes |
| Blackcurrants | 28 kcal | Free | Yes |
| Cranberries (fresh) | 46 kcal | Free | Yes |
It's brilliant that all six of these berries are Speed foods – they're some of the most encouraged on the Slimming World plan! If you're looking for the absolute lowest, blackcurrants and strawberries win. Blueberries are a lovely mid-range option at 57 kcal per 100g, and because they're so easy to get frozen, you can enjoy them all year round, which is super handy!
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