Monday, July 2, 2012

Easy-peasy healthy sports drink

Forget purchased sports drinks.  They are full of lab-created ingredients and are just bad for you.  For heaven's sake, don't allow your growing children to drink them!  Here is a healthy alternative to keep the entire family hydrated in the summer's heat.

You need lots of limes.  Lemons work, too, but limes are usually cheaper.


You need something to get the juice out of the limes.  This is an old-fashioned solution that works great.


This is even better....this little gadget cost about ten bucks and is worth every penny.  I found it at a restaurant supply store in the bar section.  I can squeeze a lot of limes in very little time with this puppy.


Freeze ahead in ice cube trays.


Or to avoid plastic, put enough for a couple of days in a glass jar in the fridge.


Drink up!

I use the juice of half a lime, or one frozen cube, to make a quart of refreshing flavored water.  I use about a half dropperful of liquid stevia extract and a shake of sea salt.  For a rehydrating sports drink, you can use a small teaspoon of raw wildflower honey and a pinch of good sea salt, such as Redmond Real Salt or Celtic Salt.

This won't taste exactly like Gatorade because you won't be adding sucrose syrup, glucose fructose syrup, ester gum, monopotassium phosphate, yellow 5, red 40, or blue 1.  Or anything else that your great grandmother wouldn't recognize.

When limes are on sale for a buck for eight of them, this costs less than a dime for a quart.  Compare that to a buck a quart for the "other" sports drink, and you just saved yourself a nice bundle of change.  This now makes lime squeezing pay a pretty good hourly wage.  If it takes 20 minutes to squeeze 8 limes, each making two quarts of sports drink, you just made yourself a handy $48 per hour wage.  Add what you'd pay in taxes if you had to earn that and then spend it at the store, you can up that hourly wage to about $70 or so per hour.  Got time to squeeze some fruit?  Sure you do!

Besides, it is absolutely delicious!

8 comments:

  1. I love lemon or lime in water!! I never realized limes were so cheap.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They can be! The cheapest I've seen them is 8 for a dollar, in the winter. I get some, juice them, and freeze them as lime cubes. I never do enough up to last through the hot weather, however!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ahhh, that's the secret. I was wondering how you found good limes in July. LOL Now if I can just remember to get them in the winter....

    ReplyDelete
  4. You can still find them, they are just not as cheap. I got the ones in the photos a couple weeks ago for a dollar for six. It is still cheaper and healthier than sports drinks, of course!

    ReplyDelete
  5. They are on sale at Big Y right now 4 for $1. I'll be watching for better sales!I got 8 today anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do you have a Price Rite near you? I've not been impressed with Big Y, mostly...

    ReplyDelete
  7. I made a half gallon yesterday morning and finished it this afternoon. Made another half gallon today. Thank you so much this could not have come at a better time since it is very hot and humid here in NC. And I love the fact that I can make a half gallon for 36 cents!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You can't even buy bottled water for that price! Dontcha just love it!

    ReplyDelete