Do you save money making your own sodas?

Discussion in Food & Drink started by Pat • Oct 10, 2014.

  1. Pat

    PatWell-Known Member

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    Now that it is possible to make your own sodas do you think you save money by making your own sodas or buying them in large amounts from the store?

    I saw a video that states if you only drink a soda once in awhile you save by making your own. But if you drink alot of soda you maybe better off buying the soda from the store.

    What do you think?
     
  2. pennylane

    pennylaneActive Member

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    Just about everything is cheaper than buying it in a store. You could make soda cheaply using flavored syrup, sugar, water, and yeast which would be pretty cheap. Probably cheaper than buying a 12 pack. There are counter top machines you can buy to add carbonation to your bottle. Those cost around $80. It would be an initial big investment but after that it would be very cheap too. A pro of making your own soda at home is knowing exactly what goes in it, if that concerns/interests you.
     
  3. ohiotom76

    ohiotom76Well-Known Member

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    You really don't save much with those SodaStream kits, because you have to keep buying (and returning the old ones) those carbonation cartridges, which are like $17 each, plus the syrups, which only make a few two-liters worth of pop, cost like $5 each. They claim that it only takes two hits of the button to carbonate a bottle of soda, but the bottles themselves are only about 1/4th the size of a 2 Liter, and 2 bursts is not enough to make the water as carbonated as what you buy in the store. So those cartridges will run out pretty quickly.

    Also, I found the syrups they sell tasted awful. They all have artificial sweetener in them, even the ones that are not "light", and it's not aspartame, it's that Stevia Root stuff which has a funny taste to it.

    I bought one of the kits a few years ago and quickly regretted it and haven't used it since.
     
  4. DrRipley

    DrRipleyExpert

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    I don't think you would save much on making sodas at home because store bought sodas are already cheap enough that it would be hard to compete. Factories get their ingredients for cents because they buy in very large quantities so chances are you will have a hard time reaching that price by yourself. I think the biggest draw of homemade sodas is that they can be made with natural ingredients and in that sense you probably will get to save yourself some cash by not having to pay more later on in medical bills.
     
  5. sidney

    sidneyWell-Known Member

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    In my opinion soda is already cheap enough, so I don't think I would want to make my own, even if I will get to save money in the long run. I would rather just buy a 2 liter bottle instead. It lasts 2 days if I was the only one drinking it.
     
  6. Krissttina Isobe

    Krissttina IsobeWell-Known Member

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    :oops:I always wondered about those soda stream things too and now that OhioTom76 has weighed in after buying one, well now we know for sure about soda stream. I agree with Sidney and buy only diet 7UP on sale for just a dollar for a 2 liter plastic bottle. We donate to the Kaiser hospital where my Mom is a member of.
     
  7. Denis Hard

    Denis HardWell-Known Member

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    I'd never heard of these kits which one can use to make sodas at home. I believe though as with everything else unless you are making it in bulk you won't be saving much money. While making soda at home does sound enticing it's doubtful you'll be saving any money.

    Good thing for me though is I don't drink sodas anymore so the need to make sodas at home obviously never will arise.
     
  8. purplepen88

    purplepen88Active Member

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    Thanks for posting about the Soda Stream, I was considering getting one for Christmas but I've changed my mind after reading about it. We like to make fizzy juice by adding club soda to juice. I think we'll just stick with this. I really like having a fizzy carbonated drink every once in a while.
     
  9. Corzhens

    CorzhensWell-Known Member

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    I don't think the soda maker is a good idea for us because we have our own brands and would stick to it. My husband is a Coke drinker but specifically the red can and nothing else. He doesn't relish the taste of Coke in the bottle particularly the big bottles. For me, it is Mountain Dew and also in the can. There is a difference in taste between the canned and the bottled so I also stick to my Mountain Dew in can.
     
  10. ohiotom76

    ohiotom76Well-Known Member

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    Incidentally Keurig has been partnering with Coca Cola to come out with their own type of soda maker. It works differently than the SodaStream in that there are no CO2 cartridges to purchase and return. There are also no bottles of syrup to deal with either. Instead everything is contained in pods, the syrup and some carbonation beads. You pop the pod in similar to how the regular Keurig coffee machines work, and the machine dispenses water through the pod which gets carbonated by the carbonaton beads (I guess which are similar to how Alka Seltzer works) and then passes through the syrup, before going into the bottle below. I'm curious to see how much these pods cost. If they cost as much as a 2 liter bottle, I really don't see the point. I think the main advantage would be less plastic overall when comparing a small pod to a full size bottle, and also the ease in portability - it would be much easier to carry a few pods home than a few bottles of pop.
     
  11. TheViper

    TheViperActive Member

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    The amount you receive can be significantly more than what you get in stores. We trade in convenience for less product with a higher price. Making stuff yourself will eventually save you money in the long run if done right.