Tuesday, July 20, 2010

An Inexpensive Soda Replacement

If your food budget is minimal like mine then you've probably discovered that items such as soda are a luxury.  We've not given it up completely in our household but we're slowly replacing it with other less expensive and healthier drinks.

My husband has switched from sugar sodas to mostly a Stevie sweetened Kool-aid. I use a package of Kool-Aid with an 1/8 of a tsp.of pure stevia. Oftentimes he'll  top his glass with a bit of diet soda, just for old times sake. I've gone quite a few weeks without a diet soda and I don't miss it at all. We're living 'minimally' these days and diet soda is something I can live without.

During the summer months I enjoy making pitchers of herb tea. My favorite is spearmint or peppermint although I've used many varieties in the past.   This week I made a pitcher of orange spice tea.

I make the tea by heating 2 cups of water in the microwave and steep the tea bag in the hot water for about 20 minutes or until the water has turned a darker color. I pour it into the pitcher and fill the rest with water then refrigerate.  Once the first pitcher is nearly empty I fill it up with water again leaving in the tea bag for flavor. This way I get twice the value from the tea bag and the water is still flavored.

 Herb tea is totally satisfying and refreshing. Since I'm the only one in our household that drinks the herb tea I've been known to come in from the garden very parched and drink straight from the pitcher in the fridge. (**sssshhhhh, don't tell anyone!***)

4 comments:

  1. I'm very much trying to cut out the soda due to recent diabetes diagnosis. In one month or less of my best effort on this I brought my blood sugar level down to normal from a high of 11. I was so relieved. I do like herbed tea and make my own iced tea also, but I've always loved the soda fizz. Club soda doesn't do it for me either but I've got to keep on trying...Kudos to you for giving up the soda. Both the artificial sweeteners and regular sweeteners in soda and other drinks are a terrible thing for our health. Your budget limits will help you with that and give you better health too. Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for visiting my blog. Please come again soon! The door is always open.

    And thank you for your kind comments on our Saturday photo shoot. The Brown Mansion is just a few miles up the road from us and I've always loved the old home. It was a no-brainer for me to want to use it as a backdrop for the photos. I also like photos taken using my husband's '50s tractor out in our field when the grass is kind of high. Any old brick wall makes for wonderful photos too. It just depends on your style preference. There are also at least a couple of free photo editing programs that you can access from the internet - Photoscape and Picnik. Of course they give you an opportunity to donate or subscribe.

    I love all of your money-saving tips and I'll be back soon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I drink iced tea all year round, its my favorite drink. I'm new to reading your blog and am slowly reading the older posts. I like to read about other peoples lives and how they live frugally. I always find new ideas. Keep up the good writing!

    Coleen

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here in the Carolinas its all about Sweet Tea. I have a dear friend who actually served only Ice Tea & Lemonade as beverages for one her daughter's weddings. Good economical and tasty choices.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comment.