Soda- Going Green, Saving$ & NO HFCS

[1PrincessMomma1]

We just purchased the Soda Stream from www.sodaclub.com. It came yesterday. We drink alot of soda around here and at $1.89 a bottle x's 20 or so bottles a week we decided to look for other options. The Soda Stream has a high initial output but after that it costs less than $1 for 2 liters of soda and it saves all those plastic bottles and cans. Even though we recycle them it bothers me that they are purchased. Another bonus is Soda Club doesn't use HFCS in their sodas. The do however use splenda if you have a problem with artificial sweeteners. Yet another plus is that their regular sodas only have 35 calories per 8 oz compared to 100 for name brands. On the down side their Diet soda has between no calories and 5 calories per 8 oz. and most name brands don't have any. The 4 flavors we tried all taste very good. There is also a coupon code for 10% off and free shipping. It's COMEBACK all caps. Hope this helps someone save some money, save some waste, and cut those HFCS'

 

[pjlla]

Wow.... I will have to take a look at this. Do they sell seltzer? I drink a ton of seltzer. DH drinks Diet Coke. I wish he wouldn't because I believe aspartame is TERRIBLE for you (even worse than HFCS). I'll be checking out your link. Thanks......................P

 

[Ava]

I almost bought this machine at Kohl's once, but put it back because I couldn't find any information on the packaging about how often you need to replace the CO2 cylinder, or how much the replacement cylinders cost. I'll check out that website you posted. It looked like a fun machine.

Have you tried their cola? How does it taste compared to Coke? We're big Coke addicts in my house, lol.

 

[1PrincessMomma1]

Wow.... I will have to take a look at this. Do they sell seltzer? I drink a ton of seltzer. DH drinks Diet Coke. I wish he wouldn't because I believe aspartame is TERRIBLE for you (even worse than HFCS). I'll be checking out your link. Thanks......................P

Yes they do seltzer and flavored waters too.

 

[1PrincessMomma1]

I almost bought this machine at Kohl's once, but put it back because I couldn't find any information on the packaging about how often you need to replace the CO2 cylinder, or how much the replacement cylinders cost. I'll check out that website you posted. It looked like a fun machine.

Have you tried their cola? How does it taste compared to Coke? We're big Coke addicts in my house, lol.

They have local stores where you can exchange the CO2 or they will pick it up & leave you a new one. They're around $21. The Cola is good doesn't take like coke or pepsi but it's not bad at all.

 

[SGMCO]

I would love to make my own Flavored Seltzer water (or 100% fruit based soda) without adding
any sugar or maybe a natural sweetner like Stevia or Agava Necter.
I would love to get a recipe for a soda using those natural ingredents
and then I would love to buy a Soda Maker machine.

 

[TifffanyD]

I've read recipes about making soda at home using yeast as the instigator for carbonation. You just add like sugar, flavoring, water, and yeast. Haven't tried it and I think it takes a day or 2 to work but it would be way cheaper. Anyone done this?

Here is a link

 

[PinkRhombus]

You go through 20 2-liters a week????????!?!?!?!

 

[1PrincessMomma1]

You go through 20 2-liters a week????????!?!?!?!

we have a large family!! And yes it's a bad addiction.

 

[kelleigh1]

I gave up drinking soda over a year ago. Hubby is addicted, however. But I'm on him about drinking other things too, so he has cut way back. His parents drink diet Pepsi all day everyday and the only other thing they ever drink is coffee. They're not exactly in the best of health, as you can imagine.

I'm amazed that you pay $1.89 per 2-liter. Around here, regular price is around $1.49 for Coke and Pepsi, but I refuse to buy it unless it's on sale for under $1. Lately I've been getting a store brand for $0.77 or $0.89 cents per 2 liter. And when I can't get that, I can usually get a 3-liter of the store brand for $1.50.

 

[1PrincessMomma1]

I gave up drinking soda over a year ago. Hubby is addicted, however. But I'm on him about drinking other things too, so he has cut way back. His parents drink diet Pepsi all day everyday and the only other thing they ever drink is coffee. They're not exactly in the best of health, as you can imagine.

I'm amazed that you pay $1.89 per 2-liter. Around here, regular price is around $1.49 for Coke and Pepsi, but I refuse to buy it unless it's on sale for under $1. Lately I've been getting a store brand for $0.77 or $0.89 cents per 2 liter. And when I can't get that, I can usually get a 3-liter of the store brand for $1.50.

I wish we could get it on sale like you do but the best we ever find it is $1.50 a bottle even store brand is usually around $1.29 and they never have any good flavors. Even Super Walmart is up to $1.89 and last year they were between a dollar and 1.09.

 

[clj1410]

We had the Soda-stream about 20 years ago in England. It was great, it was so easy to use. But it was one of those things that faded out after a few years and then you sould get any replacements. I would definatly like to try it again.

 

[almburr]

I am going to look into this, I looks like a neat idea. I remember years ago when Schwans sold the soda maker, it looked like and old time malt mixer.

