We received SodaStream Jet machine as a wedding gift from my employer. It was a nice gift and we have used it weekly ever since. I like especially orange and cola, and soda water with lemon. My husband´s favourite is apple-pear. But the price of the brand flavours - I am horrified! You have to pay for the bubbles, and when you add the price of the flavours... isnogood. I want to win this challenge!
The brand flavours don´t usually go on sale in our shops. And if there are sales, they don´t include our favourites. The price is mostly 7,95 €/bottle. In a discount store the price may be 6,95 €. Luckily there is a competing product "MySoda" on the market. We have tried them and at least orange and cola are ok. In our local discount store they are often on sale 1,95€/bottle, which makes 8 litres of soda. I admit I´m hoarding it :) My Spouses favourite - apple-pear- is my pet peeve, so it is better for me not to evaluate it. But he thinks that MySoda is ok also in that flavour option.
How about lemon water? It would be healthy and cheap to add fresh lemon to carbonated water. Or a drop or two of lemon juice concentrate. But I´m not quite sure how the SodaStream plastic bottle would endure it. Lemon is a strong acidic substance. If you drop lemon straight to the drinking glass, you have to prepare each portion separately. That is too much work, which I don´t need right now ;) It is not that good.
I bought lemon essence. A tiny bottle in a baking supplies section costs about 2,50 €. It has proved to be extremely sufficient. I have made many many bottles of fizzy lemon water and the bottle still looks as full as it was to start with. It is challenging however to dose a suitably small drop. Each time it has been a bit too strong for my taste. Perhaps a pipette would be useful. The essence is also somewhat oily, so the bottle needs to be washed and flushed thoroughly. Yet this is the best option that I have come up so far.
With these options you can prepare fresh bubbling drinks much cheaper than with brand flavours. In our family, we consume fizzy drinks about 2 liters in a week (2 liters is about half a gallon, if you prefer that measure). SodaStream -brand flavour costs about 0,66 €/litre. The cheaper MySoda costs on sale 1,95 € / 8 litres = 0,25 €/litre. The difference 0,43 €/litre. In one year that will total in our household 44 €. A bottle of essence drops will make up to 100 litres I guess, so 1 litre will cost about 2,5 cents. With 2 litres per week, that will save us about 66 € / year, compared to SodaStream brand flavour! I think I will check the baking section again, to find more essence drops! Strawberry would be nice.
Please note! The above mentioned prices are not the total prices of the drinks. This is a comparison between flavouring options. If you want to calculate the total cost of the drinks, please include the price of the bubbles and purchasing the SodaStream machine.
Have nice day!
Best wishes,
Nina
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