Make Your Own Soda
If you are tired of carrying bottles and cans of drinks home, learn
to make your own soda.
Seltzer, sparkling water, Italian sodas, even soda pop can be made with
a simple kitchen appliance that carbonates your tap water.
Then just add the flavorings you like - a slice of lemon, a squeeze of
lime, sugar-free syrups - whatever you prefer, on demand.
Healthy Drinks
We all know to drink plenty of fluids; but plain water gets tiresome,
and bottled or fountain sodas come with sodium, high fructose corn
syrup, and other chemical additives.
When you make your own soda you get to decide, glass by glass, exactly
what ingredients you put into your body.
And it avoids the health risks associated with drinking from
disposable plastic bottles.
Environmental Benefits
A home soda machine runs without electricity, lasts for many years, and
includes washable, re-usable bottles.
I bought mine as an alternative to bringing home several plastic
seltzer bottles each week. Although I was careful to recycle them,
knowing they had to be manufactured and shipped to me, just to put
carbonated water in my kitchen, made me look for options.
Selzer Delivery Services
A generation ago, Americans had seltzer delivered to their homes in glass bottles with siphon tops.
Two businesses carry on this tradition,
Eli Miller's Seltzer Delivery in Brooklyn, NY and
Seltzer Sisters
in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Cost Savings
Seltzer delivery may save you money if you buy cases of seltzer, soda, or sparkling water each week.
More likely, it will bring you the environmental and health benefits at a competitive price.
A home soda machine will pay for itself in 50 - 100 bottles,
depending on the model you buy and the amount of money you spend now on
bottled drinks from the store. Since it uses tap water, your only
on-going expenses are flavorings and replacement co2 cartridges.
Finding a Soda Machine
Liquor stores used to carry seltzer bottles and co2 cartridges; but I have not found any in my area that do.
Two stores carry the Soda Stream line; but the ones I have checked had limited models in stock.
Soda Stream (aka Soda Club) offers a full line of models on their website.
