Monday, August 24, 2009

How to Make Cheap, Easy Healthy Soda Recipe

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Several months back, I overhauled my family's diet. We are all thriving on this new diet. My husband, though, did not want to change some of the things he had before. He has been a soda drinker since he was weaned off the bottle. He likes all kinds of soda, as long as it's fizzy and sweet.
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Store bought soda is usually made with corn syrup, which is almost guaranteed to be genetically modified. There are a lot of reasons to avoid genetically modified foods, which I will surely get into in future posts. Diet sodas are made with aspartame, which is a modified neurotoxin.
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So I searched the web for soda recipes. Most homemade soda is made with sugar and yeast, which makes the liquid fizzy. I didn't want sugar, so I started looking for something simpler. This is what I have found, and slightly modified:
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1 cup club soda (not sweetened)
1/4 teaspoon stevia (or 2 tablespoons traditional sweetener)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon bottled lemon or lime juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix it well, making sure all the cinnamon dissolves. It will be lighter in color than regular cola, but it is the cola taste that it is closest to.
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Some may be thinking that this is definitely healthier than regular soda, but is it actually cheaper?
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My husband drank a can of soda a day. I know that soda is cheaper by the bottle, but not if he drinks the whole thing in one day. For us, a can was cheaper because it was rationed. We bought Sam's Choice, Walmart brand, soda by the dozen for $2.58, or $0.22 per can.
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This new soda is rationed as well, since I have to make it by the cup. I have never caught my husband chugging tonic water right out of the bottle. So, I am comparing it to a can of soda. If your family members can contain themselves with a bottle of soda in the house, it may not be cheaper.
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1 cup tonic water - $0.09 based on a regular Shaw's (local Kroger's) sale of $0.75 for a 2 liter bottle
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1/4 teaspoon stevia - $0.04 based on the price of NuNaturals NuStevia at Whole Foods, the 12 oz container
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1 teaspoon vanilla - $0.02 based on the Walmart imitation vanilla, $0.98 for 8 oz
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1 teaspoon bottled lime juice - $0.01 based on the price of lime juice from the Asian market down the street, $1.79 for 32 fl oz
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1/4 teaspoon cinnamon - $0.02, this is a generous guess. I get 2.37 oz from Walmart for $0.50 and I don't think 1/4 teaspoon actually costs $0.02, it is probably under $0.01, but I'll overestimate for the sake of cost comparison

Grand Total: $0.18

6 comments:

Kriket said...

have you tried water Keifer? Yummy.
http://culturesforhealth.com

Emily said...

I'll have to look into that, thanks!

A. O'Hara said...

Tonic water is sweetened just like any other soda. Are you sure you didn't mean soda water, which is just carbonated water? Sweetening tonic water is like adding sugar to Coke.

Emily said...

Your right, it's not tonic water, it's club soda, not sweetened. I'll change it, thanks!

Tammy said...

I just saw a 12 oz. bottle of Nunatural stevia powder on Amazon for $13.87 plus $3.99 shipping!

Anonymous said...

This is an area I'm BAD at-I can easily three 3-12pks of diet cherry cola a week if I had the funds! I'm definitely going to try this recipe-thanks!
sara http://myfrugalfunlife.blogspot.com/

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