20 unusual ways to save money: Make your own soft drink
By Guest blogger Claire Robinson
Are you a soda or seltzer fiend? If you buy a lot of packaged fizzy drinks, there's a cheaper -- and greener -- alternative: The Soda Club. Soda Club lets you make your own flavored or club soda at home, with water straight from the tap. Special flavor packets mimic all the big-brand favorites: cola, lemon-lime, orange, grapefruit, Dr. Pepper/Mr. Pibb flavor and more.
Here's how it works: You invest in a countertop machine and a few reusable plastic bottles. You also buy exchangeable CO2 canisters, which infuse water with bubbles, and any flavor packets you'd like. When the CO2 canisters are empty, the Soda Club picks up them up and ships you new ones.
A starter kit package for the machine, some flavor packets, two 1-liter bottles and a couple of CO2 canisters costs about $100 (cheaper if you don't want flavors). As you use up the C02, you'll pay $30 for a 2-canister swapout. My husband and I kept track, and one canister gave us about 50 1-liter bottles.
So what's the bottom line? Plain soda water comes to about 30 cents a liter. The flavor packets are $5 for 12 liters, so an extra 42 cents -- a total of 72 cents a liter for flavored soda. So if you're buying $1-$2 smaller lunchtime bottles or fountain sodas from vendors, there's a huge savings. A 12-pack of soda cans is about 4 liters, so if you're buying 12 packs of cans for more than $3, Soda Club is also cheaper.
If you buy 2-liter bottles or already drink generic brands, savings will vary depending on what you pay. Even so, with the Soda Club: a) you have a more readily available supply, b) 1-liter bottles are more portable than 2-liter so you're more likely to, say, bring them to work, c) 2-liters tend to go flat before you can finish them, d) you can have a bigger variety of flavors on hand, and e) you're being much more green by reusing bottles.
It took us about 4 months to recoup the cost of the starter kit and extra bottles with our savings.
The club does have a few downsides. The bottles, specialized to withstand the shots of CO2, are not dishwasher safe. So my husband and I just don't drink directly from them to get a few uses before having to hand wash. You have to replace the bottles after a couple of years. Flavors may not completely match your favorite brands. And both the diet and regular soda flavors contain Splenda, so you have to stick with natural citrus flavorings or plain soda water if you don't consume artificial sweeteners.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-17-2008 @ 1:33PM
MOM said...
The downfall to this soda club is the more readily available the more they drink unhealthy portions of soda. If it is not available my family drinks plain water. The sugar content is now gone and less trips to the dentist. SODA IS VERY UNHEALTHY. Think of the long term costs of this and you will see in the long run its not cheaper.Not buying unhealthy amounts of soda diet or regular is the best way to save. Dentist, more trips to the gym, doctors visits for diabetes for those that are overweight. It will all add up over time. JUST DON'T BUY IT.
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12-18-2008 @ 1:37PM
Sam said...
Soda is unhealthy, but not carbonated water. Soda water is as healthy as plain water according to my doctor. It is when you add all kinds of flavoring and things that it becomes unhealthy. It is common sense that just adding bubbles to water is not in and of itself unhealthy. I agree, don't but the soda flavorings, but to make a plain soda water instead of buying is a nice alternative.
12-18-2008 @ 1:29PM
Jon Lazarus said...
You can buy a 2-liter of soda at walmart for $0.88. So how is this cheaper?
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12-19-2008 @ 5:19AM
celeste said...
I Love it! My husband and I drink plain club soda all of the time,we love the refreshing carbonation,and I keep wishing that there was a cheaper way to enjoy it. I wonder if they deliver overseas.
I do agree with people about the sugar or artificial sweetener kinds,it does seem that people who buy and drink those kinds are just going to drink that much more since it's always available. I don't drink either sugar or that poisonous artificial sweetener sodas,just too disgusting.
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12-23-2008 @ 6:38PM
Toriluve said...
This is a HORRIBLE alternative !
a) the cost of "making your own" isn't really saving much money
b) all the nasty additives are as bad as what is originally in soda pop
IF you have to drink soda, try unsweetened seltzers - you can get them sodium free, calorie free - Acme Grocery stores sells them under their brand, so there must be a major manufacture of them
They have them on sale all the time - 10 - 6 pks for $10 or a buck a 6 pk
The other alternative is drink iced tea. It is cheap and if you need to sweeten it, use REAL sugar, which is much better for you than ANY alternative sweetner. If you don't like sugar, use honey.
If all else fails, drink plain water - 8 glasses a day does wonders for your health and skin!
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1-02-2009 @ 9:01AM
limarick said...
I have had the Soda Club carbonator for at least seven years and while it hasn't proven to be any cheaper than buying seltzer in the store, it is certainly more convenient. It saves my back from having to shlepp a case of seltzer home every week, assuming the store had a full case in stock. It also conseves resources since I don't fill my recycling container with 12 liter bottles each week. So even though it doesn't save me any money, I am stll sold on the product for the other benefits it offers.
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1-02-2009 @ 4:26PM
wendygoerl said...
$.72 per liter (plus the electricity) to make when I can go to WallyWorld and get a two-liter of the cheap stuff for $.67 (that's $.34/L)! Even the good stuff, not on sale, is rarely more than $1.39 ($.70/L). And I'd have the doohickey taking up counter space. Some savings.
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