 

[lynette j in la]

We bought ours a Kohl's on sale and got $20 Kohl's cash to buy more syrups.
In my research I have found that you can buy Co2 for it at Willams Sonoma and Camping World and some Boating shops. as well as the Soda stream website.
Sam's online and Kohl's has the syrups as well. I'm not 100% happy with the taste of the diet cola, but I think it is the splenda. I liked the root beer and the Pete's ( Dr.Pepper) LOVE LOVE the diet pink grapefruit! but we have had it a week and I've even just carbonated my water and added Crystal light raspberry lemonade and it is really good that way. If you find any other places to get syrup, let me know....

 

[1PrincessMomma1]

We bought ours a Kohl's on sale and got $20 Kohl's cash to buy more syrups.
In my research I have found that you can buy Co2 for it at Willams Sonoma and Camping World and some Boating shops. as well as the Soda stream website.
Sam's online and Kohl's has the syrups as well. I'm not 100% happy with the taste of the diet cola, but I think it is the splenda. I liked the root beer and the Pete's ( Dr.Pepper) LOVE LOVE the diet pink grapefruit! but we have had it a week and I've even just carbonated my water and added Crystal light raspberry lemonade and it is really good that way. If you find any other places to get syrup, let me know....

LOL Those are the same four flavors we tried!!! We have all the flavors that they make but only have 4 bottles so 4 at a time.

 

[hsmamato2]

I was interested in this- we drink about 4 -2 liter bottles of seltzer a week- but it costs so much,and then the cost of new co2 cartridges....I like the convenience,but at about 200.00 for this machine,and cost of seltzer about 1.29 a bottle, that's too long to break even- it sounds cool though.....

 

[1PrincessMomma1]

I was interested in this- we drink about 4 -2 liter bottles of seltzer a week- but it costs so much,and then the cost of new co2 cartridges....I like the convenience,but at about 200.00 for this machine,and cost of seltzer about 1.29 a bottle, that's too long to break even- it sounds cool though.....

You can get the machine on sale at Kohls for 79.99 if you watch the flyer. I purchased from the site because for me the 169.99 package had everything that I needed.

 

[lynette j in la]

Kohl's had the starter kits for 79.99, plus the syrup bottles were $3.54 each. We bought 6 bottles so that we got 20 Kohls cash. Today I went back to Kohls and got $20 more of syrup free with the kohls cash. So I got the starter kit (with one Co2 cannister plus a sampler of 12 flavors of syrups, and fruit essence for unsweetened fruit flavor seltzer, 2 1 litter bottles) and 12 bottles of syrup* which will last a long time* for $100. Before we spent 10 dollars a week at least on cans of soda, so in 10 weeks I'll have recouped my investment....And I don't have to store all of those full and empty cans for recycling!
So for we really like it!

 

[xmlguy]

I've read recipes about making soda at home using yeast as the instigator for carbonation. You just add like sugar, flavoring, water, and yeast. Haven't tried it and I think it takes a day or 2 to work but it would be way cheaper. Anyone done this?

Here is a link

That has got to be one of the most IRRESPONSIBLE sites I've ever seen.

What they have failed to say is that the action of the yeast not only carbonates the beverage but also CONVERTS THE SUGAR TO ALCOHOL. I have brewed my own hard ciders and beers using yeast this way, so I know very well how the process works. But I would never post a brewing recipe that neglects to disclose that you are making an alcoholic beverage in the process, so that it must be used responsibly.

 

[xmlguy]

The problem with all of these consumer carbonation systems is that you are paying much more than you should because the vendor uses proprietary carbonation equipment that requires you to go to a single source for refills. They also usually have proprietary syrups that are much more expensive than they should be.

Carbon Dioxide is usually rather easy and cheap to find. Welding shops, medical suppliers, and industrial gas suppliers are common sources, but also paint-ball CO2 refillers. There are adapters available to refill the proprietary SodaStream and SodaClub tanks using standard CO2 tanks.

For syrups, the best I've found is SamsClub online. Go to the SamsClub website and add the following to the URL:

/shopping/navigate.do?catg=6948

(I don't have enough posts to do URLs yet, so you'll have to copy/paste the link yourself).

I like the sugarfree flavors and they are under $12/gallon for the 1G boxes and under $9/gal for the 3G size, at least for the generic labels. They also have Dr. Pepper, 7up, Sunkist, RC, and Rockstar ($48/gal ouch!!). They have the SodaStream Mixes for about $16/gal.

One of the secrets to getting good carbonation is to be sure that the water is very cold. Warm water does not allow good CO2 gas saturation. That's one reason why most commercial soda systems are expensive for consumers - because they include high quality waterline refrigeration, water filtration, and syrup pumps, along with stainless steel components for disassembly to clean and disinfect the parts. You might check out the restaurant equipment stores in your area to see what used soda equipment they have. With all the restaurants/bars going out of business, there's often a lot of good equipment available at reasonable prices.