How can I save money on drinks?

marmiterulesok

Getting a soda stream is a great idea.I prefer fizzy water,so it made sense to me.
Actually,I think that I might have got mine free with loyalty points.

pigpen

I don't drink anything but tea.

Our water actually smells of chlorine, it's really hard water and it is quite nasty. My oldest daughter drinks only tap water.

The children have cheap squash and my youngest 3 have very sensitive bladders so drink 2 types of squash which is more expensive than the stuff I get the older ones. We go through a LOT of squash.

I can bear the water from the big water coolers.. maybe you should look into one of those.. cold clean water on tap .. it might work out cheaper.

TBH if you feel you are managing ok why would you want to make it cheaper? surely if you are already at the bare minimum you can tolerate and ok there is little point. I'm sure there are ways you can save money in greater quantity .. such turning off electrics for an hour a day, downgrading on wash powder or toilet paper would probably make a difference too.. People are sweating the small stuff and really shouldn't be unless it is absolutely necessary and if it was absolutely necessary you'd drink the tap water.


Sometimes it is ok to say this is where we are at and staying.. a step too far does not improve your life, it makes you uncomfortable.

Carfal

try putting a jug of tap water in the fridge overnight and use the next day. I don't like my tap water straight from the tap, but if it stands for a while it becomes more palatable.

marmiterulesok

Carfal wrote: »

try putting a jug of tap water in the fridge overnight and use the next day. I don't like my tap water straight from the tap, but if it stands for a while it becomes more palatable.

Yes,that can work too.

*~Zephyr~*

We live in a fairly soft water area and I've never found the tap water to be that palatable. BUT, we just bought a new fridge last week when our old one gave up the ghost and we got one with a built in water dispenser (I've wanted one since I was a kid ) . The water is SO much nicer. I don't know if it's because it's so cold or because it stands in the fridge for a while, or a combination of both, but both OH and I have been drinking it so much we've had to refill the reservoir twice and it holds 4.5 litres - it's unheard of for OH to drink so much tap water!

I also keep lemon and lime slices in the freezer to add to water (or gin!) when I want more flavour. Freezing strawberries, rasperries and chunks of kiwi in ice cube trays is a fab way of adding flavour too.

And you can drink fruit tea cold - I often make up a big teapot of fruit tea, leave it to cool and then chill it - it's delicious.

JP08

For fizzy drinks, home made Ginger Beer is easy. Mum used to make it using a ginger beer plant. It's so easy that it was within the capabilities of two 12 year old boys (me and Simon H who lived over the back fence) - even if we did mix it up in a hurriedly washed builders bucket* of his fathers.

This recipe looks utterly familiar, even after 35+ years ... they are quite good fun to watch when blooping away !
http://wholesomebee.co.uk/how-to-start-a-ginger-beer-plant/

* if memory serves me well (it was a long time ago) same bucket was used to transport newts from the ornamental pond in the local big house to the family fishpond !

theoretica

Also for saving money many drinks can be watered down and still taste good. I like half or a third juice topped up with fizzy water best but tap water works too. I also drink most squashes weaker than the bottle suggests.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I used to hate the taste of plain water (sounds stupid, but I found the fact that it tasted of nothing made it difficult to swallow). I basically had to learn how to like it the summer I worked in the US, as they don't sell squash (I think it's a very British/Oz/Kiwi thing). It was too expensive to drink juice or fizzy pop all day, so I just had to get used to water. I now drink ~1.5l of tap water a day at work and can't imagine not enjoying it. So it is possible to retrain your palate!

mikenolan

We have three glass stopper bottles from IKEA that we fill with water and rotate in and out of the fridge. Cold water is nicer I find. My wife drinks lots of cordial and what she calls "halfie-halfie" - that's half a pint glass of fresh orange juice topped up with water (though when I make it I water down even more to save money!)

allybee101

I agree Out, Vile Jelly. Your palate adjusts to a change in taste remarkably quickly.
I grew up in a very hard water area and when we visited family several hours away their soft water tasted very odd. However by the end of the week I'd adapted to it and didn't find the taste so odd. I did enjoy going back home to the lovely hard water though!
As a child I always used to ask for water when playing at friends and used to get a lot of "are you sure you don't want squash?" questions. I've always preferred tap water.
Chilling water and adding sliced fruit will perhaps help you adapt. Or even a few drops of pure lemon juice (from a bottle) will give some zing.
Catkins, I think you need to decide how much money you want/need to save and that will perhaps influence what compromises you're willing to make. Plain tap water is cheapest of all (and kindest to your teeth - there's a lot of sugar in juices, squashes and cordials), but you alone can decide where your bottom line is.