Ideas for inexpensive beverages you can give your kids. Post your ideas.
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Get them to drink more water - no sugar, no additives/preservatives, even less expensive than drink mixes. My kids can have milk, water or unsweetened tea.
I make lemonaide shake-ups for my children. I just take a bottle of water and add 4-5 T. of lemonaide drink mix. They love it, and I know that they are getting their water.
If you buy soda by the 2 liter, look at flavored water instead. On the west coast, "Talking Rain" is a carbonated water, with only fruit oils added...NO SUGAR or SUBSTITUTE! And it costs the same as store brand sodas.
If you don't want all the additives and chemical flavorings, try different flavors of iced teas - like mint, hibiscus, or any of the Celestial Seasonings fruit teas - they can be made as weak or strong as you like, and sweetened with sugar, honey or sugar substitute. I enjoy them unsweetened - they are actually more refreshing that way if you are used to it. And you can save energy also, making "sun tea": let the tea steep in the sun (or longer without the sun) until it is ready.
Try using carbonated water with your drink mixes...even fresh squeezed lemons and a bit of sugar. They get a fizzy drink and not so expensive.
I agree with the previous posts in regards to not giving kids (or adults for that matter!) excess sugar, additives or preseratives but would like to add caffine to that list!
In the summer we like "Fizzy Fruit"! I take the overripe fruit we have leftover (melons work really well) puree it in the food processor or blender and add to sparkling water or club soda that is just water and carbanation. This is a fun treat on hot days! Other than that we drink plain old water with lemon or lime juice! I got some fun ice cube trays from a dollar store and freeze the juice in those for the ice .. it flavors the water well.
Ice tea contains caffine and should be avoided by all children, adults too but even though I quit drinking soda I still need that bit of caffine everyday .. Tazo teas make flavored "teas" that are herbal infusions and don't contain tea leaves .. we use these to make great flavored ice teas .. their Wild Orange is so good iced! I'll brew strong batches and keep the concentrate in the fridge to make "fresh" tea when I want like they do at Starbucks. Plus with these beverages I don't have to worry if my 2 year old takes a sip!
One more quick note .. make sure kids are getting enough to eat as well .. beverages can fill kids up with very little nutrition. While hydration is super important, proper nutrition is as well especially when we're all outside and more active!
Have a great summer!
Rebekah
A cheap summer drink for kids is kool-aid or similar drink mixes. Especially when stores put it on sale at 10/$1. With limited flavors, my kids soon become bored with it and want soda. I have found a way to prevent that. Mix two different flavor packets together in the pitcher but only add 1 cup of sugar.
My favorite mixture is a packet of watermelon (Wyler brand) and a packet of strawberry.
Kids can invent their own flavor combinations or maybe try mixing cherry and lemon-lime (like the soda companies).
You could create a Mystery flavor and have the kids taste and guess the flavors.
The combinations are endless but it all adds up to summer fun!
By Cheryl from Missouri
This recipe came DIRECTLY from www.hillbillyhousewife.com - I have making these for quite some time now for my children (and myself!)
NOTE: My blender only needs about 15 SECONDS to make a slushie. 30 seconds makes a Hawaian Ice type of treat. I personally use the Clover Valley brand (Dollar General Stores name brand) of unsweetened "kool-aid" - 10 for $1.00 and they have a stronger flavor than any other brand I have tried. VERY GOOD & VERY CHEAP!
Slushies
· 2 cups ice water
· 1 packet fruit-flavored drink mix (use your favorite flavor)
· 2/3 cup sugar
· 4 cups or 1 full tray of ice cubes
You need a blender to prepare this recipe. Put all of the ingredients into your blender. It will be about 2/3 to 3/4's full. Put the lid on. Process the mixture on high for a full minute. Stop the blender, use a spoon to stir it a bit. Look for unchopped ice chunks. If all the chunks are grated up, then go ahead and serve it. You may need to process it for another full minute though. Serve immediately. I usually have to spoon this out of the blender with a measuring cup because the mixture is so thick. Makes 4 - 8oz servings.
I cannot praise this recipe enough. It costs less than 25¢ for the whole batch, or about 6¢ per serving.
I agree with drinking more water. We have filtered ice and water through the door of our frig and our kids really like it. I try to make any sugary drinks more of an occasional treat.
WATER....it's cheap and good for them. We have ice and filtered water through the door of our frig and our kids help themselves. I don't believe in giving them pop and other sugary drinks....which have no nutrional value. I'd rather them drink something that they get something from, so our two kids drink milk, juices and water. I do however let them have a treat every now and then of iced tea or Hi C or fruit punch, something like that. Oh and I don't let them have much caffeinated beverages either....even tho they'd drink coffee all the time if they could!
Blend 1 cup of fresh or tin pineapple with 1 cup of pineapple juice and 1 cup of crushed ice until it is all frothy and slushy. This will make enough for four and is as good as any sugar laden frozen soda. Try it with fresh mint too.
We tried this at Head Start when we were teaching about dandilions. It's called dandilion juice. We mixed a can of pineapple juice with a packet of Lemonade mix and added water until we got a good taste. The original recipe called for Limeade mix and sugar but this was delicious and has a neat texture to it.
For parents with kids allergic to food coloring! I am not advocating kool aid, but they do make a kiwi strawberry with no color! I haven't tried it yet, but it came in a special pack with the big bag of splenda and a fun yellow spoon. If we do have koolaid, that is the only way I give it to my oldest (he'll be 5) and my husband ends up drinking it all anyway! When our son was three, he started saying "red juice please" or brown juice for apple juice...for fun my mom said, no you can have white juice (water) and he thought it was funny.
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