Saving Money on Household Beveragesby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 09 Jul 2008 09:46 AM
If your kids love chocolate milk, choose the less expensive way to give it to them. Instead of buying chocolate milk prepared in a carton, flavor your own milk using inexpensive chocolate syrup. You can control the amount that is added. Also try a drop of vanilla or almond extra, or stir in a little bit of strawberry jelly. This is a great use for the remains of the jelly jar. Buy your juice in bulk. While limiting juice will help your budget, if you want juice the best way is to buy in large containers and then divvy it up into smaller ones. Forget the juice boxes and the juice pouches. Invest in some reusable thermos or other containers. You can even try diluting the juice a little bit to stretch it out. Prepared lemonade is another budget breaker. Make your own with fresh lemons. It doesn't take many lemons to do this, the taste of fresh just can't be beat, and you'll save money. Many produce stores will sell the lemons in bulk, and lemonade can be frozen. Alternatively, buy powdered lemonade mix. Again, you can dilute the mix as needed, and there are even some sugar-free versions out there. Stay away from the soda! Soda is very expensive and carries absolutely no nutrients. It only contributes to obesity, so you can ask yourself if spending the money to make yourself unhealthy is worth it. Of course, you might want it once in a while for a treat. If that is the case, stay away from individual cans or bottles and look for coupons and deals. Check back again when I'll have some more tips including how to prioritize your family beverages. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don't miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: More New Uses for Old Soda Bottles A New Way to Save Money on Milk Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments MegfromAllAboutAppearances (330) 09 Jul 2008 10:13 AMMy husband and our two roommates are soda drinkers, but they're been getting better. One thing that has helped our budget is always having a few pitchers of sweet tea in the fridge. The way my husband makes it for himself, there's plenty of sugar to satisfy that craving for sweet (though I like mine with less). I also sometimes drink hot tea. Tea is really cheap as it is, but the real trick is to get loose leaf tea. Even the gourmet varieties are usually cheaper (and better tasting) if you don't get it bagged. In my opinion, buying bagged tea is buying air, packaging, and a nasty bag taste. Anyhow, it doesn't take special equipment to make a great pot of it on the stove. Boil some water in the pot (or get it to just almost boiling). Turn off the heat. Set a regular fine mesh strainer (you may already have one) on top of the pot so that the bottom sits in the water. Then add in the tea to steep for a few minutes. Add sugar while it's still hot if you want it sweet. Wait for it to cool a bit then pour into pitchers and stick in the fridge. I know I've left a lot of variables, but truth is, it's hard to scew up and there's a lot of room for different tastes. And you can use lots of different teas. We really like green, even though traditional southern sweet tea generally uses black teas.  Mary Ann Romans |
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