How much do you spend on beverages? Dollar Stretcher has an article this week called "Mix Your Own Beverages." I have to admit that it never occurred to me to NOT mix or make my own beverages, but I know that I come from a different time than many of you and never incorporated the "convenience" things the stores are so filled with now. I just don't change with the times very well. 

Anyway, do you make your own beverages, like tea and fruit juice (from frozen concentrate, I think she said)? Or do you buy them ready to drink? Is there a huge cost difference? 

I grew up knowing how to make my own kool-aid. I think I had that mastered by the age of 6! Soda pop, I will pay no more than $3 a 12pk. It's rare when I buy a 20oz bottle. This is one of the areas where I am trying to cut out anyway, so since the price keeps going up, all the more reason to cut, right? I do make juice concentrates... namely grapefruit and cranberry. I mix in 4 cans of water versus the recommended 3 in order to stretch it a little more. I have gotten more into drinking tea... using tea bags and lots of water! (ice) OJ is the only juice that I will pay for the convenience. I have yet to find a frozen that is loaded with pulp (I only drink the very pulpy oj. Favorite is Tropicana Grovestand) with a taste I like. I don't buy it often and go in bursts. Costs will vary depending on where I buy it and in what size. The 2 64oz containers that I bought recently were 2/$6 and I had a $1 off coupon. (something like that) 

I did buy the flavored packets to put in water for when I go camping since I have been warned many times that the water is going to taste chlorinated for the first day or so (they use a cleaned out dairy tanker truck to store the water in for the festival, and to make sure things are safe, the chlorinate the water pretty well). Normally I wouldn't buy these.

We spend almost nothing on beverages other than milk since we drink about 95% water; but, when we do, we make them ourselves (soda pop aside, which we never use unless we're having a party). I am not sure of the cost difference in making and buying, since we drink them so infrequently.

We don't drink fruit juices unless we squeeze them ourselves, and even that is super rare. Usually it's just OJ for cooking. If it's a large quantity, it's probably cheaper to buy it, I'd guess; but, since it's a small cooking quantity, it's cheaper for me to squeeze an orange or two. 

Iced tea is made as suntea with real tea bags, herbs, and or/flavorings (we don't sweeten, though I do squeeze some lemon into some of them), which allows us the freedom to do all kinds of really fun and interesting teas on the cheap. I will do lemon mint with fresh mint, orange pekoe, chocolate mint (chocolate tea from Trader Joe's steeped with fresh mint), iced green tea, and the more traditional iced teas, too. It's a lot of fun, and so inexpensive!

We do our own coffees, probably about twice a month.  We have a second hand coffee pot/espresso maker, so we do those when we want something really special. In this case, I know they are far, far less expensive per cup than going to a coffee shop (we have a few small bottles of our favorite Tosani syrups, which last us forever--over a year so far with still a ton left). And, they're way better for us. I do overnight cold coffee for icing, which steeps on the counter in cold water overnight (this avoids any bitterness from heat brewing).

About 18 months ago DH used to drink sodas mostly at work and the golf course. He cut that out since I'm diabetic and he finally endured enough lectures to get the hint. He switched over to Gatorade but then we discovered you could mix your own and save money and stop polluting the landfill with plastic. He has since gone to mixing a combination of Lemonade and Ice Tea with a shot of Lemon Lime diet soda. Still not as healthy as plain old water but he doesn't do plain. Milk in our house goes to waste so I use half and half when I cook. I drink mostly water with lemon juice or diet Tonic Water. Its definitely a money saver to mix your own beverages.

I always made up our drinks .. , soda is a treat ,  I make up tea , sweet tea , and koolaid

I make up orange juice , apple and grape juice I offer it all day .. my grands love my pear juice.

my sil made a blue berry juice smoothie that was so good ...  and we love banana smoothie here . 

 

I now drink mostly water, one, maybe two cups of coffee/day, and decaf tea--a glass or two a day.  Gave up drinking soda and have it just a few times each month, sometimes when I have an upset tummy.

Sister still drinks at least 60 cans of soda per month.  That's at least what I was drinking too until I decided to stop and have that money for other things.  

 I will buy a 12-pack of soda for up to $4 if need be, a time or two it was a bit more, but that was because we were out and sister wanted some and either it was cheaper to buy a carton at a store closest to us, or no place had any sales that day.  But, I usually try not to pay more than $3.33 for a 12 pack.

Coffee is about $6 for one of those big plastic containers and it lasts about 2 months for mama and me.

 

There's no way DH is going to give up drinking pop. He drinks only diet, though. We go through quite a bit of pop, but try to buy it when it's on sale. I try to buy pop at no more than $3.00 for a 12-pack of cans or 6-pack of bottles, but if we're out and it's not on sale, I only buy enough to get us through to the next sale.

I also make iced tea from family-sized tea bags. A box of 24 bags will make 6 gallons of iced tea for me and it costs less than $2.00.

I also drink Crystal Light, but only occasionally. The stuff I currently have I paid 16 cents/packet for at Costco. Here you normally pay about 20 cents/packet when it's on sale.

Finally, I do drink water, but mostly at work. I need to improve on drinking water at home. DH only drinks water when he's doing stuff outside and is at risk to get dehydrated. He also drinks Propel for the same reason.

Jill

I purchase gallon milk that we all use, though we aren't as extreme of milk drinkers as most families.

Kids: Formula mix for baby, of course, For DD (toddler), I get the juice in the can. I dump it in a pitcher thing but when I serve it to her in her sippy cup, I only put about 1/3 juice and the rest water and/or ice. I don't find that the can juice is all that much cheaper than the froozen concentrate or already prepared. It's just that I like that I can stock up and put it in the pantry as opposite to having to use freezer or fridge space.

Myself: I drink sweet tea 80% of the time. I use tea bags and sugar, though I've cut back a lot on the sugar. I even put tea in my water container steel looking things and bring it to work. I do enjoy a cold Coke in the mornings though. So, about 3 days of the work week, I use my to-do mug and bring an iced down coke with me to drink on the way to work. I buy the 12 packs of cans but it usually lasts me about 3 weeks so that's not bad.

DH: He's the problem. LOL. He loves Mt. Dew (that stuff is HORRIBLE!). I manage to save some by buying him 2liters. I get them on sale and stock up. He also drinks tons of Powerade because he is an iron worker and sweats all day at work. I buy it on sale but it's still 79cents or more a bottle and, well, the pollution of all those plastic bottles makes me want to PUKE. We have had many arguments about this. He drinks about 3 a day. It's RIDICULOUS.

Anyways.....LOL. Rant over....

Have a blessed day,

Julie

I forgot milk! LOL!  We buy about a gallon each week, sometimes an extra one if I've used it for baking and/or pudding.  I've cut back on how much milk I drink; in fact, I almost cut it out on a daily basis.  My fingernails are suffering terribly because of that.   When I drank at least 1 tall glass/day and had a small bowl of cereal, my nails would grow and be stronger.