Shelves in grocery stores are lined with bottled sport drinks and sugary beverages for kids. With the assortment of colours and flavours, it is difficult for kids to not want one. Buying the bottled drinks are costly and can upset the food budget.
Make homemade drink mixes that are inexpensive and convenient. Create a batch of fruit drinks or sport drinks and freeze for future need.
Drink Choices
Kids love the taste of sweetness over the crisp taste of water. Marry a little sweetness with the cool crisp taste of water. Bottled drinks for kids usually contain high levels of sugar but by making drinks at home, parents can decide on the amount of sugar for the child.
First, buy big containers of lemonade, sports drink, or fruit flavoured powder mixes. Consumers will save by buying the containers, not the individual packs for a glass or the individual packs to make a jug of the beverage. Kool aid, no name drink beverages, Gatorade, and ice tea are a few of the powder mixes available in bulk.
Bottle Drink Recipes
Buy a pack of 24 water bottles that are on sale. Each couple of weeks, different grocery stores in Canada will have sales on water. When the water is on sale, buy a few packs and store in the garage, cold room, or other cool areas of the home. Do not store water in a warm environment.
Next, open the all the water bottles and pour out a little bit of the water into a glass or water container. Then, place a funnel on the first water bottle and place the powder mixture into the water bottle. The amount of powder is dependent on the type of drink. To reduce the amount of sugar, if the box states 1 scoop per 500 ml of water, use just under 1 scoop of powder. Each time the drinks are made, reduce the amount of powder.
Then, close the cap onto the bottle and shake the bottle. Be sure to shake until all the powder is uniformly distributed in the bottle. Lastly, place some of the bottled drinks in the fridge and the remaining ones in the freezer. Drinks will last longer if frozen. Each week, take a few premade frozen drinks and defrost in the fridge.
Environmental Impact
Purchases of water or any drink in a plastic container impact our environment. The best solution is to create sugary or sport drinks in reusable containers. When purchasing reusable containers, ensure they are BPA-free and made of good quality material. Wait for sales to buy a good quality water bottle at the price of a poor quality water bottle.
Consumption of flavoured drinks increase as the weather gets warmer. Warm weather means more people are outside and participating in fun activities such as cycling, walking, and swimming. Make your own flavoured drinks to bring on your outings to save money and to reduce weekly grocery costs.
Debbie DeSpirt - Debbie DeSpirt is an Elementary Teacher for the York Catholic District School Board in Ontario, Canada. Her post secondary education ...
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